Check Your UA Itineraries for Schedule Changes and what to do after one
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#46
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
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ORD is Chicago O'Hare, not Orlando. Preferable for several reasons.
#47
Join Date: May 2007
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If HNL-IAH-EWR does have both legs in lie flat seats, then I would actually prefer that over HNL-ORD (Chicago, not Orlando)-EWR. Sleep for 5-6 hours on the HNL-IAH flight, then catch another nap on the IAH-EWR flight.
#49
Join Date: May 2012
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Before you call back, check the availability of First Class seats on HNL-ORD and HNL-IAH (I prefer the longer first segment). HNL-ORD may not operate every day. You can make the agent’s job easier with flight information on your hands.
Good luck.
Good luck.
#50
Join Date: May 2003
Location: LAX
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EWR-HNL this time
Looking at the same set of options for the reverse routing: my non-stop EWR-HNL just got changed to EWR-LAX-HNL. I don't want to do that routing as the second leg is not a lie flat. DEN/SFO both available lie flat all the way through, ORD available with the first flight on a RJ. IAH not flying that day. I would normally opt for the longest flight possible to HNL, but I'm thinking I may opt for SFO as it will give lounge access throughout (and Centurion in SFO).
For those who've flown the longhaul Hawaii flights, anything special to consider? Otherwise, I suppose breaking up the long daytime flights basically in half might not be that bad of an option.
For those who've flown the longhaul Hawaii flights, anything special to consider? Otherwise, I suppose breaking up the long daytime flights basically in half might not be that bad of an option.
#51
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Current lounge offerings aren't a particularly good reason for choosing one route or another nowadays, but for a daytime flight, why not via SFO...
You'll get a somewhat better meal on EWR-SFO than on either ORD-HNL or SFO-HNL.
#52
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Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 11,017
True and good luck keeping the upgrades.
I booked a trip directly with UA, in Premium Plus (R and B fares), just to have it downgraded to a different itinerary on W.
One domestic segment didn't have PZ and agents refused to keep the upgrade even though it was an involuntary change.
In another thread I was told UA keeps the upgrades in case of involuntary changes but that's not my experience. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
I booked a trip directly with UA, in Premium Plus (R and B fares), just to have it downgraded to a different itinerary on W.
One domestic segment didn't have PZ and agents refused to keep the upgrade even though it was an involuntary change.
In another thread I was told UA keeps the upgrades in case of involuntary changes but that's not my experience. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
#53
Join Date: May 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,768
- Requesting a rebook onto UA metal within normal schedule change parameters (different UA flight +/- 7 days (IIRC), potentially to different city within X miles): this should be doable under the current schedule change policy, but lately I've experienced alarmingly many 1K agents not knowing the full policy. I don't know the GG code to ask them to reference (does anyone?), but usually a prod along the lines of of "when doing an involuntary rebook due to schedule change in the past, I've usually been able to preserve the upgrade even though PN/PZ is not available on the new flights" has done the trick for me. It usually ends up requiring a trip to the support desk for the agent, though. Of course, YMMV more considerably with more "extreme" requests, such as changing from SFO-HKG to SFO-TPE and terminating at TPE due to cancellation of all UA service to HKG.
- Requesting a rebook onto UA metal outside of normal schedule change parameters: I've only tried this once and was met with a hard no. I was booked to fly SFO-HKG last December, and tried to get rebooked into PZ on the same route later this year, with all TPAC PZ space zeroed out at the time. The one agent I spoke with said I would need to re-waitlist for PZ. I did not try again--I wasn't super set on going to HKG in 2021 anyways; I just wanted to test out what could and couldn't be done. YMMV with another agent, I guess.
- Requesting a rebook onto JV/*A partner metal: I've wondered about this but not tried. For example, with my SFO-HKG example above, with enough persistence, I can probably get them to force open PZ on SFO-NRT (or any other logical connecting point en route to HKG), but what about that last NRT-HKG leg on NH? I'd expect the chances of success, no matter how low, to be higher on JV partners than non-JV partners. Even if they would rebook on JV partners for the last leg, I'd expect them to firmly say no to being rebooked on JV partners on the overwater leg, e.g., SFO-NRT in my example.
- I'd also be concerned about the JV partner itself honoring the upgrade or trying to pull shenanigans on the day of travel. I've seen many a report of LH unilaterally downgrading a rebooked PN/PZ passenger due to UA IRROPS, but unclear if/how schedule change rebooking might be different.
Mods, if we feel this warrants a thread of its own, feel free to move accordingly.
#54
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#55
Join Date: May 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,768
Had two pure UA flights cancelled, both PP-confirmed upgrades, needed to rebook four weeks later from original dates.
Flight 1: agent honors upgrade and all confirmed and email received!
Flight 2/different PNR and new phone call: refused to honor upgrade, only WL - oh well
Flight 1: agent honors upgrade and all confirmed and email received!
Flight 2/different PNR and new phone call: refused to honor upgrade, only WL - oh well
#56
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Your second call is in line with my experience described in the second bullet point of my post. Asking for a rebook four weeks later due to a schedule change is not really in line with UA's schedule change policy, which is +/- 7 days IIRC, and would therefore be considered a voluntary change. But as you found out, YMMV!
#57
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The key is was there a reasonable reschedule / accommodate (within a week) which then UA would have honored the upgrade most likely -- but a shift for 4 weeks looks more like a opportunistic reschedule (to UA).
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 20, 21 at 11:32 pm
#58
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: Delta DM, Hilton Diamond
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I booked BWI-DEN-BWI and was scheduled changed to BWI-IAH-DEN-IAH-BWI, adding about 3-4 hours of travel in each direction. I called and requested to be put on the IAD-DEN-IAD non-stop flights that depart at almost identical times to my original flights, but was refused by the agent because she said BWI and IAD are not the same "origin". To make the change I'd have to pay the difference in fare (it's roughly 3x more expensive). I usually fly Delta and have always been able to make co-terminal changes in this type of situation. Does United in fact require the exact same airports or did I just get a bad agent?
#59
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I booked BWI-DEN-BWI and was scheduled changed to BWI-IAH-DEN-IAH-BWI, adding about 3-4 hours of travel in each direction. I called and requested to be put on the IAD-DEN-IAD non-stop flights that depart at almost identical times to my original flights, but was refused by the agent because she said BWI and IAD are not the same "origin". To make the change I'd have to pay the difference in fare (it's roughly 3x more expensive). I usually fly Delta and have always been able to make co-terminal changes in this type of situation. Does United in fact require the exact same airports or did I just get a bad agent?
#60
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A nice favorable change today. The DEN-YVR segment we had booked is no longer operating in September, so we got rerouted via SFO on our return flight from Boston. We booked Business Class, so it's a nice switch from domestic F to p.s. lie-flat.
I may request ORC for BiS, but since we'll both be 1MM by then, it really doesn't matter.
I may request ORC for BiS, but since we'll both be 1MM by then, it really doesn't matter.