Possible to drop first leg of trip due to looming misconnect?
 

I have an XXX-DEN-LGA-overnight-EWR-LHR trip coming up that I'm starting in a CRJ-200-infested backwater (XXX) that is prone to delays. As a backup I've booked XXX-YYY-LGA (award ticket) on another airline since I need to be at LGA at a certain time.

My question: Has anyone had experience dropping just the first leg of a trip like this (in this case XXX-DEN-LGA) in order to avoid the misconnect, and had UA be ok keeping the rest of the itinerary intact? I worry because there are later UA flights DEN-LGA, so I could see the airline refusing to simply dump the first part of my trip and insisting that I fly UA on the ticketed itinerary (in terms or origin-destination).

I am well aware that voluntarily dropping anything but the last segment of a trip almost always results in the remaining portion being summarily canceled; what about this type of situation? I was going to call the 1K line, but I trust you folks more than them...they tend not to do well with hypotheticals.

IF the trip gets wx'd / mx'd / there is an actual misconnect, agents who have their stuff together should be willing to drop the segments, assume you'll get to LGA on your own, and let you continue on EWR-LHR.

If this is just a hypothetical "I think I might not make it but there is no delay posted", seems super unlikely you will get UA to drop the segments.

I get that...there is a gray area in there where the inbound is just tardy enough to make one sweat but not so bad as to guarantee a misconnect (I have 1.5 hours minus gate-check time minus the hike from DEN's nether regions to the mainline gates). That's where it could get tricky. I would assume that in a case where the inbound is significantly late such that the connection is a goner they would drop the segments, but I've never actually run in to that scenario before.

If the flight is cancelled or a delay is posted such that you will misconnect if your xDEN is ontime, UA will of course rebook by cancelling the first segment.

Where it is unclear, you are completely dependent on the goodwill of a sympathetic agent. That agent is in effect making a change which, if you have a pretty standard international discounted ticket ought to cost $300 + fare difference (for the entire ticket). There is no way to predict this and with UA's increased documentation of PNR notes, the old HUCA may or may not work.

Lastly, I am presuming that you have a stopover in NYC and that this is not a connection. If the latter, UA could simply rebook you DEN-XXX-LON.

I would be working with the GAs at XXX, so my usual charm would hopefully carry the day, unless there is a policy that strictly forbids the type of change that I would want. That's the crux of my question, of course, and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this exact scenario.

I am spending the night in NYC and taking the morning flight to LHR...I find that schedule to be much easier on me than taking the usual overnight.

since you are overnighting...i don't see the issue. worst case, SDC to an option that ensures you would not miss the next days flight. simply saying "this is prone to delays" will not have UA drop your segment.

I need to be in NYC by a certain time (meeting some people). I would only request that the segments be dropped if the misconnect in DEN was a sure thing. I normally build flexibility into my travel just so that I don't have to gnash my teeth like this lol...

I have done this before. I was flying from SCE-IAD-FRA. Once the delay was posted for the IAD-SCE (which will subsequently cause my SCE-IAD to be delayed), I called UA immediately and they removed the SCE-IAD segment, reissued the ticket, and then we started driving to IAD.

I think once you have a strong case that you are going to be in a misconnect situation, I think you can plead it to a phone/airport agent to remove the segment. Then, you can on your own to get to your new origin.

In my case, the ticket was purchased from LH so it was not a 016 ticket. But because of UA's delay, they had to take control of the ticket and reissued it into 016 stock. :D

I would not want a GA at an outstation handling this. It's an international itinerary including both connections and a stopover (although the fact that it's an overnight does not necessarily make this a stopover, so OP needs to quadruple-check this).

It's easy enough to have a smiling GA acommodate you only to show up at DEN and be told that it's not reticketed.

In Jan I had a MEM-IAH-NRT-SIN flight. About midnight the MEM-IAH was showing a 4 hour delay. I called and the 1K agent rebooked med Little Rock-IAH_NRT-SIN. I've found almost all the 1K agents to be extraordinarily helpful in rebooking for mechanicals, delays, SDC and my own mistakes

I'm a trust-but-verify type, believe me. Now that you mention it, I would probably get on the horn to the 1K desk...not sure why I was thinking I would have the GAs handle it. Now...what's this about quadruple-checking my overnight?

I would probably call the 1K desk and explain the situation and that I would like to keep the itinerary but drop the opening two segments.

It works the same when you want to be protected on something. I call, ask to be protected, the agent blocks the space and if I don't need it, I either have the GA drop it or call and have another agent drop it.

An issue you will potentially face is due to hidden city pricing and the reluctance of airlines to allow folks to use that, the airlines are loath to drop initial segments except in the case of actual irrops.

I wouldn't ask unless the misconnect was all but inevitable, so I don't think I'd be accused of attempting to perpetrate any shenanigans.

Once the misconnect is a certainty, then there should be no issue -- but agree with the concern of the outstation agents. If it is done by an outstation agent have a true UA agent crosscheck it ASAP.