sofasurfer

We've had an interesting day, and I'm trying to get prepared for tomorrow - and hope FT expertise can help minimize any unforseen surprises...

We (me, Mrs Sofasurfer, and Little Miss Sofasurfer) should have been flying UA3587/1294 BUF-IAD-TPA today.

Checked in online last night, checked flight status this morning before setting out - all seemed fine.

Get to bag drop, and learn two things:
1. UA3587 has been downgauged, and they are looking for people to bump.
2. UA3587 is delayed (don't know the reason why), and will arrive too late to connect to 1294.

To her credit, it seemed that the agent was trying everything for us. After it became apparent that we would not be able to get a flight for the three of us to TPA leaving BUF until Sunday (we offered to be re-routed to MCO, SRQ, GNV, DAB - as much as we could think of there and then) nothing seemed to be working.

Then, Mrs Sofasurfer asked if there was any possibility of YYZ - agent's eyes lit up with hope, and we are now ticketed YYZ-IAH-TPA.

We were told that we'd have to make our own way to YYZ, so drove home and have booked a car for early tomorrow morning.
We booked the flights via the Amex travel agency, using Mrs Sofasurfer's Amex Platinum and $200 travel credit - and realized on the way back that we may be able to claim this back.
After calling them while on the drive home, it sounds like it *might* be possible - if the reason for the delayed flight was weather or mechanical...

Question: is there any way to find out what the reason for the delay was on UA3587 today?

Now we are finally home and relatively de-stressed, I've noticed a few other things that now concern me:

- we were given three e-ticket passenger receipts, which all now have different PNRs.
- when we booked, everything was on one PNR.
- from what I can see on the United and AC websites, *all* of us appear to now be incurring bag charges (including Mrs Sofasurfer, which seems odd). When we made the booking, we did so knowing that we'd have free one checked bag each - and expected that to be honoured.
- although mine and Mrs Sofasurfer's PNRs are showing on her UA login, Little Miss's does not seem to be linked at all.
- Tickets are 016 stock, but when I had a look online, we get sent to the AC website (where we can't check in together, and it appears we're being made to pay for bags).
- I'm guessing there has been some kind of kludge to rebook us, which I can't see the specifics of at this end, but I know the agent said she had put several notes on our reservation so that the agents would know what to do. I'm just hoping that there are some notes that I can't see that link the PNRs and instruct them to waive the fees, but this may well be wishful thinking.
- Current thinking is that if we are forced to pay bag fees, we'll put them on the same card as we bought the flights on (Amex Plat) and dispute this with UA *and* Amex - but any advice/experience to heed would be very welcome.

Question: has anyone else had PNRs for a party split due to re-routing, and then incurred bag fees as a result? What is the best way to get this resolved?


I should know this, but am running on fumes and am spun out: if the first segment is on AC, even with UA ticket stock, we should be checking in at the AC desk, right?


One final thing -- shouldn't we have been offered some kind of UA credit? About five years ago, I got $600 in flight credits for being bumped off a flight and having a >6 hour delay. The passenger receipt says "INVOL UA3587" so I'm guessing we may have some recourse... but it's been years since I've had to do this, and not sure where to begin.
I initially asked about this, but for several reasons just didn't follow it up by the time we had the tickets confirmed as I was just relieved we'd be getting there tomorrow instead of losing the whole weekend...

Apologies for the long post - it's been a long day, with frayed nerves and relief now giving way to trepidation.
Hopefully we get the miles for the longer segments we'll travel tomorrow... although that's actually the least of my concerns right now!

Any help on any of the above would be *very* welcome. Need to attend to a tired family and prepare for an early start... and possibly some fun and games at YYZ.

hookthem

Lots of text here that I didn't read, but I will say that I have been reimbursed for bag fees due to split PNR.

mduell

I'm not about to read that wall of text, but search doesn't find the phrase "inbound" so I'm going to guess you didn't try united.com. It's pretty clear for 3587 BUF-IAD "Status: Delayed due to Late inbound aircraft arrival (Arrived Gate 1 Hour 43 Minutes Late)"

The plane, N351PH, started the day 3h late out of Charleston, WV as UA5015. That first flight of the day was delayed due to mx: "Status: Delayed due to Aircraft maintenance (Arrived Gate 2 Hours 37 Minutes Late)"

But that's irrelevant to your flight, which was delayed by the late inbound aircraft.

wh6cto

Based on your comment, is Mrs Sofasurfer XX*G (Star Alliance Gold)? If so, AC's baggage policy allows 3 pieces up to 62in/50lbs. (XX*S is only one bag.) Can you can consolidate and have her check in all your bags?

As for your check-in location, it should be at the operating carrier's counter. Last time I was at YYZ, I had to check in at AC (on a UA codeshare operated by AC), and it should be the same for you.

For insurance purposes you can email [email protected] to get proof of travel delay. (I also generally outline what I want it to say.) More detail here, under "Notification of delays and Cancellations". BTW, you will likely need to wait until after the flight to make the request.

Also keep a copy of your boarding pass, which shows your INVOL status.

One additional reminder...YYZ does pre-clearance (US immigration) before your flight. Followed by the Canadian version of TSA...with no Pre-Check, of course. So be sure to allow ample time for these bottlenecks.

Good luck!

bmwe92fan

I'm surprised you didn't ask to be on one of the WN direct flights?

cfischer

look at the bright side. AC will give you 3 bags for free, you now get lounge access and I am pretty sure UA will cover the $200 for the YYZ trip ... that plus hopefully some extra. Tell them this was a VBD and you are looking for compensation plus reimbursement of cost.

sofasurfer

Oops - yeah, that did turn in to a wall of text. Tried to bold the salient questions, though.

hookthem - that's a useful data point, good to know. Being switched to non-UA metal for first segment makes me think we will get dinged, but will seek to claim this back.

mduell - thanks for this. Hadn't checked united.com (not sure if I could have done that easily on my phone, anyway). I know where to look now, though. Appreciate it.

Often1

1. OP isn't entitled to compensation that he did not negotiate by way of VDB. Otherwise, UA got off very well, but we're beyond that now.

2. WN might have been a good alternative. But, bear in mind that WN refuses to interline with any other carrier. Thus, UA could not rebook onto a WN flight. Would have involved cancelling for a full refund (which UA would likely prospectively grant even though OP had not yet misconnected) and then purchasing the WN tickets.

sofasurfer

Mrs Sofasurfer is United Premier Silver (if PS isnt the correct acronym round these parts, I apologise - not a regular on this particular forum)
So she's UA*S - each of us now have split PNRs, though. We'll see.

OK - so we're at the mercy of the AC agents. Unless I'm pleasantly surprised, I'll make sure we get a receipt and take it from there

Excellent - thanks for this! Will look at this properly once we're at our final destination and settled in.

Scanning everything now before I go to bed

We've all got NEXUS, and so can at least get through pre-clearance without much delay. I *think* there's some kind of priority line for the TSA stuff that NEXUS allows us to use (I know there is for domestic at YYZ)

Thanks - I just want to be able to start unwinding with the family...!

sofasurfer

Yeah. Would have been easier on my own. Trying to negotiate while we're trying to keep the daughter (who's usually a great traveller) from approaching meltdown mode was a distraction. Oh well.

Thing is, I thought by offering to be re-routed (as they have ticketed), that would have been VDB - but the replacement ticket shows IDB. I'm probably missing something here, but am wiped out and need sleep.

Is there any point in trying to follow this up when we're at IAH?

pewpew

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BB10; Touch) AppleWebKit/537.35+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/10.2.1.3442 Mobile Safari/537.35+)

I think *S gets one bag free in AC FWIW

sofasurfer

Just realized that our rebooked tickets are in Y fare bucket - which, if I'm not mistaken, is fully flexible, right?

It appears UA3733 has lots of seats in E+ and F (E- is full, not sure if/when switches to E+ would show).

Currently booked on UA8350 (which is AC metal) - but 3733 is UA metal.

Would there be any chance we could go to the UA desk and ask to be put on to UA3733 (and hopefully all end up with E+, maybe the girls get upgrades - looks like all the other upgrades have cleared)?

I understand YYZ UA is now contract, not sure if that would make a difference. But is this doable if we are on full Y tickets now?

I reckon we'll end up at YYZ at about 0545-0600, so we could make UA3733. Depends if UA check-in desk could assist.

If not, it appears that Y bucket in AC (latitude) allows 2 free bags, so that also seems promising - but we'd arrive in Terminal A at IAH, and we'll need to get across to C for UA1245. Not transferred in IAH before, so no idea if this is a big deal with the family.

Thoughts?

Often1

There's nothing to follow up. VDB is whatever you negotiated and that, in this case, turns out to be a reroute xYYZ.

mduell

Your Y booking class was done for ease/expediency/maybe a favor, but won't stand up to much scrutiny.

You can call now and see if they'll put you back on 3733, you don't need to wait for the airport. But don't depend on a Y booking class helping you.

A->C at IAH is easy if annoying, take the airside train at the top of the terminal building.