radiowell

My LAX-HNL flight has been getting schedule changes every week for the last 4 weeks, departure time changes from 8:00 to 8:20 to 8:00 to 8:20

transportprof

That might have been me. I had a January trip into BWI that was changed to DCA without pushback. The sked change was >2 hours because the YVR-DEN morning flight was cancelled that month and I was rerouted through ORD.

smxflyer

Just to follow-up. Super helpful agent put me on SYR-IAD with zero fuss after I said I wasn't comfortable with that connection. I've been checking out the 730 PM SYR-EWR every day last couple weeks and it's canceled or delayed pretty much daily. I know it's YMMV, but this kind of flexibility keeps me loyal to United. I'm planning to write in about this agent being great, but I wonder if they will get dinged for doing this fee-free...

jjmoore

Hard to say if this agent would be reprimanded because the connection was TECHNICALLY legal yet she/he changed it for you for free, but I can attest with enough EWR data points from personal experience that you had a better than 50% chance of a missed connection with that 39 minute window....... not sure if I would write in. Typically when an agent helps me out in such ways, I share my gratitude personally over the phone and leave it there, as many have bent the rules for me in the past.

WineCountryUA

Haven't had a recent schedule change, but got hit with a minor change (scale of 5 minutes) on a recent booking. The more interesting aspect was beside the standard red letter warning, there was a verbal description There were the standard red highlights in the changed portion of reservation but this additional verbal description was new to me.

^^^

goalie

It's a nice visual ^ and I had that happen to goalie-parents' flights in May 3 times in January (complete with saying that the aircraft had changed from an e175 to a cee-argh-jay 700 )

cfischer

Yeah, I had some of these yesterday as well including equipment change notice ... your flight is now operated by a 737-800.

jmo2177

I recently booked Toronto (YYZ) to Osaka (KIX) via SFO on United on Aug. 19. The flight from Toronto to SFO (AC737) just had a schedule change of 20 min, so that my connection time got shortened from 70 to 50 mins. Even though both flights are at G gates I'm not 100% comfortable with this now as the AC flight has an average delay of 10-20 min and seems to be delayed by more than 30 at least once a week. Plus its the only direct flight to Osaka. I called United last night and the only thing the rep was offering was YYZ-ORD-SFO as a replacement which is equally as bad as the connection in ORD is only 56 minutes. Their advice was to wait for a while as it's still a long time away.

Any advice? I'm considering the following:
1) Getting on the evening flight from YYZ to SFO the day before (but is this even possible as it changes the departure date?)
2) Changing itinerary to be YYZ-(SFO/ORD/LAX/DEN)-NRT-ITM/KIX with more reasonable connections (looks like I would only get to Osaka 3 hours later this way)
3) Waiting another few months before doing anything (but then will have worse seat selection and availability)
4) Just keeping it and risking that we get bumped to a SFO-NRT-ITM/KIX itinerary same day or SFO-KIX the next day

jsloan

#1 is definitely possible if you want it. So is #2 -- you can actually throw in IAH, EWR, and IAD too, if those timings work. There's no real advantage to #3 , and #4 is definitely risky. For a once-daily flight, even 70 minutes at SFO is a little tight for my taste.

N104UA

As you are calling UA, I am assuming you are on UA ticket stock. IMHO think #2 is your best choice as it isn't a forced overnight in SFO, I would just call in and play dumb and ask if there is another way to get to KIX, maybe via NRT/HND and see what they offer, I usually start with this then just ask questions like "what about through NRT" I find a better response then saying this is exactly what I want. It is a long shot but you could see if they can put you on the AC nonstop from YYZ-HND/NRT.

jmo2177

Yeah I took another look at the on-time data and given AC737's poor OTP I'm inclined to switch to a YYZ-(UA Hub)-NRT/HND-KIX/ITM itinerary.

Any advice on dealing with UA over the phone? Last night when I called the rep was really unhelpful as "it is only a 20 minutes difference". I noticed that they don't even list this as a legal itinerary anymore on their timetable or website but it doesn't meet their 30 minute policy for "significant changes". HUCA as many times as needed?

Policy I found:
If your scheduled departure or arrival time changes by 30 minutes or more, we're happy to try to find other available flight options that meet your needs. Please keep the following in mind when you call:

• Your origin and destination will have to be the same as on your original itinerary. (there aren't any NRT-KIX flights AFAIK... only to ITM)
• If you have a connection, you may be able to choose a different connecting city or airport.
• Alternative flights must be operated by United or our United Express® partners. (eliminates the chance of AC?)

If we aren't able to find any other flights that meet your needs, requesting a refund may be an option. See the section below for more information.

Also, if I get the chance to choose, 777 or 787 in regular economy class?

findark

I still see the connection sold, so I thought you might be at the point of hoping for a lenient agent who understands how tight the connection is. Question for other experts - is Canada considered domestic for the purposes of computing MCT? Otherwise I don't see how 0h53 meets the MCT. Still a bit skeptical, to be honest:

jsloan

The next section, under refunds, includes a bullet point for "The change causes issues with the overall length of the trip, such as making the connection time too short or significantly longer than it originally was."

The Minimum Connection Time at SFO for an AC-UA mainline-mainline transfer is 50 minutes. When you say your connection changed from 70 to 50, are you rounding at all? If it's actually 49, you should be able to get them to reroute you with no problem. Even if it is 50, HUCA a couple of times and you'll likely find someone who's sympathetic.

I would expect ITM could be subbed for KIX for this kind of change, provided that the agent knows they're both Osaka. It might help to ask them to search for flight to "OSA," which is the city code for Osaka and includes KIX, ITM, and UKB (although the latter rarely seems to show up). You're correct that there are no NRT-KIX flights (at least on NH), but there are several HND-KIX flights, if that helps.

Provided it's a preclearance airport, I believe so, yes. Otherwise, there'd be no point to having a rule for AC-UA DI on AC -- you'd need a domestic UA flight with an AC code connecting to an international flight with a UA code, and how would anyone ever buy that?

jmo2177

On my official itinerary from UA, AC737 arrives at 10:35am and UA35 departs at 11:25am. On the AC timetable, AC737 arrives at 10:32am. So it's either 50 or 53 min. Can anyone answer findark's questions about MCT? Edit: Thanks jsloan.

I'm going to try calling tonight and HUCAing as much as required. Thanks for the help everyone!

Ari

Here's my situation:

I'm on a PNR of 3 passengers that was ORD-OGG-ORD nonstop this coming December on HI-configured 777s (paid first--$2,300+ per pax). UA decided that ORD-OGG-ORD should only be nonstop on Saturdays and we're flying on other days, so UA dumped us on flights via SFO and LAX that include a red-eye that is 3hr 38m; all flights are non-lie-flat.

I think I want to ask for the nonstop ORD-HNL-ORD flights and HA connectors as a more reasonable itinerary; is that allowed, or will I get a "full refund, take it or leave it" shoved in my face? To be blunt, I didn't sign up for 20 hours of non-flat flying and I would find it ridiculous for anyone to suggest that what I bought (quick comfortable itinerary) is remotely close to what I have now.