FlyerTalk Forums - When HUCA doesn't work

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This.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Often1 (Post 28467873)

I have never had a problem booking a ticket over the phone which could not be booked online by simply feeding the agent the exact itinerary, along with dates and flight numbers, so long as what I want to do is "legal."

I have had agents point out that what I want is doable, but appears to add vastly to the ticket cost and then ask whether I am certain that I want to do what I've asked for.

There has to be more to this story than what OP has said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by euslaner (Post 28467684)

I was in touch with someone higher up at United. The problem is more than solved.

Threw in a Polaris bear?

Strange that happened. I nearly always find an itinerary I want online, feed it to the agent who then sometimes finds a better alternative. Never once had a problem.

The only time I called to make a booking was for a complex, multi-city, multi-carrier itinerary involving UA, NH, and AC that showed up for me on ITA Matrix and Google Flights but did not appear on UA's website. I simply called and provided the dates, flight numbers, and class of service I wanted and there was no issue. The UA website actually gives you very limited options for complex itineraries like these, compared to what UA can actually ticket.

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxmillenial (Post 28467645)

You're not going to get what you want by hanging up the phone. How about just staying on the line until the supervisor gets back to you...if it was hours, I would say yea maybe you should hang up, but really, 10 minutes?

This. last week I wanted to upgrade a ticketed TATL on line, but as usual, .bomb wouldn't let me complete the transaction. Called the premier desk and it took 20 minutes, but the very nice CSR was able to pull it off.

Have some patience, and you will probably get what you want. @:-)

I've never had an issue telling an agent exactly what I wanted to fly. Sometimes the agent will ask me my origin and final destination versus putting it in leg by leg. However, the agent allows me to give the exact routing I want. If the agent can't find the routing and price, I may have to wait a while because the agent has to call the rate desk.
I've never had an issue with this other than having to wait a while.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CappuccinoAddict (Post 28469012)

The UA website actually gives you very limited options for complex itineraries like these, compared to what UA can actually ticket.

ill add to this - the website actually gives very limited options for very simple connecting itineraries as well - it frequently doesn't show standard, connections (under 4 hours connection time, etc.). These are flights I know exist on my more frequent routes, so I'm sure on routes I'm not as familiar with, I'm sure they don't show either. One example, there's a ~4:30pm CVG-ORD departure, and a ~5:50pm. It will often show me these flights connecting to flights departing ORD with 40-55 minute connection times, but will never allow the earlier flight connecting to the later with a 2 hour connection. I know there are times where some departing flights simply don't show up at all.

If Im connecting, which is most of the time, I use Google flights (which sometimes even gives lower prices than on UA.com for the same flights that do show up on both), or look as multicity - origin-hub, hub-destination. It takes more time, but is the only way sometimes to find the flights I need.

Also, I'll second that agents have always been able to look up itineraries for me if I feed them the info.