mozilla

Note that per the COC Rule 6 M), UA will assess a 50.00 USD/50.00 CAD fee to assist with a voluntary change on tickets originally issued via any external ticketing source. This rule suggests that UA allows the practice, especially since there's no other relevant restriction in the COC. HUCA would indeed be the best approach if the agent refuses to help.

Per the COC Rule 7 A), the ticket value expires after ticketed departure time, T+1. For it to retain its value, the cancelation needs to be processed at T-1, not T-15. As this topic has suggested, those 14 minutes additional could absolutely make a difference for someone calling in to cancel the reservation.

But hindsight is 20/20, and you're now better informed if it were to happen again. Oversleeping pax are also not uncommon.

Often1

Rereading the COC, I just noticed that UA specifies that the check-in and gate deadlines for international departures, e.g. T-30 at the gate, apply to domestic departures connecting to international. As a matter of contract, OP was largely SOL at wakeup.

That doesn't mean it isn't worth trying. UA is historically pretty decent about rebooking.

eng3

An interesting situation. You could have gone to the airport potentially saving alot of money but there is a risk that the agent wont help you and then you lose 100% of the value of your ticket. I'd say protecting the value of your ticket comes first at T-30 so I probably would have done what you did. It was T-45, maybe I'd try HUCA. Now being 1K, I've never waited more than a minute so I might have tried HUCA even at T-30 but that has to be balanced with the potential wait time with the third party. If it was T-60, that's where it gets tricky. In theory, I might be able to make it to the airport in time to at least get to the checkin counter if not the gate but I'd really be sweating.

All my work travel is through an agency and I've never had a problem changing the flight with SDC or through an agent regardless of whether its IRROPS or not. I've never heard the "cannot" change excuse but maybe 1K buys me something. Though SDC always works from the app. I've never tried this with codeshare tickets though.

mduell

Why do you choose to use such a cracker jack TA rather than booking with the carrier directly?

btonkid12345

Completely agree with this. The systems don’t instantly cancel, and even if they did, an agent or supervisor can reinstate it.

All the major US carriers have flat tire rules. As long as you were agnostic about departure time, arrival time, departure and arrival airport, and nice to the agents when you arrived, it almost certainly would have been a free rebooking.

Especially at a small airport where the agents are usually nice and where you would have gotten to the airport so close to departure time anyways.

Phone is always the worst in such cases where you’re late, policy over the phone isn’t on your side, and don’t have status. Most the phone is good for, is to leave a note that you called prior to departure (if reinstatement is needed later).

Respectfully disagree. Action is good - but not rushed action informed purely by emotion. Otherwise you’re out $1300 when you probably could have accomplished the same for free at the airport.

As you yourself later posted, the departure airport only had two United flights per day, so the rush to action didn’t save your connection or anything.

Best to quickly and realistically assess options left to you once you’ve awoken late, and then pursue the cheapest way of accomplishing. If it were me, I would have gone to the airport ASAP. Either they rebook for later that day or out of a nearby airport. As long as within 2 hours of departure, and you were nice, they’d take care of you.

cfischer

You could have done SDC over the phone ... of course your booking class needs to be available to use that route ... and technically not covered since NH was involved, but unpublished you can SDC 'To' UA metal without any problems on 016 tickets.

jpezaris

The other thing, in hindsight, that has saved my patootie once or twice, is that departures are regularly delayed by 20 or 30 minutes. If that had happened in this case, the OP might potentially have made their original flights, if everything else went their way. When you're close to needing to invoke the flat tire rule, always check to see what the actual departure time for your flight is: you might just make it anyway.

When I was in graduate school, my advisor opined, "if you're not missing 10% of your flights, you're spending too much time at the airport."

ContinentalFan

I take it your advisor didn’t get tenure?