Mar 1, 2020, 10:34 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
POS ==> Point of Sale. For UA, this determines pricing, inventory, fare rules, (in some cases - change fees) ....
Related threads
Different pricing/fare buckets depending on billing country / point of sale
Price delta between united.com/ United app / second phone? (Guam is billing country?)
united handles point of sale by credit card billing address. So will change the price to the local point of sale, based on billing address. If your CC is Canadian with Canadian address, and you start searching from US site, you’ll get the pricing swotcheroo. Sometimes, it’s not much of a difference. Sometimes it is. There can be different class availability, and exchange rate isn’t necessarily up to date.
Online OTAs should let you bill to whatever card you want, so that’s one solution.
Online OTAs should let you bill to whatever card you want, so that’s one solution.
Different pricing/fare buckets depending on billing country / point of sale
Price delta between united.com/ United app / second phone? (Guam is billing country?)
UA forces POS to credit card billing country -- restricts which site/card can be used
Aug 28, 2018, 7:15 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: London, Babylon-on-Thames
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Posts: 1,510
The United app is limited to US payment cards?
Perhaps I am being thick.
I have paid American, Delta and Southwest thousands of dollars all in as they take my UK credit card, but United’s own app only allows paymernt with a payment card based in the US of A?
How is this an issue in 2018? Are direct sales not what UA want?
I have paid American, Delta and Southwest thousands of dollars all in as they take my UK credit card, but United’s own app only allows paymernt with a payment card based in the US of A?
How is this an issue in 2018? Are direct sales not what UA want?
Aug 28, 2018, 7:24 pm
#2
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: fwp blood diamond, dykwia uranium
Posts: 7,252
you're not being thick. it is a wonky thing. i think when you're loyal to ua you just used to dysfunction. like ny subway riders. it doesn't really hinder me, i just price it out then open up my laptop.
this being said i would say ua's app is FAR ahead of the vast majority of airlines. it's far from perfect but it gives a lot of information in a nice gui.
and their local billing (ie being able to book in a myriad of currencies) is also FAR ahead of the vast majority airlines.
but ya, you can't bill in non usd on the app. *shrug*
this being said i would say ua's app is FAR ahead of the vast majority of airlines. it's far from perfect but it gives a lot of information in a nice gui.
and their local billing (ie being able to book in a myriad of currencies) is also FAR ahead of the vast majority airlines.
but ya, you can't bill in non usd on the app. *shrug*
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Aug 28, 2018 at 8:33 pm Reason: extranous comment removed
Aug 28, 2018, 7:42 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 14,891
Perhaps I am being thick.
I have paid American, Delta and Southwest thousands of dollars all in as they take my UK credit card, but United’s own app only allows paymernt with a payment card based in the US of A?
How is this an issue in 2018? Are direct sales not what UA want?
I have paid American, Delta and Southwest thousands of dollars all in as they take my UK credit card, but United’s own app only allows paymernt with a payment card based in the US of A?
How is this an issue in 2018? Are direct sales not what UA want?
That is on the website though. App only allows you to select from USA, PR and Guam at the moment for billing country. I suspect that will change going forward.
Ao your choices for now are to either use the UA website to book direct, or use an OTA like Orbitz who will accept foreign cards. Note if you use UA with a UK card, the price for your flight might be different than you saw - either lower or higher. YMMV.
Aug 28, 2018, 8:39 pm
#4
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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Posts: 66,859
Use united's UK site?
Aug 28, 2018, 11:21 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2003
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Perhaps I don’t quite understand the issues raised, I have been able to use non-US credit cards purchasing UA tickets through Untied APP.
I have never encountered any problems.
I have never encountered any problems.
Last edited by UA_Flyer; Aug 29, 2018 at 3:18 am
Aug 29, 2018, 2:03 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: YVR
Posts: 251
It also charges a premium for non-US cards (at least in Canada). I have tried to book with a CC and/or paypal using a Canadian address, but it denies me, the preauth will go through. Tickets are usually about 7-10% more expensive using the Canadian version of the website as well. Recently booked 2 tickets YVR-PHX, using app the price was $1235, using the Canadian website it came to $1336. A fun ripoff. Sometimes I have been able to book on the app and call it in, but that usually involves a long conversation with the person on the phone.
Aug 29, 2018, 10:19 am
#7
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: GIG - YYC - SVO
Programs: Lost it all and don't care
Posts: 945
I'm a Canadan and the app accepts my Canadian bank issued C/C all the time.
Problem is everything is quoted in USD when booking as I cannot select my country of booking like you can on the full site.
Have never noticed fare discrepancies as stated above however.
Problem is everything is quoted in USD when booking as I cannot select my country of booking like you can on the full site.
Have never noticed fare discrepancies as stated above however.
Last edited by KDS777; Aug 29, 2018 at 3:39 pm
Aug 29, 2018, 11:30 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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It also charges a premium for non-US cards (at least in Canada). I have tried to book with a CC and/or paypal using a Canadian address, but it denies me, the preauth will go through. Tickets are usually about 7-10% more expensive using the Canadian version of the website as well. Recently booked 2 tickets YVR-PHX, using app the price was $1235, using the Canadian website it came to $1336. A fun ripoff. Sometimes I have been able to book on the app and call it in, but that usually involves a long conversation with the person on the phone.
As I said, different POS sometimes have different availability, which is what would cause a price difference.
Even if these rates are all in USD, what you call a rip-off is UAs way of price discriminating - no different than any other carrier prices, and also no different than other price discrimination tactics (requiring a round trip or Sat. night stay on some routes, for example). As another example, when I lived ex-India and looked to book flights to Thailand, when i checked US OTAs, they could only sell full Y fares onTG, but booking though TGs (India) website or an Indian OTA would get me flights on even the lowest discount buckets. That’s essentially no different than what UA does, around the world.
Aug 29, 2018, 1:04 pm
#9
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Vancouver, Houston
Programs: UA-Perma Plat, Hyatt-Sucks, HHonors - Dia., Marriott - Gold
Posts: 438
It also charges a premium for non-US cards (at least in Canada). I have tried to book with a CC and/or paypal using a Canadian address, but it denies me, the preauth will go through. Tickets are usually about 7-10% more expensive using the Canadian version of the website as well. Recently booked 2 tickets YVR-PHX, using app the price was $1235, using the Canadian website it came to $1336. A fun ripoff. Sometimes I have been able to book on the app and call it in, but that usually involves a long conversation with the person on the phone.
Aug 29, 2018, 2:22 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
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Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
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Yes... I was buying yesterday and I found the CDN site to be using an exchange rate of about 1.6 instead of the ~1.3 market rate. It was also giving me wonky business class rates for TATL travel... almost double the price I could get on the USD site. I ended up going with AA using a US card.
Aug 29, 2018, 3:01 pm
#11
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
It also charges a premium for non-US cards (at least in Canada). I have tried to book with a CC and/or paypal using a Canadian address, but it denies me, the preauth will go through. Tickets are usually about 7-10% more expensive using the Canadian version of the website as well. Recently booked 2 tickets YVR-PHX, using app the price was $1235, using the Canadian website it came to $1336. A fun ripoff. Sometimes I have been able to book on the app and call it in, but that usually involves a long conversation with the person on the phone.
-James
Aug 29, 2018, 3:04 pm
#12
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Vancouver, Houston
Programs: UA-Perma Plat, Hyatt-Sucks, HHonors - Dia., Marriott - Gold
Posts: 438
Aug 29, 2018, 3:17 pm
#13
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
United Airlines Canada:
United Airlines USA:
As you can see the Canadian edition of United yields a pricing that is several thousand less than the USA version. In particular, note the fare bucket availability on UA's Canadian site, we've got availability in the lower tier Z and P business fares which explains the discrepancy. I've also seen this principle work in reverse.
Whether this violates the CoC is a question open for debate. Certainly if I was domiciled in the ticketing country in question I doubt UA could raise much of an objection. On the other hand, when UA had that crazy fare error out of Denmark a couple years ago, they argued they weren't required to honour the fare since most people weren't domiciled there.
Safe Travels,
James
Aug 29, 2018, 3:22 pm
#14
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Vancouver, Houston
Programs: UA-Perma Plat, Hyatt-Sucks, HHonors - Dia., Marriott - Gold
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Nontheless, it is a good lesson to check both sites if you have the capacity to pay in either currency.
I have seen this before with Air Canada. Buying from Vancouver C class for Houston to Shanghai was $3000, whereas buying from Vancouver in CAD was nearly $8k. It is all about attracting new business.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Aug 29, 2018 at 4:13 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Aug 29, 2018, 3:30 pm
#15
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359