RTWSTARALLIANCE

I have flights that have disappeared completely. Travel is two months off. Should I be looking to UA or TG to protect me? Or is that a fantasy.

WineCountryUA

Generally if a partner drops / changes service on a award ticket, there is little UA can do. UA will open award space on its operated flights but it has little leverage with the partner. Occasionally UA can call and the partner might offer alternatives to published space, but don't hold your breath.

mherdeg

I once had SQ publish a schedule change which turned a longhaul SQ F award BRU-LHR-SIN (SN, SQ) (booked during a brief period when SQ opened longhaul 77W O to partners during a GDS transition) into something like SQ Y LHR-SIN; UA called up SQ, went to bat for me, and got the F space back. It took about 45 minutes and the UA agent *claimed* to have done a lot of aggressive work to get someone at SQ to reopen space. It was not easy!

goodeats21

Look to United, not Thai.

Surprised that the GS call agents are not being more proactive with you. If your original flights are still on the schedule, sounds like a Shares error. IIRC, there is a somewhat rare issue when partner award legs drop off.

I take it there is no longer award availability for your particular flights? That would make it pretty easy. Or any availability on an alternate that makes sense...NRT->BKK.

PVDtoDEL

I actually think that OP will have better luck if they go to TG first. Repeating "You [TG] cancelled my segment, so you [TG] need to add the new segment before UA can reissue my ticket" has been very effective for me in the past.

luckypierre

That's been my modest experience. What I know of TG's fleet overhaul direction, I suspect there will be more of these.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Thank you. I'll start with UA GS then think about spending time speaking to TG. It's just a total waste of time. And UA should be more proactive to start instead of sending me e-mails to call them aka UA. They have my cell number. Find a solution / options and call me. I already worked for the points.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Spent nearly an hour on phone with UA. They never contacted TG. My outbound restored but booked in F. Return restored but going into NRT instead of HND. One night in Tokyo before picking up NH F. The later (BKK to NRT) booked in O. Considering the quality of the rides just hope it all sticks at this point.

MY-OTHER-BROTHER-"TED"

About 18 months ago I had award tickets for 3 of us from LAS-SFO-NRT-BKK-KKC AND BACK. Approximately a month out my BKK-KKC (and return) flights disappeared, without any warning. Calls to UAL and TG were a waste of time, because no-one knew anything. Turns out my domestic portions became "Smile Airlines" a mini-TED, so to speak, and TG was NOT involved anymore, they said.

Not the same as the OP, I know, but just sayin', good luck getting any sort of explanation or answers from Thai Airlines (even via UAL). The best answer would probably be the national motto over there, "SAME-SAME-BUT-DIFFERENT!"

goodeats21

Glad you were able to get United to recover your trip in some manner. You do have some great flights to look forward to.

A bit of a pain to have a layover in Toyko when arriving / departing NRT though.

Good luck in having everything stick now.

channa

If you do this, be sure to request the commensurate refund in miles, as UA metal is worth less than partner metal in most situations,

AAExPlat

Whenever I have seen flights disappear completely, I have always been able to trace it back to a ticket reissue by UA that they did not communicate to the partners. At some point, the old tickets "disappeared" and so did my segments.

In one case, it was linked to my PNR being set incorrectly which resulted in reissue gor every minor UA flight number/time/equipment change whicb an agent was eventually able to stop from happening.

Good luck.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

My outbound process was fairly simple as UA found F space. My return was different. TG changed equipment at my flight time and moved the 747 with F to earlier time. UA would not honor or grab me space on that flight hence the change for NRT. Spending evening in Tokyo at a lux hotel does it for me. There was never any explanation offered but me having e-mail confirmations and being able to quote directly from them helped make my case to stick with my original cabins. The prospect to visit the Royal Spa before departing BKK for NRT helped incentivize me to hold while they worked it out. I also offered to speak with the service director my GS agent was conversing with. Thanks all for encouragement. Suspect this will not be the last story we hear.

ASUDan130

Hello,

I tried looking it up but couldn't find out if Thai Smile flights were able to purchased in conjunction with an award ticket or do those have to be called in like SQ awards?

fumje

I don't think so; I'm not sure that you can get an award on a Smile flight. What route are you trying to go?