Quick Question, what are the rules during a delay
 

I am sure this has been answered somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

Yesterday, was flying from Florida to ORD and flight was delayed many hours.

I went to the American gate flying to chicago and they could accommodate me.

I offered to pay the one way and they said don't do that, because United should move me to the flight because of the delay, its the rule. Called united - but they said the flight was closed, so I quickly paid and went on my way.

SO in what situations does united have to move you to another carrier during a delay?

Thanks

None. But they can.

In the scenario you are describing you likely would have been more successful with an agent at the airport pushing you to AA than one on the phone.

researching further, at a 2 hour delay - it looks like you can ask

Using another airline. When United has delayed or canceled a flight due to reasons such as certain mechanical problems, and you are going to be delayed more than two hours, we will try to book you on another airline with which we have an agreement for rebooking. When the delay or cancellation is due to something beyond our control, such as weather or air traffic control problems, we typically do not rebook customers on other airlines

https://www.united.com/CMS/en-US/tra...ellations.aspx

Quick Question, what are the rules during a delay
 

Any rebooking OAL is going to be at UAs discretion. The ability to do it is there, it's just a matter of the attitude of the agent. Some will do it voluntarily, some will do it upon request and some will seem to avoid doing it at all. Note that the COC very purposely says they "may" rebook you on another carrier. Usually easier to do if a flight is canceled as opposed to delayed, the delay is longer rather then shorter, and it's more easily done for something under UAs control than outside of it.

Also, some carriers don't interline with anyone else, so UA can not rebook to. Typically, LCCs - in the US, WN, B6, Spirit, Allegiant. It goes both ways - so WN flyers can't rebook with another airline either.