raycosm

I can't seem to find any $0 options on any day, maybe it's related to having a Basic Economy fare? Are you also on N or a higher class? At this point I need the trip cancelled or rescheduled after August 30th, but the phone agent only offered to waive the change fee and not any difference in fare. Not sure if she was referring to the change fee for any flight (past August 30th) or only before August 30th, but I lucked out with a $177 RT nonstop and the cheapest United has for nonstop $361 N fares ($391 in L).

I wish the CSR/United wouldn't drag their feet on this since travel Friday afternoon to Sunday night is basically from the start of the storm to the peak, I'd really expect category 3 or even tropical storm winds to ground flights over IAH with this path even if the CSR tells me "we don't know how serious it will be."

So what's the best strategy for trying to get this cancelled and refunded? I'm thinking a reschedule to Sunday night with a quick turnover Monday morning and both flights will probably get cancelled by the time Sunday comes. Or do you think HUCA would work?

EDIT: Anyone in AUS know how bad people expect it around there? Thinking about rerouting the Sunday return from AUS if they let me.

tashi

So as a lowly Premier Gold, I got upgraded in advance on both of my segments AUS-IAH-SAN for friday when there is some advisory of some storm in the area. i am surprised at the heavy elite traffic of the friday eve IAH-SAN route and my cheapo L fare. Was there no GS, 1K, Plat, higher paying Golds to drop down to me?

qukslvr619

you mean like the hurricane headed toward Texas?

pseudoswede

I think I was booked in L class (maybe S). It wasn't a cheap ticket, that's for sure. Sorry I can't help any further. Good luck.

My original routing on Sunday was supposed to be DEN-IAH-RSW. Now it's been changed to DEN-EWR-RSW; with the added bonus that it got rebooked into B. DEN-EWR is an Int'l 757, so fingers crossed.

Toronto1970

I'm booked tomorrow (Friday) night YYZ-IAH-SAT. Really debating if I should proactively switch to fly through ORD or DEN, or wait until tomorrow to see what the IAH situation is like. (It looks like SAT won't take a hit until at least Saturday). Would be an easier decision if I hadn't already been CPUed on my original flights!

Catbert10

Unfortunately not a view currently held by UA, as the travel advisory only goes through 8/27. Which really sucks, because I'm flying AUS-IAH-BWI Monday, and Harvey is forecasted to be sitting directly in between AUS and IAH Monday morning.

raycosm

Winds look like they're going to be stronger in AUS than IAH by about 10 mph on Sunday and 5 mph on Monday. Estimated 31 mph in AUS Sunday morning, 21 mph at night while IAH is 16 mph all day Sunday and Monday. Of course it could change but this means that IAH is slightly better, right?

cjermain

I find UA's advertised weather waiver policy for this storm to be shortsighted.

Perhaps they are holding off a revision until things become clearer, but with a good chance of having SE Texas operations severely disrupted Sun/Mon/Tues, I can't believe UA is asking people to rebook to travel before Aug 30th.

I'm going IAH->TPA->IAH, leaving Friday, returning Sunday. The current weather waiver encourages me to chance it and go as planned. Do they really think it's best for them if I head off to TPA as scheduled and then become one of the legions of people whom they need to accommodate after they cancel my flight on Sunday? It seems like they are brewing up a huge mess for next week.

pseudoswede

My guess is extending the travel wavier period any further will start impacting Labor Day traffic. They don't want to open that can of worms unless absolutely necessary.

I'm flying back on the 31st via ORD. I'm hoping for some sweet VDB opportunities.

gradsflyer

Well I'm flying IAH-DEN on 8/31 and hoping opps are mostly back to normal by then. Good news is that frequency on the route is so high that even if my morning flight were to be cancelled still plenty of protection options throughout the day and don't absolutely have to be in DEN till 9/1, but would be nice to catch something I have in the evening on 8/31. This is what I get for just relocating this month to IAH from HNL; my first month here and first trip flying out the biggest hurricane in years hits.

tryathlete

I would reschedule for Tuesday. SAT is going to get a lot of rain tomorrow and Saturday. Maybe 15+ inches

Toronto1970

Well I have a conference there Monday and Tuesday so can't really reschedule (although it's certainly possible that the conference will be a bust if no one can fly in).

I ended up routing myself tomorrow night through Denver instead of Houston. DEN seemed the best bet since I would rather approach SAT tomorrow night from the west instead of potentially through the storm.

And if figured if SAT gets closed down tomorrow night I would rather be stranded in DEN than the centre of the storm in IAH.

ty97

Waivers as of 7:00pm ET Thursday:
AA: 8/25 - 8/27
DL: 8/25 - 8/26
UA: 8/25 - 8/27

As we progress and the post-landfall forecast solidifies, I fully expect all of these waivers will extend if Harvey is still predicted to park over Texas.

supergabe

UA proactively called me on the phone to reroute my travel through a different hub ^

TexasAggie02

Interesting - when is your flight?

I just called United and was swiftly changed to a pair of Lufthansa flights from BUD - DFW instead of going to IAH. Took 5 minutes, no need to convince the agent. He just put me in Economy first instead of Business, but he fixed that in 2 minutes.

I was very surprised. It was a $5,500 ticket that .bomb was trying to charge me when I tried to change the ticket.