Carter29072

Advice needed-- About two weeks ago my son and his wife were traveling to London from the US. When they arrived to the airport they realized that name on her ticket was booked in her married name and she had not changed her name on her passport. That is a long story for another thread! So, they missed their original flight that was booked on points. My son called United and spoke with someone (with a thick accent). He was told that they could get on a later flight that day, no problem. They rebooked them on a later flight (with her correct name on the ticket. He was told that the charge would be 10,000 points per ticket plus $242 each. Also, they changed his wives returning ticket from London with her name to match her passport, no charge. He gave the agent his credit card number to cover the $242 x2 tickets. During this time, his phone was running low so he told her that he needed her name and direct # so he could have it written down. She said "let me get your flight confirmed". She never would give him her information before his phone lost battery power. Because he was at the airport, a United agent confirmed that they were on the next flight so he thought all was good. Within a day, he sees that United had charged $4800 to his Chase United credit card account plus $484 (he expected the 484) The phone agent had purchased 130,000 united miles with his credit card, then used 70,000 of those miles toward their flights. None of this makes sense. He has called United and they have told him that they will not refund him because they cannot refund for purchased miles. He has called several times and no one at United seems willing to help. He didn't authorize the $4800 charge!! It seems like some one could pull a recording of the date and time of the phone call. He has disputed the charge with Chase. They told him they are still investigating it (going on three weeks). He is totally frustrated and feels like he is going to get stuck with this charge. Please, if you have any advice or know who to call, please let me know. Thank you!

MSPeconomist

Can you tell whether the phone agent tried to change the original award tickets or to cancel them and issue totally new award tickets? The latter action would probably lead to a lag in miles being returned to the account(s), so if the new tickets were attempted to be issued without sufficient miles, it might have triggered the purchase of miles, but 130,000 when only 70,000 were needed seems strange.

EmailKid

That's the only part I don't find strange.

Same day travel saver was probably not available, hence need for standard miles to book.

MSPeconomist

But then why and how were the tickets issued for only 70,000 miles?

transportprof

If OP's son and daughter-in-law were already at the airport when they realized there was a mismatch between ticketed names and travel documents, why did they call United, rather than work directly with live ticket agents at the airport? The chances for miscommunication and misadventure, as described in this thread, usually go up when one is communicating on the phone.

mduell

If Chase sides with United, his next contact should be United's registered agent since he'll be suing them in small claims.

Lines at the airport can be much slower than calling in for a rebook. I generally tell people to do both, call in while you wait in line. Also calling provides the opportunity to record the call, which is a bit more awkward in person.

EmailKid

Maybe that does not make sense either

My guess is that saver reward popped up at last second but agent already purchased 130K miles. All that is pure speculation of course ...

transportprof

Sometimes I also use the phone when at the airport, but when there aren't IRROPS, I'd take the time to get a change made in person. Since this was a one-off problem (i.e., not a meltdown with mx or wx), there shouldn't have been an inordinate wait to get the fix done face to face.

As for getting everything recorded, we'll see whether those records are ever brought to bear in this dispute.

Carter29072

I understand. Just spoke with him and he told me that the agent at the airport told him that he couldn't make the change that he had to connect him with a phone agent. I now realize that the United agent (at the airport) made the call for him and handed him the phone so he could talk to the customer service rep. It was the airport agents phone that eventually lost power. The airport agent did confirm that he could see on his computer that the tickets were booked, of course, he didn't know the phone agents had screwed up and charged my son $4800 extra.

But, the agent NEVER told my son that the charge would be $4800 and she would be purchase XXX number of miles. She told him that the change of flight would be $242 plus 10,000 miles for each ticket. He had the miles in his account. He only gave his cc number to her for that charge, not the $4800. Now, United is telling him that they do not refund charges for miles. They should if he didn't authorize it.

jsloan

I don't think anyone is arguing that point; I think people are just trying to understand the mechanics that could lead to this type of error occurring. For one thing, I can't figure out what the 10,000 miles were supposed to be for. What class of service were they flying? What airline? The only 10,000 delta I see is from *A business (70K) to UA first (80K), but that doesn't really match the details of the story. I also don't understand the $242. Taxes and fees difference? That's lot of taxes.

No company can stand on a 'no refunds' policy for unauthorized charges. Accidental charges, maybe -- for example, if someone were to go through the purchase process online, not notice that they were being charged, and then complain about it afterwards, they're probably SOL.

UA should do the right thing. Assuming they don't (and it sounds like they haven't / won't), Chase should, because they will require UA to prove that the charge was authorized. If that doesn't happen, I would file a DOT complaint next -- it falls in the realm of deceptive pricing, if nothing else. And, if that somehow failed to result in an acceptable outcome, I agree with the earlier poster who suggested small claims court.

WineCountryUA

The easiest first step is filing a credit card dispute -- that will cause something to happen. UA will need to attest to the credit card company authorization was provided, so likely they will check the audio recordings.

Small claims or other approaches can happen later. DOT isn't going to get in the middle of this as this is a one-off (not a systemic issue) and facts are far from clear.

MSPeconomist

OP says "He has disputed the charge with Chase." So the credit card dispute has been filed, but OP is pessimistic that it will work, based on what OP has said.

WineCountryUA

Still best to let that play out first. The delay in responding may be a good sign -- suggesting that some research is actually happening.

TomMM

Pessimistic because the charges might be legit?

Kacee

I didn't know you could purchase UA miles over the phone.