griffingrowl

Question for UA experts (I'm an AA/OW guy so not familiar with UA):


My in-laws flew RDD-SFO-DEN-RIC yesterday. Flight was an award ticket out of his account.

The SFO-DEN flight was delayed by over an hour. Delay was caused by late arrival of inbound aircraft for EWR to SFO (caused by medical according to Expert Flyer). This caused them to miss their DEN-RIC connection which was the last flight of the day.

They were automatically rebooked on today's DEN-RIC flight but needed to overnight.

My in-laws are in their 80s and the line for customer service was over 1.5 hr wait so I booked them a room at the Westin Hotel that is attached to the airport for $313.

Will UA reimburse this hotel cost and meal cost? Is so, what's the procedure to get this reimbursed? Any special wording I should use?
Thanks in advance.

mduell

Self-help doesn't necessarily get you anything, but email in the receipt with a brief story of what happened and you'll probably get a UA travel voucher back for approximately the cost of the hotel.

xliioper

Amenities for Delayed Passengers

1. Lodging - UA will provide at its option either one night’s lodging, or, if no lodging is provided and upon the passenger’s request only, reimbursement for one night’s lodging in the form of an electronic travel certificate that may be applied to future travel on UA up to a maximum amount determined by UA when a UA flight on which a Passenger is being transported incurs Irregular Operations and the Passenger incurs a delay that is expected to exceed four hours between the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. local time. Where lodging has been offered but not accepted by a Passenger for whatever reason, UA is not liable to reimburse the Passenger for expenses relating to alternative lodging secured independently by the Passenger.

Steve M

I guess the big question is: if UA was willing and able to offer lodging had the passenger waited in the 90-minute line, does this constitute "offered but not accepted" within the context of the above?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I'm pretty sure UA would have provided lodging that would have cost much less than $313.

threeoh

I know it's not an answer to your question, but worth checking if they put the taxes/fees on a credit card that has any kind of delay insurance.

griffingrowl

90 min queue for 80 year olds after a long day of travel... and only one hotel attached to the terminal....

That's my backup plan.

Often1

They should start with their travel insurance. Not sure why people only think about CC's.

UA is not obligated to pick up the hotel room and, if it does, is highly unlikely to reimburse $313 because it books blocks of rooms at <$100. UA may also provide them with a voucher of some kind as a customer service gesture, but not as a reimbursement.

Given that you have in-laws in their 80's who travel, you should remind them that in a situation such as this where they are unable to, for instance, wait in a long line, they may ask any UA agent for assistance and if that is not forthcoming, ask the agent to contact the duty Complaint Resolution Officer (CRO) for disabilities. I would be very surprised if even the ask for a CRO did not generate a hotel voucher, meal vouchers and a taxi voucher to the hotel. The key is to make clear not that they are tired, but in very clear terms that they are physically unable to stand for long periods.

emcampbe

threeoh

I assume people know if they purchased travel insurance, and would think to use it. Many people have basic travel insurance provided through their CCs that they don't know about, hence why I thought it might be helpful for me to suggest it here.

mander

As a 1K when I have had to overnight due to cancellation or late arrival I have always asked for the Westin, since it opened, but never got it.

Bonehead

Be thankful that there IS a hotel attached to the terminal. It's a fairly recent development, and in my experience not all that common.

Of course it's a bit overpriced as far as I'm concerned.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

davelikestofly

You must be so proud. I'm assuming you recognize that not all 80+ year old women have the same physical abilities or stamina...

emcampbe

Different internationally, but in North America, yes, not really that common.

Once stayed at the YVR Fairmont, which is in the terminal at YVR, basically. literally, the escalator down from the hotel drops you off at the transborder check in lobby. Paid I think ~$400 CDN for the night. Not because I necessarily wanted to stay in a hotel like that, and I don't think I've ever spent so much on a room for one night before. But because it made the most sense having had a 6am flight to the US, traveling with a 2 yo. The convenience of getting to the airport via escalator, vs. by bus and having to schlep out with bags, kid, etc. an extra hour (or whatever) earlier, to make it to check in before 5am, it was worth it. The hotels also know it - and that's why they can charge rates like that.

Enjoyed the hotel while we were there, of course.

Not sure how many other airports in the US do have that...where you can walk to the hotel. ORD has the Hilton. YVR has the fairmont, and YYZ has the Sheraton in North America. There might be more, but that's all I can think of.