Would sort of agree, this more of a "my hotel burned to the ground" or my clients are in "survival mode" and not prepared to meet now. I've never lied to UA, ever. But the two times in ten years I've needed to change or cancel do to events out of my control, UA didn't blink in helping me, Neither did Hilton as well. Car rentals don't matter, yet...

NorCal is a hot mess with the fires currently, if only based on the pictures from my friends. Clients in Colorado canceled meetings in 2013 because of the fires and floods. Worst UA can say is no.

If OP were on a regular economy fare, I'd agree. On Basic Economy, I'm much less sure. There have only been a few IRROPS reports and they're hit or miss -- I remember one report where a flight went MX, the BE customer was reassigned, and reservations refused to touch what the computer had done, citing BE.

Absent a travel waiver, there's a good chance UA is going to be inflexible here. The punitive nature of these fares is intentional; while it might be nice if UA would be flexible, I'm not sure it's good business.

Any for BE?

Your right the worst they can say is no. As noted this is probably for the Chase board but I would then go to Chase's travel insurance as I did. They (Chase) were with Chubb and they were great, now I heard they changed from Chubb so maybe a bit more red tape and push back.

Can't see why fare class should matter, i.e. BE vs. Y, but agree that unless there's a travel waiver you shouldn't expect a refund.

After all, in 1989, would anyone have expected that tickets into SMF would've been refunded due to the Loma Prieta earthquake and its impact on the SF Bay area? Hint for those of you who don't live out here, SMF is roughly halfway between SFO and Lake Tahoe.

Precisely. With a regular economy fare, the pax is asking for the change fee to be waived; based on the board, that's something that seems to happen from time to time. With basic economy, there is no change fee, because no changes are allowed. You're asking for a bigger waiver.

Also, while I don't fault anyone for taking the lowest available fare, UA has consistently treated BE passengers as though they had a big scarlet "Group 5" tattooed to their forehead. This psychology is intentional -- it's an up-sell tactic. "Didn't like that experience? Buy regular economy next time." (The thought that a passenger might try another airline entirely next time doesn't seem to enter into the occasion). You can expect that this was emphasized strongly in the BE training for phone agents.

UA's argument will be that a passenger assumed these risks by purchasing a discounted, no-changes ticket.

Yesterday was the first time in a week I could see the entire periphery of the lake so it's clear at least yesterday and today