alexiou

I just got off the phone with United after failing to cancel a mileage upgrade without paying a fee.

I honestly find the page that lists fees http://www.united.com/web/en-US/Cont...ticketing.aspx vague and confusing

I have Silver status and this is what I noticed in regards to fees and how they are "explained":

When booking a mileage upgrade award the word "Redeposit" is used while and "Re-credit" is used on the fees page. On the fees page, I was under the impression that such a change would be qualified as "Making a change 21 or more days prior to the date of travel (no change to origin/destination)". The footnote 1 seems to reinforce this since it says "Fee will be charged for any change to cabin, award type, carrier, date or time." However, according to the representative on the phone, such change falls under the "Canceling your trip and re-crediting the miles, up to one year from the original date of issue" category. If this was an award ticket, I totally agree. However, I am not canceling my trip and re-crediting the miles - I am only re-crediting the miles. Does United define an upgrade award as a trip?

What do you guys think about this? Shouldn't United change the wording?

Thank you.



http://www.united.com/web/en-US/Cont...ticketing.aspx

6rugrats

I am a little confused because your link goes to the page that discussed booking award tickets, and you didn't book an award ticket. You upgraded with miles and then tried to cancel the upgrade, correct?

I think this page has more useful information:
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...ade-terms.aspx

It does state you will have a redeposit fee, but doesn't say what that is. I agree, I think both pages (the one you linked and the one above) are a bit vague.

Kacee

UA considers this a redeposit of the miles used for the upgrade award and thus assesses a redeposit fee. It's a sleazy practice that's been discussed in previous threads.

Edited to add: the link above contains some relatively new language:

If you cancel your MileagePlus Upgrade Award, miles and co-pay may be refunded for the applicable redeposit fee.

So at least they are disclosing it now.

elg26

Question: I have a UA trip planned for next September for my wife and I which I may need to cancel for personal reasons.

I bought both tickets in E, and for 1 ticket used miles to upgrade ticket to F and did a paid upgrade to F for $300 on the other.

If I cancel my ticket, I believe I can get the points back on the mileage upgrade (for a redeposit fee), but what happens to my paid upgrade? Does it get added to the overall cost of that ticket one I first bought it (which I have 12 months to use)? Or do I lose it completely?

Thank you in advance.

WineCountryUA

The co-pay fee and the miles will be refunded but there maybe a fee, just like cancelling an award ticket, depending on your elite status.

StingWest

For the one you bought, the actual fare paid (including the upgrade fee) will be refunded, less the change fee. For the one you bought, then upgraded with miles, you should get the entire upgrade fee back, but there may be a charge to redeposit the miles, depending on your status (as pointed out above)

elg26

Thanks for clarifying. 1 last question on the refund.

So im clear that miles then come back to my MP account (with the $100 fee)....

But if I made the reservation for both of us, and they were made under 2 separate reservations (1 for my wife and 1 for me)..... and I cancelled both... would the total $ credit be put under my name.

Wife ticket: $600
My ticket: $300

Would the $900 credit (less the eventual change fees of $300), be in my "account"? Or is it split between us separately per above?

mahasamatman

Each credit is in the name of the ticketed passenger. Also note that the credit is for the full amount of the ticket. The change fee is not deducted from the credit, but must be paid with new money in order to use the credit.

WineCountryUA

Refunds for upgrade fees/copay will be returned to the original method of payment.

Change fees are paid with new money and not deducted from the refunded amounts.

Refunds for airfare are handled differently and depend on fare rules.

DCEsquire

This is the first time I've noticed this. I had to cancel a reservation tonight. Typically I've always done this by phone. Maybe when I've done it by phone the agents have added back any miles that I've applied for upgrades... but MAYBE NOT..

This is the cancellation message.


This reservation is cancelled. An e-mail confirmation of this cancellation will be sent to EMAIL

Please note that the Regional Premier Upgrades redeemed for your original itinerary will be redeposited to the associated MileagePlus account. You are required to contact the MileagePlus Service Center to redeposit the miles redeemed for your mileage upgrade. A fee may apply for the mileage redeposit.

Can someone explain why this isn't automatic for 1ks? Also who has to pay a fee and what kind of damage are you looking at?

I am sorta shocked that I didn't know this. I'm on with UA and it took about 10-15 minutes to process. Asked the agent why I needed to call and she didn't have any idea....

mahasamatman

The "quality" of United's programmers should explain it all.

Everyone below Platinum, between $100 and $200. https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...ticketing.aspx

DCEsquire

Wow...that is just wrong! Apparently the top benefit of being a 1K is that you get taken advantage of less...

emcampbe

An upgrade with mileage is an award, essentially the same as booking an award ticket. Redeposit fees are the same - note the fees aren't listed as a cancelation fee, but specifically - a few to redeposit miles into the account.

Personally, I see absolutely no issue with the fee being assessed if the upgrade has cleared already. Though I think most agree it's pretty egregious to charge it when an upgrade hasn't cleared at the time of cancelation. By policy, this is the way it is.

DCEsquire

My upgrade hadn't cleared AND I had to call (as a 1K) otherwise the miles would just have disappeared. I'm guessing they would have charged me 100 or 200 bucks for the privileged of getting my miles back even though the award hadn't cleared but would be interesting to know for sure.

milemonkey

I'm sure if I was in the right frame of mind I could find the answer but please bear with me.

Due to last minute work issues I have to cancel my vacation

I used miles to upgrade my wife and I to first.

Will I get these 80,000 miles back and if so, is there an additional charge beyond the base ticket change fee of $200?

So sad.