Unfortunately.

David

Worried about EWR connection SDSB Question
 

I'm travelling in Polaris from Chicago to Cape Town, I booked the tickets a long time ago it was a P fare. Im united gold.

I am just now realizing our connection of 2 hours in EWR is not the best. If there is any hiccups or delays in EWR ( Which is likely) we are toast. There's no other flight out that day that would let us make this connection. I have called UA to request an earlier departing flight from Chicago but they want $7000 per person to take a earlier connection out of ORD which is insane. The problem is there are no P class fares for that first segment for flights the entire day unless we leave at 6AM which is also not feasible.

Is there any way around getting them to put us on an earlier connection? Quite confused as the fares for the earlier connection are infact showing lower than our original, additionally there are much more seats open. I was thinking to try the SDSB confirmed with united but I read that I can only do that in my same travel class? My concern is that since its HUB-HUB there's going to be alot of upgrades and all those seats are gone.

Are we not able to even take a coach ticket on an earlier flight and keep the Polaris on the international? Just dont want to stress about this.

Show up to the airport early and ask to be put on standby at the gate or in the Polaris lounge

Or are there any options when you try to change online? They should let you choose something in Economy and give you a small refund

Or 2 hours being plenty plus the built-in pad scheduled time.

I wouldn't stress about this at all. If you really need to get to EWR earlier, there are tons of other flights you can move yourself into after check-in. You may have to be in coach cabin based on availability.

What exactly does this mean? You can book brand new tickets for your travel dates with the earlier ORD-EWR flight and they price less than what you paid previously? If that's the case you can cancel your existing tickets for free and apply that value to the new tickets. The rest will be in the form of a Future Flight Credit. However, I doubt this is what you meant so please clarify and we can help further.

Otherwise, the advice to show up at the airport and standby for an earlier flight is the best bet. When you do standby on United you are generally only standing by for coach. A lounge or gate agent should be able to list you for first but it's more complicated. However, the chances of getting out in coach on ORD-EWR are far better if you're willing to accept the downgrade. And do note you will not be owed any compensation if you choose to go standby in coach on an earlier flight to EWR.

-RM

If there are delays in EWR, your EWR-CPT flight might be affected also.

I mean, it doesn't sound like a great value, but it's not insane. It's just a fare difference.

Well, that's part of it. By changing fare classes on ORD-EWR, you either have to change fare classes all the way to CPT or break the fare at EWR; both of those are likely to be extremely expensive. However, you're also talking about changing your outbound flight, which typically triggers repricing the ticket at the current fare (all the way to CPT and back).

Without getting into the weeds on the details -- none of this is relevant for pricing a change on a larger itinerary. That's just not the way airfare works.

Actually, there might not be any upgrades at all, and all of the F seats will be gone. But you can absolutely stand by for economy (in fact, it's hard to stand by for anything else, as mentioned). In the relatively unlikely case that there are F seats available on the day of departure, if EWR is having a bad day, you may be able to convince a customer service rep to move you directly into them (at no charge).

If you buy a separate ticket and use it to get to EWR, your EWR-CPT ticket would be canceled.

No, they shouldn't. In fact, the fare is likely to be much more expensive with ORD-EWR in Y instead of J.

I meant the domestic fare is showing $1300 per person in the class yet the earlier flights its $600-700. The polaris leg is considerably more so I guess thats what is causing it.

This is what I see on the united website, my apologies as I have never switched to different flights

"Premier members have extra flexibility for flight changes made within 24 hours of departure. Premier members may be able to confirm a seat on another flight within 24 hours of your originally scheduled departure time for no cost at all.* If a Premier member’s original ticketed fare class isn’t available on the new flight, a fare difference may apply. If your original ticketed fare class isn’t available, you can always standby for free"

Basically it is saying I can only get on an earlier flight that day CONFIRMED if there are other first class fares avail? When it comes to 24 hours prior will it allow me at all to use a coach ticket instead?

Wait until the day of and SDC to something earlier.

Actually, it's a little worse than that. It's saying that you need seats available in P class in order to change -- and, depending upon the mood the app is in, you may need P space on EWR-CPT also, even though you're already on that flight.

If you attempt to change to a confirmed seat on an economy flight, it's likely to charge a substantial fare difference. (If the fare seems to be lower, be careful -- it may be changing your return flight to economy).

To reiterate: if problems are already apparent on the day of travel, an agent may be willing to confirm you onto an earlier flight regardless of availability.

Also, if there has been a schedule change that's reduced your layover any, you may be able to get an agent to move you to an earlier flight, again regardless of P inventory.

you are positive I need P fares open for the 24 hours SDC and not just any seat open in first

Yep. There is a huge bank of knowledge on SDC here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ll-elites.html

Thanks I will take a look!

One more question I appreciate all your feedback. What are the chances in the next 48 hours a P fare becomes available on one of the earlier flights? Is that even possible. There were multiple yesterday but today they all changed J, Z, D etc.

or is it generally they will not lower the fare classes from this point? The flight departs in 5 days

Inventory is dynamic,. A couple of cancellations, or just fewer people booking last-minute tickets than expected, and P inventory can reopen.

Note that P inventory and P fares are not the same thing. You should activate Expert Mode to see the actual inventory. Domestic first class fares depend upon a combination of first class and economy inventory, so just looking at the fare for sale can be misleading.

Assuming you’re talking about April 23, I see P inventory on the 8:45 AM departure, but the rest of the day is looking tight.

that’s great! I got that to work. Let’s hope some open up tomorrow lol🙏🏼 really appreciate your help ser

EWR-CPT is currently J0 on 4-23-23 which I believe is your departure date. That means that you need the 'computer' to only want to SDC the first leg and leave the second in tact. That can sometimes happen but not all the time. You're better off calling United and asking for them to SDC you within the 24 hour period of your original flight check-in time. And ask them to leave the EWR-CPT segment alone. This should work. But the airport has a far better chance of making this happen. The chances of P being open (especially 2) for ORD-EWR within 24 hours is basically 0.

-RM