WineCountryUA

When you look at the flight in the Cancel section of My Trips. Does it say
That's what I would be looking for.

temple

Hmmm...it does not. "This reservation has been canceled. To use any remaining value toward a future flight, please select the button below""....is the exact wording.

I noticed this while chatting to the agent, but was assured that it really was now in the refund queue, but that the refund department is beyond swamped and it could take up to a month to be effected. I did ask for an email confirmation but was told that wasn't possible.

Obviously the wording is a little worrying, but as this point I think I'll take a leap of faith and assume things will work out as the agent described. Perhaps I'm being naive, but I used to be 1K for a few years back in the day, and I can't quite allow myself to believe that United that fallen so far that they won't now live up to this.

WineCountryUA

Was afraid that might the situation. So it was been submitted for a refund but not yet approved. Unfortunately, that is a major difference. And yes it can take 3-4 weeks to hear back about the refund decision. Not trying to be a "Debbie downer" but I would not consider this a closed issue, yet. Hope it does work out.

temple

Understood.

I'll be sure to come back and update the thread with the outcome.

Welltended3

I know I am just asking for crystal ball guesses, but any idea what the "deal" will be after April 30th? We paid $5600 for two first class tickets for travel starting June 10.
We are not taking the trip; the reason to travel is gone (conference). The nonstop SFO-KOA route on June 14th is currently cancelled but looks to be starting up in June.
We hope it gets cancelled for longer if Hawaii extends the quarantine. I really would like that cash back rather than hope to use it sometime in the next 2-3 years.

But at the same time, I do not want to get a worse deal like 1 year voucher if we wait past April 30th.
May 1st wrt cancelling your trip?

Thanks.

PsiFighter37

Both flights got canned in today’s schedule update. Would this entitle me to an outright refund?

jsloan

If they extend the blanket waiver, my guess is that they will carry over the same terms that are now in place. I don't expect them to move from two-year vouchers back to one-year vouchers anytime soon. The question is whether or not they'll do an extension. I think they will, but I have a flight that I will cancel on April 30 if they don't extend it.

I suspect that the DOT's response to UA's request to suspend KOA service will probably come through before April 30, so you should get a pretty good idea as to whether or not your flight will be operating, but you might still have to fight for a refund as opposed to a re-route via HNL.

Probably, but it's hard to say for sure. Under normal circumstances, yes. Today, UA will likely fight that request and try to put you on a partner carrier instead. The DOT requires that they identify the operating carrier at the time of booking, so this may be grounds for a DOT complaint anyway -- "I don't want to fly Lufthansa" -- but I don't think we have reports back yet from the people who have filed those complaints.

taseas

I had non-refundable tickets, got cancelled in yesterdays update as well. Called in last night, had to ask her a couple times - but the agent got approval to refund the tickets to original form of payment. She tried voucher at first, but I was polite and asked for a refund.

Good luck!

cricketer

Late to the thread, but in the same boat. We have SFO-LHR for four of us on a $2K each P-fare in late July returning early August. Fortunately had not yet booked the onward connections within Europe yet.

Assuming flying returns at some point, I'll probably be able to use the ETC's as long as I don't have to use the full amount in single tickets (i.e. I can use them a few hundred $ at a time). The fact that I can use all of them on me helps there.

However, I'd much prefer the refund. The flights continue to show as is, so my current plan is to wait till 4/30 and if there is no extension announced, cancel on that day and take the 24 month ETC. I don't really see an alternative as outside of that, the flight shows up as scheduled. I guess, as has been mentioned up thread, I could gamble the change fees - but $400*4 makes that a bad gamble even if the odds of the flight staying are not that high in my estimation.

I figure if by some miracle we're able to fly in July (honestly it's not going to happen for international leisure travel to Europe) I can always buy coach and use PlusPoints on an empty aircraft. Or take a row for each of us.

lexdevil

Same exact boat, only 2 tix and you got the better fare (I paid $2,600 ea. for P fares SFO-LHR using Chase points). Would much prefer the refund. If we have to take the ETC I hope to be able to go next summer, but am concerned about whether I'll be able to catch a decent fare at a time when we can travel. As a teacher, my travel windows are limited. I'm also concerned that even next summer may be no good for us, as we'd be going to visit my husband's octogenarian father. I don't know whether it will be safe for him to have visitors yet. $5,200 is an awful lot of credit to have to use if we're not doing an international trip.

WineCountryUA

Is UA offering you an ETC?
A refund would be difficult as you did not purchase the tickets, Chase did. You did not use cash but Chase points
Suspect you will have to deal with Chase, not UA in this case but would be very interested to learn how this works for Chase points purchases.

lexdevil

United sees these sales as cash purchases with Chase as the TA. In fact one can use Chase as their TA w/out spending Chase points. United would refund to the Chase card. It would then be returned to me as Chase points. I actually experienced exactly this last summer when I broke my ankle a couple of days before a flight to the UK. I had used Chase points for a United P fare. It was covered under the Chase travel insurance, but Chase requires you to request a refund from the airline and document that it would not refund you. I made the request to United and was stunned when they refunded the fare in full. Chase then put all of the points back in my account. That is what I would prefer in this case.

cricketer

Yes on that last point. The reason I'll get away with it is in a normal year I'd have $10-20K of domestic work travel, so over 2 years shouldn't have a problem using it up as the ETC's are not named.

We did do well on the fare - it was $2,0xx (forget exactly) purchased about 10 months out - at the time that fare only showed for a few combination of dates, one of which happened to work reasonably for us. Was frustrated later when other $2K fares to Europe started showing up, but guess none of it matters now!

kevflyer

Only a few days left until the 30th. I still have some smaller domestic trips for August - October that I haven't cancelled (don't intend on taking those trips and don't expect UA to significantly change or cancel them until very close to departure) and I don't know as this point should I just cancel them before the 4/30 deadline for ETC or play the waiting game?

WineCountryUA

If you don't expect flights to change in the next few days, it seems the only reason to wait is to see if UA extends. But there are many options for UA -- simple extension before the 30th or way until after the 30th or do sometime else or do nothing.

No harm waiting until the 30th (if the web site does not crash or your phone service / internet has issues or ....)
What are you hoping will happen by waiting?

The game of chicken / buffing is a case of who blinks first.