RobOnLI

No, they're not likely to put you in Polaris for IAH-AMS. You have three main recourses here:
1. Call United and get them to put you on the later FRA-AMS flight on LH
2. Call United and ask for IAH-AMS but they are almost definitely going to put you back in your original coach class and waitlist you with PlusPoints
3. Call United and ask for a completely different routing (maybe via EWR/ORD that have nonstops to AMS) -- which you will also have to waitlist.

Always a chance you get an agent who is willing to put you in PZ but this flight change is not the result of UA but rather LH so they will be less likely to accommodate you. Please keep us posted on how this works out.

-RM

Kacee

This is an involuntary schedule change, and I would absolutely ask UA to rebook the new itinerary in Polaris, including IAH-FRA nonstop. Several years ago there's no question you would have been able to accomplish this; today it may be a bit more challenging, but the right agent should do it for you.

cfischer

IAH-FRA non-stop should be a no-brainer to get in Polaris with both segments already upgraded and an involuntary change. IAH-AMS seems doable with an understanding agent/supervisor as well.

dkc192

Agree that IAH-FRA and IAH-AMS should both be doable. My experience is that you will need to be patient and possibly HUCA many times--it seems like the majority of frontline agents don't know UA's policies for involuntarily rebooking passengers with confirmed upgrades after a schedule change.

More discussion about my and others' experience, and UA's policies, can be found here: Reprotection in PZ? on UA initiated schedule change.

DoneNunyez

Update--I was able to switch to the direct IAH-AMS flight confirmed in Polaris. The original ticket was booked through our corporate travel agent, so she had to handle actual call with United where the change was confirmed, but the two agents with whom I spoke initially this morning both strongly suggested that this was doable. And it ultimately was. Thank you all for the input.

Kapi04

Hi guys,

I need some advice concerning an schedule change on my booking and given the new rules I am not really quite sure what to do. It is an UA reservation & ticket I made with a travel credit I had from a cancellation during COVID but actually only 1 flight on this reservation is operated by United. I have a change on an Austrian Airlines flight from VIE to BKK where the flight time changed from 11:25 pm to 8:15 pm, so more than 3 hours earlier.

As far as I understand the policy I have to accept schedule changes up to 6 hours. Is this really enforced in such a case, as it is a non-UA flight and the flight is several hours earlier. Would I have purchased that ticket with Lufthansa Group I would be able to cancel for a refund for sure, but given this is a 016 ticket what are my options?

It was originally planned as a milage run, but I don't need the miles anymore so my preferred option would be to cancel. How are my chances in this regard and what could be other options?

Given I had booked with a travel credit + additional payment, in case UA would accept a refund I guess they would issue a new travel credit with the original value and refund the additional payment, correct? What would be the validity (expiration date) of such a travel credit, the one from the original credit or a new validity date?

cfischer

You can get a refund to the original FOP with a 3 hr schedule change. You'll probably get a 12/31/23 travel credit, but it could be 2/1/24 ... would it matter?

jsloan

Is VIE a starting point or a connecting point on the journey? You may have a hard time convincing an agent that you should get a refund because of less time spent waiting at the airport.

Kapi04

Thanks!
VIE is a connecting point, however stopover over 24h now moved to less than 24h, so I think technically anything >24h is not a connection? I am flying LHR-VIE / VIE-BKK, arriving in VIE March 21 10:40pm leaving now March 22 08:15 pm (originally 11:25pm). So yes it is a connecting point but not waiting time at the airport but originally >24h in VIE. Actually there was even a surcharge for stopovers in terms of fare but still resulting in a lower total price as departure Tax in LHR is only calculated for VIE in such a case and departure Tax in VIE is much lower.

Actually validity could matter as I have already booked a trip to US in 2023 but plan to go to Hawaii in Feb 2024 so I could use it for sure then. If you say FOP, would that mean they would issue a new travel credit of the original value and the additional payment would be refunded to my credit card?

jsloan

OK, from that perspective it was originally a stopover, so the three-hour change should probably be enough to get a refund. It may be a bit of a fight, though.

cfischer

3 hrs earlier arrival may not work ... I have never had a pushback when either arrival or departure changed by more than 2 hours. Now, if you are only shifting layovers ... that is a different story

Kapi04

Is it really a layover? I thought from terminology connection <24h = layover, connection >24h = stopover. I know few hours do not make a huge difference in reality but as there is a fee for stopovers which I have paid it should make a difference

jsloan

It was ticketed as a stopover. It's no longer a stopover with the schedule change. There might be an argument for re-ticketing it without the stopover fee, but then you'd have or pay the higher UK Air Passenger Duty, so it's probably a wash.

Layover is not, strictly speaking, an industry-defined term. The word you want is "transfer."

Kapi04

Understood, Thanks! In case I will be able to convince UA and they will give me a travel credit which has the conditions "Begin Travel by Dec 31 2023" and book a new flight with that is it really only the first leg which has to be within this time frame, meaning I can move all other legs into 2024 if it would be a multi city itineary

jsloan

Yes, that's what they mean by beginning travel.