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Travel Waiver: Gulf Coast Tropical Weather (25 Aug - 12 Sept, 2017) - Affects IAH

Old Aug 24, 2017, 1:59 pm
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Last edit by: DELee
Update: 06 Sept 2017 - Latest waiver posting



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.
Update (08/29/17 15:50 CDT):
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.
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.
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.
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
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.


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.



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

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Travel Waiver: Gulf Coast Tropical Weather (25 Aug - 12 Sept, 2017) - Affects IAH

Old Aug 28, 2017, 10:14 am
  #166  
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Originally Posted by smxflyer
They've been running 77W from ORD yesterday and today (2748 today). Looks like a revenue flight. Going pretty empty to IAH but plenty of seats full from IAH. Are these flights for relief and supplies?
Are there passengers stranded at IAH like there were at HOU? If so, UA may be doing like Southwest did and using these flights to ferry out stranded passengers.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 10:14 am
  #167  
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Originally Posted by smxflyer
They've been running 77W from ORD yesterday and today (2748 today). Looks like a revenue flight. Going pretty empty to IAH but plenty of seats full from IAH. Are these flights for relief and supplies?
See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28743811-post122.html

Relief supplies in the inbound and evac (not revenue) on the return.

FAA has closed IAH to regular operations until noon 31 Aug
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 10:28 am
  #168  
 
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Looks like IAH is officially closed until Thursday, August 31 at 12:00 noon.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 10:52 am
  #169  
 
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Originally Posted by wrp96
Are there passengers stranded at IAH like there were at HOU? If so, UA may be doing like Southwest did and using these flights to ferry out stranded passengers.
Local news last night reported on this. Most, if not all of the remaining passengers are IAH/HOU are locals who came in on flights and now can't get home because of road conditions.

SW - HOU operated a couple of flights to Dallas (Love) to get folks connected out.
UA - IAH did the same to ORD.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 11:48 am
  #170  
 
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Originally Posted by mike2003242
I would do anything I can to try to get that changed. Odds are they will increase the weather waiver and you should be able to do it for free.
Called in and answered by the premier desk after 15 minutes hold. Re-routed through DEN and leaving a day earlier. Up fare from K to S & H.

All done in 30 minutes.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 11:56 am
  #171  
 
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At this point, assume the FAA reopening times are effectively 'Not Earlier Than' times rather than when the airport honestly plans on being able to resume normal operations.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 11:58 am
  #172  
 
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Originally Posted by exwannabe
Under normal conditions would they not allow a reroute after a WX cancellation (as long as you stay on UA metal)?

If true, that is a fairly brutal policy.
I'm not an expert on their rules. The problem they were having is that my re-route through ORD resulted in a stopover (it was the only way I could make it work as there is only one flight from ORD to the final destination daily). So, I am staying overnight in Chicago tonight and going out tomorrow morning from ORD. I can understand under normal circumstances someone would think I am purposefully doing this to get a night in Chicago, etc...
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:01 pm
  #173  
 
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Just re-booked my now cancelled 8/31 morning flight from IAH to DEN to 9/1. Still under the waiver period but it's hub to hub and premiere agent said availability is still high that day so even with cancellations I should get out on something.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:05 pm
  #174  
 
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In this case can UA reroute you on other airlines also that are not Star Alliance nor partners?
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:16 pm
  #175  
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Originally Posted by flymexico2010
In this case can UA reroute you on other airlines also that are not Star Alliance nor partners?
Can - yes but likely will still push to stay on UA or *A partner. But if nothing else works, than maybe non-partner -- just will not be the preference.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:17 pm
  #176  
 
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Originally Posted by flymexico2010
In this case can UA reroute you on other airlines also that are not Star Alliance nor partners?
What they "can" do and what they are actually doing aren't necessarily the same thing.

A relative of mine is at a Latin American city (not posting specifics for privacy reasons). She is scheduled to fly to Canada via IAH tomorrow. United offers once-daily service from that location to IAH, and does not offer service to any other city. The only other airline with non-stops to the US is American, with a daily flight to DFW.

With tomorrow's flight to IAH clearly not an option, at this point UA is only offering her a seat on the Thursday flight to IAH. They refused to put her on the AA flight, even though there is space available on Tue and Wed (at least, according to AA.com).

What is somewhat perplexing is that the Thursday flight that UA rebooked her onto arrives into IAH prior to the currently-scheduled re-opening of the airport. So I fear that she won't actually fly on Thursday after all.

Obviously my relative's situation is not dire compared to what some people are experiencing, but nevertheless it seems as though United is taking the cheap way out rather then getting her back home in an expeditious manner.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:22 pm
  #177  
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Originally Posted by fairviewroad
What they "can" do and what they are actually doing aren't necessarily the same thing.

A relative of mine is at a Latin American city (not posting specifics for privacy reasons). She is scheduled to fly to Canada via IAH tomorrow. United offers once-daily service from that location to IAH, and does not offer service to any other city. The only other airline with non-stops to the US is American, with a daily flight to DFW.

With tomorrow's flight to IAH clearly not an option, at this point UA is only offering her a seat on the Thursday flight to IAH. They refused to put her on the AA flight, even though there is space available on Tue and Wed (at least, according to AA.com).

What is somewhat perplexing is that the Thursday flight that UA rebooked her onto arrives into IAH prior to the currently-scheduled re-opening of the airport. So I fear that she won't actually fly on Thursday after all.

Obviously my relative's situation is not dire compared to what some people are experiencing, but nevertheless it seems as though United is taking the cheap way out rather then getting her back home in an expeditious manner.
Might be worth HUCA - I got a great agent when I called earlier who made the changes without batting an eye and I imagine would have been happy to re-route on OAL if that had been necessary (it wasn't since DEN and ORD were both available connection points with 2 seats together).

Also depends on when your relative called - things change quickly and it's possible that when she called CSR she spoke to wasn't aware that the airport closure had been extended.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:26 pm
  #178  
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Originally Posted by beachmouse
At this point, assume the FAA reopening times are effectively 'Not Earlier Than' times rather than when the airport honestly plans on being able to resume normal operations.
The latest from UA states
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.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:26 pm
  #179  
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Originally Posted by fairviewroad
What they "can" do and what they are actually doing aren't necessarily the same thing.

A relative of mine is at a Latin American city (not posting specifics for privacy reasons). She is scheduled to fly to Canada via IAH tomorrow. United offers once-daily service from that location to IAH, and does not offer service to any other city. The only other airline with non-stops to the US is American, with a daily flight to DFW.

With tomorrow's flight to IAH clearly not an option, at this point UA is only offering her a seat on the Thursday flight to IAH. They refused to put her on the AA flight, even though there is space available on Tue and Wed (at least, according to AA.com).

What is somewhat perplexing is that the Thursday flight that UA rebooked her onto arrives into IAH prior to the currently-scheduled re-opening of the airport. So I fear that she won't actually fly on Thursday after all.

Obviously my relative's situation is not dire compared to what some people are experiencing, but nevertheless it seems as though United is taking the cheap way out rather then getting her back home in an expeditious manner.
For somewhere in Latin America, look to see if there are rerouting options on Copa or Air Canada. You might have better luck getting her rerouted onto those other carriers, rather than AA.
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Old Aug 28, 2017, 12:28 pm
  #180  
 
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Planes on Ground in IAH

Does anyone know how many planes UA has on the ground in IAH? I would assume they tried to move many out prior to the storm but I know not all of them. It will be interesting to see what damage has occured
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