kylemore

So I seem to have run into one of those "pass the buck" situations where no one can help, and I am hoping someone familiar with United can point me in the general direction to get this fixed.

About 1 week ago I booked a trip through Vayama to Brussels. The itinerary was PHX-IAD-BRU; BRU-FRA-PHX. The outbound segments operated by United, inbound by Lufthansa, ticketed by Lufthansa.

Earlier today I log into my United account to look at seats and see that the first leg of my trip has vanished (PHX-IAD) with a notification to contact United support, which I did. It turns out the morning PHX-IAD flight will no longer exist starting in June (my flights are in July). There is a PHX-ORD-BRU flight that same day, but after trying quite a bit the United rep said they could not re-issue the ticket as it was purchased through a travel agent.

I called Vayama, who said that their system showed the PHX-IAD segment as "confirmed" and refused to do anything. I pointed out I had talked to United, and you can't even book the flight anymore, and it doesn't exist in United's system and they basically said they couldn't do anything unless United notified them that the flight was canceled, but suggested I talk to Lufthansa as they were the ticketing airline.

I then called Lufthansa and (unsurprisingly at this point) they said that since it was United who made the flight change/cancelled the flight, United was responsible for accommodating me and reissuing the ticket.

I called United back and they fiddled around in my reservation and I guess I now have a "reservation" for PHX-ORD-BRU, but not an actual ticketed flight. Lufthansa now shows both PHX-IAD-BRU and PHX-ORD-BRU on their website, while Vayama continues to show PHX-IAD-BRU.

So I have a few questions I guess:
1. How long will it take for this cancellation take to reach Vayama? (If anyone knows)
2. Who should be responsible for the rebook? Both Lufthansa and United said it was each other's responsibility (United said that Lufthansa had to re-issue the ticket, Lufthansa said that since it was a United change they were responsible and refused to contact United)
3. I am now "booked" on a PHX-ORD-BRU flight, but I cannot tell if a new ticket has actually been issued, and I think it has not. I certainly don't want to show up at the airport and be informed I don't actually have a ticket. How can I confirm this?
4. Anyone have a number I can call to actually get this taken care of?
5. Is there a better forum to ask this?

I have avoided booking through 3rd party sites for exactly this reason, but I knew the dates of travel months in advance so decided the risk was pretty low. About 4 hours so far on the phone today, we will see how many hours it is in the end!

tl;dr: Booked flight to Brussels through Vayama. United canceled the first leg of the outbound journey, now United, Lufthansa and Vayama have all said it is not their responsibility and cannot help.

jsloan

Could be any time -- I wouldn't worry about it until April, at the earliest. The flights may well change again.

Vayama. United is correct that they can't reissue the ticket. Lufthansa can, but doesn't want to. Vayama has the responsibility for it, because they're your travel agent.

On the day of travel, the operating airline could take care of you, but it shouldn't get to that point.

ReinaDeLaSelva

That's your problem right there...,lol... Vayama! Vayama was numerously threatened with enforcement by the DoT in 2012/13 over their shrugging of responsibility for voiding RGN tickets. I know because I was called by Vayama while in Latinoamerica at zero notice for several of these tickets and suddenly they fell over themselves to fix a dropped seg like this, whereas prior to my DoT complaint they wilfully denied responsibiltiy and shrugged at me claiming too bad so sad no necesito niente..so I suggest, stand firm and remind them directly of this fact. They are responsible for fixing the dropped seg and you need to pursue via them in the first instance. Be ready to file a complaint and copy to Vayama.

nerdbirdsjc

You're moving a bit faster than the system and processes in place to handle these kinds of schedule changes. Once the operating carrier undergoes a schedule change, it often takes 1-2 weeks for the change to reflect in the timetable of the marketing carrier and ultimately the PNR of the impacted passenger. You're right to be concerned, but give it another week and then you'll be able to get this fully resolved.


And in the meantime, think carefully about what you really want. Long story short, for an LH any combination of Lufthansa Group-marketed (LH/LH*, OS/OS*, LX/LX*, SN/SN*, EW) flights can be used for the rebooking. If you're happy with PHX-ORD-BRU, run with that, but you can also consider more creative options as you wish. Vayama will have to do the re-ticketing, and they will liaise with Lufthansa as necessary to rebook you.

kylemore

Thanks for the reply (for everyone!). I was wondering if I was moving too quickly on this. Hopefully I didn't pester United and them fiddling around with the reservation. And I'll keep my flight options in mind! My mileage running days are mostly behind me as I've gotten older and am more interested in convenience, but I'll make sure to explore other options