Aug 24, 2017, 1:59 pm
Last edit by: DELee
Update: 06 Sept 2017 - Latest waiver posting
Previous waivers:
Update: 30 Aug 2017
Update (08/29/17 15:50 CDT):
Booking waiver now extended through 12 September and changes covered through November 15th
Update (08/28/17 11:15 am EDT): Waiver extended through 05 September and rebooking and changes now covered through 20 September
Update 6PM (Central Time) 27 Aug 2017
IAH closure extend to 7PM 28 August
Update (08/27/17 12:45 pm EDT): Waiver extended through 31 August and rebooking and changes now covered through 13 September
Posted 27 August 2017 morning
Updated UA travel waiver for Harvey ( including IAH) 26 Aug 2017 = rebooking extend to 11 Sept
Updated UA travel waiver for Harvey ( including IAH) as of noon (Central Time) 25 Aug 2017
UA travel waiver (including IAH) for Harvey as 3PM (Central Time) 24 Aug 2017
Previous waivers:
Update: 30 Aug 2017
Hurricane Harvey continues to affect flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast
United flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast continue to be affected by Hurricane Harvey. There are now a limited number of flights operating between Houston and other major U.S. airports, but many flights to and from Houston continue to be canceled.
Please check your flight status before you go to the airport, and sign up to receive flight status messages in the event of changes. Also note that road conditions around the airport continue to be poor, so travelers should carefully plan their travel to and from the airport.
If you have an upcoming United flight that includes travel through Houston, we recommend postponing your travel until conditions improve. The Houston area is extremely taxed and may not have the resources to offer hotel and restaurant services to Houston visitors.
Travelers with booked flights to, from or through the Texas and Gulf Coast area can use our travel waiver to change their flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls due to the severity of the situation, so we recommend using united.com or the United app.
United flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast continue to be affected by Hurricane Harvey. There are now a limited number of flights operating between Houston and other major U.S. airports, but many flights to and from Houston continue to be canceled.
Please check your flight status before you go to the airport, and sign up to receive flight status messages in the event of changes. Also note that road conditions around the airport continue to be poor, so travelers should carefully plan their travel to and from the airport.
If you have an upcoming United flight that includes travel through Houston, we recommend postponing your travel until conditions improve. The Houston area is extremely taxed and may not have the resources to offer hotel and restaurant services to Houston visitors.
Travelers with booked flights to, from or through the Texas and Gulf Coast area can use our travel waiver to change their flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls due to the severity of the situation, so we recommend using united.com or the United app.
Booking waiver now extended through 12 September and changes covered through November 15th
FAA Advisory for IAH
Due to WEATHER/ HURRICANE HARVEY, the George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH) was closed as of Aug 28 at 09:38 AM CDT. The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is Aug 30 at 04:00 PM CDT.
Due to WEATHER/ HURRICANE HARVEY, the George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH) was closed as of Aug 28 at 09:38 AM CDT. The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is Aug 30 at 04:00 PM CDT.
Hurricane Harvey is affecting flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast
Due to Hurricane Harvey, United flights to and from Houston Intercontinental are canceled until at least noon on Thursday, August 31, and additional flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast may be affected. If you have planned travel, please see our travel waiver below to change your flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls, so we recommend using united.com or the United app.
Due to Hurricane Harvey, United flights to and from Houston Intercontinental are canceled until at least noon on Thursday, August 31, and additional flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast may be affected. If you have planned travel, please see our travel waiver below to change your flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls, so we recommend using united.com or the United app.
AIRPORT STATUS INFORMATION
provided by the FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center
George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH) Real-time Status
.....
Due to WEATHER/ HURRICANE HARVEY, the George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH) was closed as of Aug 27 at 10:24 AM CDT. The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is Aug 31 at 12:00 PM CDT.
provided by the FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center
George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH) Real-time Status
.....
Due to WEATHER/ HURRICANE HARVEY, the George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH) was closed as of Aug 27 at 10:24 AM CDT. The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is Aug 31 at 12:00 PM CDT.
Update 6PM (Central Time) 27 Aug 2017
IAH closure extend to 7PM 28 August
Hurricane Harvey is affecting flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast
Due to Hurricane Harvey, United flights to and from Houston Intercontinental are canceled until 7 p.m. on Monday, August 28, and additional flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast may be affected. If you have planned travel, please see our travel waiver below to change your flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls, so we recommend using united.com or the United app if possible.
Due to Hurricane Harvey, United flights to and from Houston Intercontinental are canceled until 7 p.m. on Monday, August 28, and additional flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast may be affected. If you have planned travel, please see our travel waiver below to change your flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls, so we recommend using united.com or the United app if possible.
Update (08/27/17 12:45 pm EDT): Waiver extended through 31 August and rebooking and changes now covered through 13 September
Posted 27 August 2017 morning
Hurricane Harvey is affecting flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast
Due to Hurricane Harvey, United flights to and from Houston Intercontinental are canceled until noon on Monday, August 28, and additional flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast may be affected. If you have planned travel, please see our travel waiver below to change your flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls, so we recommend using united.com or the United app if possible.
Due to Hurricane Harvey, United flights to and from Houston Intercontinental are canceled until noon on Monday, August 28, and additional flights to and from Texas and the Gulf Coast may be affected. If you have planned travel, please see our travel waiver below to change your flight. Please note that we are experiencing a high volume of calls, so we recommend using united.com or the United app if possible.
Updated UA travel waiver for Harvey ( including IAH) 26 Aug 2017 = rebooking extend to 11 Sept
Updated UA travel waiver for Harvey ( including IAH) as of noon (Central Time) 25 Aug 2017
UA travel waiver (including IAH) for Harvey as 3PM (Central Time) 24 Aug 2017
Travel Waiver: Gulf Coast Tropical Weather (25 Aug - 12 Sept, 2017) - Affects IAH
Aug 28, 2017, 2:56 pm
#196
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Houston
Programs: United 1K, Marriott Lifetime Platinum; Hyatt Diamond/GLOB
Posts: 738
I had a flight to New Orleans tomorrow and a flight to EWR Wednesday. UA cancelled both those.
I called this morning and they agent immediately refunded both to my credit card without any discussion of rescheduling.
I called this morning and they agent immediately refunded both to my credit card without any discussion of rescheduling.
Aug 28, 2017, 3:06 pm
#197
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
This is SOP once flights have already been cancelled. The waiver allows people to make changes in advance, in anticipation of the flight possibly being delayed or cancelled; once a flight actually is disrupted, a refund should always be an option.
Aug 28, 2017, 3:09 pm
#198
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: USA
Programs: AAdvantage, MileagePlus, SkyMiles
Posts: 4,161
A couple of thoughts:
a) UA has a big call center in IAH. IIRC, all physical call centers (SLC, TPA, HNL, etc.) has been closed and now it's only down to ORD/IAH. I know some work from home, but wouldn't the closure of the IAH call center during Harvey impact IRROPS and call support? How'd that work?
b) I wonder if UA is flying all the spare widebodies at IAH on domestic routes to move more affected people around?
a) UA has a big call center in IAH. IIRC, all physical call centers (SLC, TPA, HNL, etc.) has been closed and now it's only down to ORD/IAH. I know some work from home, but wouldn't the closure of the IAH call center during Harvey impact IRROPS and call support? How'd that work?
b) I wonder if UA is flying all the spare widebodies at IAH on domestic routes to move more affected people around?
Aug 28, 2017, 4:05 pm
#199
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,425
I would think open seats in the UA network are scarce right now, and will get scarcer as the Labor Day weekend approaches. Has UA been willing to put pax on other carriers?
It's good that they've extended the waiver for a week (well, it's good if there are actually other flights available) because I don't think anyone wants to be booked through Houston for the next week unless that's actually their origin or destination.
Aug 28, 2017, 4:10 pm
#200
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: San Diego
Programs: UA Premier 1K
Posts: 182
A couple of thoughts:
a) UA has a big call center in IAH. IIRC, all physical call centers (SLC, TPA, HNL, etc.) has been closed and now it's only down to ORD/IAH. I know some work from home, but wouldn't the closure of the IAH call center during Harvey impact IRROPS and call support? How'd that work?
b) I wonder if UA is flying all the spare widebodies at IAH on domestic routes to move more affected people around?
a) UA has a big call center in IAH. IIRC, all physical call centers (SLC, TPA, HNL, etc.) has been closed and now it's only down to ORD/IAH. I know some work from home, but wouldn't the closure of the IAH call center during Harvey impact IRROPS and call support? How'd that work?
b) I wonder if UA is flying all the spare widebodies at IAH on domestic routes to move more affected people around?
Aug 28, 2017, 4:16 pm
#201
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: TPE
Programs: UA Gold, HA Premier, Hertz #1 Gold PC, SBUX Gold
Posts: 603
I was also asked by the premiere line agent I spoke with today about how long I was on hold for (opted for call back which was less than 15 minutes, last night's call had no hold time). She noted that the regular number currently had a queue of about 5000 callers!
Aug 28, 2017, 4:37 pm
#202
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
Well, that's what I'm wondering about. I personally had a bad weather experience on an airline last week (WN) where it was very uncertain whether my flight would operate. Not only were there no other seats on other WN flights, there were no other seats on other airlines for 36 hours (fortunately, my flight did operate -- albeit at 3 am).
I would think open seats in the UA network are scarce right now, and will get scarcer as the Labor Day weekend approaches. Has UA been willing to put pax on other carriers?
It's good that they've extended the waiver for a week (well, it's good if there are actually other flights available) because I don't think anyone wants to be booked through Houston for the next week unless that's actually their origin or destination.
I would think open seats in the UA network are scarce right now, and will get scarcer as the Labor Day weekend approaches. Has UA been willing to put pax on other carriers?
It's good that they've extended the waiver for a week (well, it's good if there are actually other flights available) because I don't think anyone wants to be booked through Houston for the next week unless that's actually their origin or destination.
UA has the ability to route passengers onto other airlines, and we've seen a couple of reports in this thread that they are sometimes willing to do so. This is one of those occasions where status is likely to help immensely. A passenger with no status is likely less likely to get UA to put them onto another carrier than a GS or 1K (or someone flying international business class / first class, for that matter).
I definitely agree with the advice that passengers who don't need to transit IAH should absolutely change to another connection point while space is still available. However, that's not a panacea -- not only are there airports that UA only serves through IAH, it's also possible that UA will run out of equipment / crew to handle the non-IAH flights. I'd expect to see occasional cancellations throughout the network until things stabilize.
Aug 28, 2017, 4:53 pm
#203
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,088
my flight for Friday cancelled today 
called and got an agent in less than 30 seconds. Took a while to fix the complicated ticket to go via ORD, but in the end no issues.
called and got an agent in less than 30 seconds. Took a while to fix the complicated ticket to go via ORD, but in the end no issues.
Aug 28, 2017, 4:59 pm
#204
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Houston
Programs: UA 1K and Million Miler, *A Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hertz Five Star,
Posts: 1,301
Welcome to FT, and congratulations on your anniversary! :-)
I see seats available on the morning flights through DEN or ORD. Everything else seems to be full, or down to 1 remaining seat -- not great for a party of two. Specifically, try the 7:25 AM departure to Denver or the 7:50 AM departure to Chicago.
If traveling Wednesday afternoon is an option, there are also seats on the 2:10 PM flight Wednesday through Chicago. Of course, you'd be on the hook for a hotel room in San Francisco, but that would likely be cheaper than buying tickets on another airline.
Good luck!
I see seats available on the morning flights through DEN or ORD. Everything else seems to be full, or down to 1 remaining seat -- not great for a party of two. Specifically, try the 7:25 AM departure to Denver or the 7:50 AM departure to Chicago.
If traveling Wednesday afternoon is an option, there are also seats on the 2:10 PM flight Wednesday through Chicago. Of course, you'd be on the hook for a hotel room in San Francisco, but that would likely be cheaper than buying tickets on another airline.
Good luck!
Aug 28, 2017, 5:00 pm
#205
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Houston
Programs: UA 1K and Million Miler, *A Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hertz Five Star,
Posts: 1,301
A couple of thoughts:
a) UA has a big call center in IAH. IIRC, all physical call centers (SLC, TPA, HNL, etc.) has been closed and now it's only down to ORD/IAH. I know some work from home, but wouldn't the closure of the IAH call center during Harvey impact IRROPS and call support? How'd that work?
b) I wonder if UA is flying all the spare widebodies at IAH on domestic routes to move more affected people around?
a) UA has a big call center in IAH. IIRC, all physical call centers (SLC, TPA, HNL, etc.) has been closed and now it's only down to ORD/IAH. I know some work from home, but wouldn't the closure of the IAH call center during Harvey impact IRROPS and call support? How'd that work?
b) I wonder if UA is flying all the spare widebodies at IAH on domestic routes to move more affected people around?
Aug 28, 2017, 5:03 pm
#206
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
I'm an ExpertFlyer subscriber, so I used that. For something like this, though, you can also use the United website; just do a search for your origin and destination. Cancelled flights will be hidden automatically, but you can also use the "Airports" tab to exclude IAH. Any result in the "Economy" or "Economy (flexible)" column is good enough -- but, click through to make sure that neither leg is in Business or First class, as those sometimes appear when coach is sold out.
Last edited by jsloan; Aug 28, 2017 at 5:05 pm Reason: Added information about first class.
Aug 28, 2017, 5:14 pm
#207
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: TPE
Programs: UA Gold, HA Premier, Hertz #1 Gold PC, SBUX Gold
Posts: 603
How did you learn of the cancellation? Flight status checks on the website can't be completed that far out...
Aug 28, 2017, 5:20 pm
#208
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,088
EF showed cancelled, the flight is gone from united.com and the agent confirmed it was cancelled when I called. My reservation also looked funky so I knew something was up.
Aug 28, 2017, 5:26 pm
#209
Join Date: Nov 2014
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 1,679
This means UA doesn't expect resumption of full operations until at least Saturday, however I think it will be closer to Monday or Tuesday next week before everything is worked out, the airport is not expected to open until 1200(CT) (1700z) on Thursday, this could also be extended as it doesn't appear that rain will end until Thursday morning, then 3-4 days for UA to get the necessary people and planes in place for a full operation.
until
Two years ago DEN shut down due to snow for one day and it was 2-3 days until a full operation was back, with the amount of damage done in this storm I assume it will be at least a week.
until
Two years ago DEN shut down due to snow for one day and it was 2-3 days until a full operation was back, with the amount of damage done in this storm I assume it will be at least a week.
Aug 28, 2017, 5:26 pm
#210
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: DFW from PDX - UA 1K 2MM,Lifetime HHonnors Diamond, Bonvoy AMB/LT Tit, National Exec Elite, Hertz PC
Posts: 554
Hmm...
Flying DFW ORD in the am and the inbound shows from IAH tonight (was from IAD and here until an hour ago) . Was a ferry flight now a real flight number. United 1554. Should I switch to the earlier?