sonith231

Last Saturday coming back from Budapest I was diverted from Houston to Chicago due to the hurricane (routing was Budapest-Munich-Houston-XNA/Fayetteville). I get that the diversion isn't United's responsibility, my issue is with what happened after.

First, they kept us in the plane for about an hour while refueling and trying to get a routing to Houston. Was obvious from the news that would never happen.

Once off the plane spent about two hours going to/from various lines and waiting in them. Eventually was told they could put me on an American flight to XNA. Couldn't get them to consider a later United flight, they wanted me out of there ASAP.

After waiting at the American counter, they declined the ticket/reservation that United had generated and said they weren't allowed to accept it. Reasons given were the international origin and that the original United ticket was an award ticket. American agent said she didn't even know how they got the reservation process that far.

Back to United, more walking/waiting, by that time the later UA flight was full. They get me a discount at a hotel and I ended up flying home the next morning.

So far I've only gotten an automated offer for 5000 miles or $100 in credit. Should I ask for more? Does the diversion relieve them of responsibility for what happened after?

WineCountryUA

Short answer -- they owe you nothing. There is no requirement to offer anything, especially in these circumstances.

The offer is a goodwill / customer appreciation gesture. The bungled attempted to get you out earlier on another carrier is one (when done correctly) many would like to see done more often. The issue with AA -- hard to tell where that when wrong -- there have been cases where it appears the UA agent messed up but also cases where the AA messed up -- so it is hard to know. This attempted good deed, gone bad is the only real issue you have that might deserve a goodwill gesture.

If you think you deserve more, ask for more -- but realize the Texas situation has created huge disruptions in the system and much of this is new ground to have a major hub closed for a week. Not much precedence.

milemonkey

My flight home was delayed over three hours for non weather related issues.
What compensation am I entitled to?

Kacee

Unless it was on an EU carrier or an EU departure, you are not entitled to anything.

UA may provide comp as a customer service gesture, though that usually kicks in at four hours.

eng3

"entitled" to $0. If you are looking for compensation, simply contact customer service and complain and see what they give you. There is no set amount. I've gotten $200 for a 30min delay, $300 for a 10hr delay, miles for a 3hr delay. It's pretty random.

HoustonConsultant

I am massively sympathetic to folks who endure delays, and I'm generally fabulously cranky with UA's rolling 30 minute delays, but even I think that this week, maybe, just maybe, I might let UA slide for a 3 hour delay when their entire operational system has been thrown completely out of whack and they are working just to get folks moving again.

The random flight from Cleveland from Hartford today could easily be affected by Houston being shut down for a few days.

On any day, you are entitled to nothing, but today, I kinda hope you get nothing.

Kmxu

I got 6500 miles for 3 h plus a few minutes delay as 1K. See post #520 .

unrelatedly, United offered $100 travel voucher for GM and $175 for 1K for inoperative personal entertainment. This was on HNL-GUM 777 HD aircraft.

sooge_sj

Been a long time UA flyer without much issues until last night (9/1). The 7pm UA 926 from SFO to FRA was cancelled around 9:45pm due to a mechanical issue. The gate agent said that there will be a replacement flight on Saturday at 3:00 pm, and that everyone would be automatically rebooked on that and the checked luggage will be transferred. They wanted premier passengers to go to the premier check-in counters and the others to go to the economy check-in counters to get the new boarding passes for tomorrow, meal and hotel vouchers, and find out if they can get their checked luggage back that night.

I called the premier line and found out that I was scheduled to reach my final destination (MXP) at 1:30 pm on Sunday 9/3, instead of 6:30 pm on Saturday 9/2 as originally scheduled. I stuck around until 11:00 pm or so to get the promised hotel and meal vouchers, only to be told that because I am originating in SFO, I don’t get a hotel voucher. The food court at the international terminal was already closed, so all I got was a $10 voucher for lunch the next day. I live in the south bay, and it costs around $75 on Uber for me to get home. I asked them if UA would pay for the taxi cost to and from my home back to the airport the next day, and was told that I should file an online claim with my taxi/ride-share receipt. I asked if I get a hotel room that costs a similar amount to going home and coming back, would UA reimburse it. But they were not 100% sure UA would do it. So I decided to come home.

I had a hotel reservation in Milan for Saturday night, which was too late to cancel. My main reason for going to Milan was to see da Vinci's Last Supper at the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. I couldn’t get tickets, so I had to book a tour at 9:30 am on Sunday and it cost me around $85. But I am going to miss this. Now, hopefully I will get in to Milano Central with just enough time to catch my 5pm train to Venice.

So what compensation am I due? Also, hopefully they will reimburse the cost of going to and from home for the next day flight. If so, how do they reimburse? Send you a check?

WineCountryUA

Mostly bad news
As an originating passagner, it is standard that lodging is not offered.
Neither will transportation to/from the airport. This one you might have some luck writing in for but the initial response will usually be no and you may have to press for even a partial voucher.
Neither will your lost deposits for activities in Milan. (consequential or incidental damages)

The airline should provide some sort of customer inconvenience voucher (discount for future travel) or miles. You can write in and ask for more given the above but it is doubtful you will be made whole.

An option is to cancel for 100% refund but doubtful you would be able to find replacement air travel for the refund amount.

Pat89339

$175 ETC or 8750 miles for nonworking steaming video. The Captain called it in and I received an email before we landed with a link. The iffy wifi could not load the page, so I had to wait until landing to get it. SFO-HNL 772, ship #2511 .

helvetic

I've been waiting a week for a response now… ... UA?

WineCountryUA

For what kind of response?
A promised ETC or miles
or a response to incident where you got a coded card
or a generic response to emailed issue?

If you wrote in a complaint on your own it may take a week or two or never.

helvetic

A response to an email I sent 1KVoice. The longest I've ever had to wait previously has been a couple business days. But now on this one we're closing in on two weeks…

sooge_sj

Thanks for the quick response.

The original flight was delayed due to a broken AC. Because of the 102F temp at SFO on Friday, the cabin was too hot for the crew nor passengers to board, and they couldn’t get it fixed in time before the crew timed out. The cabin of the replacement flight was not much cooler on Saturday. We boarded on time, the door were closed, but we didn’t pull out from the gate. 30 minutes later the captain informed that baggage/cargo from the original flight was loaded in to the replacement flight without being x-rayed/scanned. So they had to take the stuff out and rescan, which delayed the replacement flight. Then it got too hot in the cabin, and some people wanted out. So they got the jet bridges back, opened the doors, and asked people to deplane. 15 minutes in to that, they announced that we should get back on the plane because it is ready to depart. It was a circus. After all that we arrived in FRA late, and most people, including me, missed their connections. I won’t be able to catch my train at Milano central and need to get a new ticket.

I am at the LH lounge in FRA, and just checked my email to find out that they offered me 20,00 miles of a $500 e-cert. I am not going to accept either.. Let see if writing to them will get me more

transportprof

Very sorry to read about your delay. I'm scheduled on 926 in October, and it's one of the few trips this year when I've got a command performance the next morning after I arrive in Europe - connecting FRA-GVA.
Learning from your experience, if 926 goes IRROPS, I'll try to get myself rerouted on a red-eye to EWR and then on to Europe from there - perhaps on the day flight to LHR. That gives more of chance to get where I need to be before it's too late.
On UA's offer, I'd accept their ETC, and then ask for more!