ORD-SPI Flight Canceled With no Same-Day Rebooking Available - Other Options/Refund?
 

I seldom fly UAL. Returning home today from PIT.

Booked on a full fare ticket PIT-ORD-SPI. My flight just landed at ORD, and I see that my ORD-SPI segment, on Flight 5472, was cancelled.

Called UA just now, while waiting on the tarmac for an open gate.

UA says "too bad for you, the last flight today from ORD-SPI, is sold out. You can be booked tomorrow, but only from ORD to STL."
She claims it is not UA fault, that it is an air traffic control problem, and so I am 'On my own" for getting out of ORD to SPI.

What can I do?

Rent a car and hit I-55. What is it, 200 miles? Three hours? Beats sitting around ORD waiting for UA to turn into a customer-friendly concern.

Foolish to expect United to help you recover from their messes.

If you indeed on a full Y, I believe UA can overbook you onto their sold-out 9:10 pm flight tonight. (I know some elites get that perk. Not sure if full fare pax do as well).

Bottom line is that you are not on your own. UA has an obligation to get you to your destination, though it may take an extra day.

That said, per the above poster, it may just be easier to rent a car.

full fare ticket = y fare?

if so, it's refundable. go to an agent, tell them to tag the segment as INVOL, rent a car and drive to SPI. then go on united.com with your eticket number and request a refund for the ORD-SPI segment.

you can also request to be put on standby for the sold-out ORD-SPI flight later today, as a displaced y fare passenger you have a decent shot at clearing the list.

1, call back and hope you get a different agent with a different response
2, go to the gate and get on standby for the other flight that you wanted
3, there is an 11 am flight tomorrow that looks like it still has room available to SPI.

That's really about it.

Does not US/AA fly that route. Appears to be seats. Tell UA to move you to one of those flights (and then call in a few days to get ORC). no non-stops (posted too quickly).

Given no alternative carrier and flight sold out.
You can
-Waitlist/standby for tonight's flight and hope.
-Stick around til tomorrow
-Book a car and submit a refund request for the rental

You can try to go on standby for the "sold out" flight to SPI tonight. There may be people that do not show up for the flight and you can grab their seat.

The last flight doesn't leave today until 9PM, so you have plenty of time to get to a customer service desk at O'Hare and have them put you on standby.

Good luck.

A few options:
(1) Take Amtrak; CHI-SPI has a scheduled service 7 p.m.–10:24 p.m. This is a $54 train ticket on today's service. United probably won't buy a ticket for you. You gotta get to Chicago Union Station by 7 p.m. There is one earlier train but you probably won't make the earlier 5:15 p.m. departure.

(2) Insist to be put on the standby list for the 9:10 p.m. ORD-SPI — as a displaced full-fare pax you should have a chance of making standby even on a sold-out 50-seat aircraft (it's a CRJ-200 tonight). An airport agent can do this (anyone at the customer service counter or at the departure gate for the flight). This is scheduled to get you in at 10:04 p.m., arguably worse than the train.

(3) Rent a car and drive, a little over 3 hours. United probably won't pay for this.

(4) If you picked (1) or (3), get a refund for the portion of the trip that you didn't take (takes UA a while to calculate this, should be due something).

Still on the plane, waiting for an open gate.

How do I learn the actual reason for my cancelled flight? If I go on Flightaware, it just confirms that it was cancelled, but no reason given.

Is it likely that air traffic control really did cancel our flight?

RE: renting a car . . . good idea. Since I am on a fully refundable ticket, I guess it makes sense to get the refund and drive. Otherwise, I wait on standby here at ORD for four long hours.

I am actually stunned that UA is not obligated to get me to my final destination which is SPI. The res agent on the phone claimed she will only book me tomorrow (Sat) from ORD to STL. I don't understand.

I understand that I will be refunded for the ORD-SPI segment.

How likely is it that my rental car refund would be honored?

ORD--SPI on AA.com appears to be sold out for the rest of the day. I'm getting no love.

Could be true. FAA flight delay page lists no specific problems at ORD right now ( see http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp ). But it could be that there was some kind of ATC restriction. When ATC says "operate fewer planes now please" (flow restrictions) you gotta pick some flights to cancel, and short flights with small planes cause less disruption than other options.

Golly, this flight is super unreliable in the past few days, check out http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL5472 .

Cancelled flights that were sold as UA5472:
8/19 ORD-SPI
8/19 SPI-ORD

8/21 ORD-SPI
8/21 SPI-ORD

8/22 ORD-SPI
8/22 SPI-ORD

It is incredibly unlikely, **even if a UA agent tells you "we will reimburse you for your alternative transportation arrangements"**, that they will ultimately do so. Buy train/bus tickets or rent a car under the assumption that UA will not give you that money; and assume that if the reason for the problem is not mechanical or crew, that UA will not give you any other kind of compensation. Perhaps you bought your ticket with a credit card which provides travel insurance which will cover your out-of-pocket costs.

Under the contract of carriage they don't actually have to get you to your destination; giving you a refund is also an option.

Not a chance of the 5:15 at this point, but the 7:00 is still very doable if you hustle.

I wouldn't do a cab this time of day - take the Blue line from ORD and get off at Jackson, from there it will be a 10 minute walk west to Union Station. You could be there as early as 6:00 or 6:15 if you start now.

That's nuts...there's an 11:03 AM flight that's Y2 and a 4:10 pm flight tomorrow that's Y5. HUCA.

1) United Flight 5472
Operated by Skywest Airlines dba United Express
Status: Canceled due to air traffic control conditions impacting our flight operations

2) they are obligated, the question is whether you have the patience to wait for an available seat on ORD-SPI. if you are willing to wait (and pay your own way to stay in ORD until that happens) they must put you the next ORD-SPI flight with an open seat.

3) not very likely. you are 100% assured to get a refund for the unused ORD-SPI segment. you are about 5% chance of getting cash out of UA for the cost of a rental car. if you submit the rental car receipt, you may (~50% chance) get a voucher in a similar amount for future travel on UA, or some courtesy RDMs deposited to your MP account.

UA is obligated to transport you or refund. If you agree to alternative airport, that releases them also. As far as obligation, there is nothing about when, just next available flight. The obligation does not include bumping another passagner (but a secret is for a high elite they will overbook and leave someone else to have the problem).
Push for the above reported SPI flight if you want to wait -- availability can change quickly.
This is always tricky issue. Works best if the agent offers/agrees and a note is placed in the record.