ElieW

I'm happy to report that UA has reconsidered. I didn't expect the email, but it noted that the review board took an additional look at the case and determined it was eligible for cash compensation.

Whether it was related to the nasty email legal threats, the DOT complaint or the credit card dispute I'll never know.

This definitely restores some of my faith in UA. I was really shocked at how this had been handled.

Thank you all who encouraged me to keep fighting!

mdobbins

Congratulations and thank you for the followup!

I'm not sure it restores my faith per se - if threats or complaints are all this corporation is able to respond to, I don't think that's a sustainable business model.

ElieW

You are right, that's why I said some. I'd like to think it wasn't the govt complaints or credit card disputes. Could they really work that quickly?

Kacee

^^

Way to not give up. And thanks for reporting back.

Actually many insurance companies follow this model as their normal course of business. I'm not endorsing it, but these are smart players and they've undoubtedly done sophisticated analyses. Not sure UA has made a similar calculus as opposed to just having an arbitrary process with a bias towards "no."

goalie

Well done ^ and way to not give up ^

dickerso

I agree. Doing the right thing only after throwing the book in terms of credit card charge backs, DOT complaints, and legal threats isn't exactly underlining United's innate fairness and reasonableness.

mherdeg

Cool. How much?

joshwex90

Did UA ever re-book you or did you suffer additional out-of-pocket expenses until reaching your destination?

How much did they agree to pay out?

spin88

There are lots of reports of quick call backs from UA in response to DOT complaints. Its why I suggest people use them. No way that they take each issue and review it with some kind of review board. What happened is that the department that deals with DOT complaints decided this was not one they wanted to flight, cut you a check.

It should not take a complaint to DOT to get UA's attention, but unfortunately it appears it does...

LHR Wannabee

Congratulations on not giving up! By coincidence, I just downloaded UA's contract of carriage (I travel with it) which was updated this month and I noticed that it references that compensation for delays and/or cancellations (with categories based upon duration and whether prior notice) for flights departing from outside of the US are subject to any requirements for compensation from the country of departure.

ElieW

They offered 3,000 Shekels on a debit card ($795), or a e-certificate worth a nice amount more, or 30,000 miles. For my valued time spent on this case and the 2 hour delay on the make up flight they let me keep the first $175 certificate and the 5,000 miles they had subsequently put into my account to try to placate me. I thought that was a nice gesture. (Though all the extra combined covers what they should have compensated me for canceled flight #1 in February)

In this case I only had small expenditures. I was re booked on the next flight (had to request, it wasn't auto) which was scheduled about 13 hours later. However, I couldn't make the connections to LAX, so I had to push off for a week. That extra trip to airport for LAX flight and parking probably cost about $50. More important to me was the extreme pressure I had to deal with to fit that trip in within a very hectic work/flight schedule


Do they really respond to DOT complaints that quick? Do they even receive notification so quick? It was just over 48 hours after I filed the DOT, and only about 4 hours after DOT responded to me. Same with the credit card dispute...

Often1

I find it hard to believe that in 48 hours, someone at DOT actually looked at the complaint, reviewed it, determined that it related to UA as opposed to some other carrier, forwarded it to UA where someone received it, opened it, reviewed it, pulled up the PNR details, reviewed those, made a determination and notified you.

But, the bottom line here is that what Kacee says is true. It is an entirely viable business model to say no until you are forced to say yes. It is all based on canned emails and low-level employees and few people know that they can pursue a claim or can be bothered to pursue a claim if they know about it.

Studies of EC 261/2004 (not directly relevant to Israel, but nonetheless a good insight into human nature) suggest that less than 2% of valid claims are even made.

With those numbers, it is a heck of a lot easier to say no, no and then yes as I would hazard that the 2% drops radically with every "no".

ElieW

I agree with you 100%. All of this (and more) goes in to the calculations if it's worth it to send/redirect another 777 (which sometimes they do). If they figured %75 of passengers would file for the comp, they probably would have found a way to get a plane there!

Kacee

Yes. Not always, but there are plenty of reports in this forum of startlingly quick responses to a DOT complaint.

spin88

I don't know specifically (other than reports here, and my personal experience) with the notification process, but I know from other agencies (NHTSA, CPSC) that (1) as soon as the complaint is logged it is sent over, and (2) the company (here UA) designates someone to receive them.

UA probably knew before DOT wrote you back about the complaint (if its automated like with NHTSA) but they certainly would have gotten it when DOT wrote you back. Since it goes to someone at UA whose job is to issue spot, I am not surprised they got back quickly, as they have to then report back to DOT and how quickly they respond is part of what they have to tell DOT.

I think Kacee is correct, its the insurance model, saying no is cheap/easy, and 99% of people drop it. But when called (as e.g. in insurance with bad faith) on it, they usually roll over.

No way a credit card dispute got this type of quick response, and I think this is further confirmation that the ONLY "savvy" way to deal with UAL is to file a DOT complaint.