cfischer

People on FT ? I book far out whichever cheapest nonsense routing I can find, because I know there will be numerous schedule changes that will allow me to get a convenient routing. I can only recall 1 instance where I had to fly an unnecessarily convoluted routing.

mahasamatman

Yes. Most people in FT are still sane.

TMetanova

Got hit again for May. My original international to domestic in IAH passed from a total 2:30 hours to 1:30 hours I was prepared to run with the first change leaving it at 1:53 but now seems impossible. The next flight is in like 5 hours. Does anyone know if I can ask for an alternative to the flight changes they are suggesting (without cost)?

jsloan

Minimum Connection Time for UA international to domestic at IAH ranges from 1h20m to 1h30m depending upon terminal assignments, unless you're coming from SAL, in which case you have to add an extra 10 minutes.

While your reservation is still technically legal, you may be able to et an agent to move you. It helps if you have a preferred UA-operated alternative in mind. Call and just say that you're nervous about your connection because the transfer time got so much smaller and see what happens. If the agent seems unwilling, don't escalate or try to argue; just thank them politely, hang up, and call again. This is within the agent's discretion.

TMetanova

I might wait a little because the schedule looks strange. The flight changed only for May 7th, May 14th and May 21st, keeping the original schedule for every other day in April and May, and actually extended the connection an extra hour starting May 28th. Maybe United is still adjusting?

jsloan

Sure. There's no particular rush. Give it a week or two to settle down, and then call when it's convenient if there's still a problem.

dodohuipy9

I had a schedule change on a J ticket SEA-YVR-FRA-xxx, with the SEA-YVR segment in Y since it was an AC Dash 8 without a J cabin. I requested rerouting on SEA-YYZ-FRA-xxx. The agent was able to put me on my desired flights but only with SEA-YYZ in Y. I argued that the ticket is a business class (P) fare basis and I would expect to be accommodated in J where available, but the agent said they could not move me to J since the original class of service for the first segment was Y and the ticket was booked as a mixed-cabin itinerary. Asked to escalate and agent came back with the same answer after confirming with supervisor and contacting the pricing department. Ended up settling with SEA-YVR-YYZ-FRA-xxx with SEA-YVR in Y and YVR-YYZ in J. Just wondering if this is expected practice and if there's anything I could have done differently?

jsloan

Mixed-cabin itineraries can get complicated, and agents can get confused. What you could have done differently, though, is hung up and called again to get a different agent, instead of escalating. You might have found that a second agent was more amenable to your logic. Escalating rarely works, as most managers seem just to back up their front-line staff no matter how wrong they might be.

mahasamatman

Unless it was a terrible schedule change, I would have kept the original. Not only is YVR-FRA is a far better experience than YVR-YYZ-FRA, but I would never add an additional stop if it could be avoided.

cfischer

You sometimes get that nonsense from agents. I assume this was a ticket with a through fare? Not constructed? Why was it routed via YVR in the first place? I ask because there are many cheap TATL J tickets ex Canada and some of them are combinable end-on-end with an el cheapo Y transborder ticket. Did you check the fare construction on the ticket?

dodohuipy9

Good to know re. escalation. Although unfortunately by the time I noticed the Y segment the agent had already pushed the changes through, so I would have been hesitant to HUACA.

The original flights were actually cancelled and the rebooking had me going SEA-YVR-LHR-MUC-xxx, so some major surgery was due regardless, plus I wanted to shift the flight by a few days. Point taken re. additional stop. I wanted YYZ so I could have an AC metal flight TATL and check out the Signature Suite. Definitely would have preferred the two stop itinerary, but thought having a lie flat for the transcon flight was a fair tradeoff.

The fare basis was indeed for SEA-xxx. Is it unusual for these itineraries to be routed via YVR?

CaptJOB

Flying on a TATL A fare AAA-EWR-SFO. Were initially on a 752 so the second leg was a B fare but there's a better flight I want to change to a few hours earlier on the TCON that has A space(789 with PE). Can I change to that flight without upfaring or is United not that generous?

jsloan

First of all, A space on EWR-SFO is irrelevant. You’d need A space on AAA-SFO, which is managed independently of inventory on both AAA-EWR and EWR-SFO. Second, as this is a voluntary change, your entire itinerary may be repriced using current fares — even legs you’re not changing.

CaptJOB

The AAA-SFO needing availability does make sense and currently it's only O but the AAA-EWR segment got moved two and a quarter hours earlier making our connection ~4 hours so I assumed there'd be some opportunity for a change. Seems like maybe a straight move to the B fare into Y is our only option unless I want to wait for A to open for the whole journey.

jsloan

If the EWR-SFO flight that you’d like is earlier than your existing flight, such that you’d be shortening the long layover by switching, then you might be able to get an agent to put you into PE on it. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s worth asking about.