Often1

As you already have a high level contact at UA, I would leave it with that contact to get this sorted, but let him know that you are OK with ETC's as that may be easier to push through. I would not do anything else in the interim as that may simply gum up what your contact is doing and there is no reason to turn this into more than it is.

However, if that does not work, you really are stuck having to do a ticket-by-ticket analysis.

1. Any refundable ticket ought to be refunded to its form of payment.
2. Any ticket containing a flight which was cancelled by UA ought to be refunded to its original form of payment.
3. Any ticket containing a flight with a change exceeding 6 hours ought to be refunded to its original form of payment.

These are relatively simple DOT complaints and credit card chargebacks. I would prepare a spreadsheet which shows the e-ticket number and the particulars as well as the reason a refund is die.

4. Then turn to tickets where there was a change of less than 6 hours but still substantial. Pick something reasonable such as 2 hours and file a separate complaint about those. It will be interesting to see whether DOT is prepared to find 6 hours reasonable when neither DL not AA are anywhere near that length. But, still not worth gumming up #1-3 in the process.

I would not bother sending certified letters or undertaking other notices to UA's various attorneys. The DOT complaint process is quite efficient and DOT requires a response from the carrier once it accepts the complaint, e.g., it states a claim, which yours does.

Again, leave it with your high-level contact first. Move forward if the contact can't get it done.

WineCountryUA

Yeah, UA did all a lot of dumb things initially and still doing a few today, but the easy online converting of voluntarily canceled flights (past and future) to ETCs was a good move -- just took too long and wish they had thrown in a sweeter -- say a conversion bonus but going to two years was another good move.

Xyzzy

If that contact can get you ETCs, remember that they can now be combined. One big ETC is likely to be a WHLE lot easier to work with than 400 small ones.

WineCountryUA

Might be the single largest ETC ever.

bhunt

It may take awhile to get them converted. Did one from Easter weekend and still have not seen ETC. Called last week and was told it would be processed by May 21. Hopefully mine just an oddball. Previous ticket to Easter trip Iwas a credit from a carry over carry back trip where brand new 789 had electrical issues and delayed 3 1/2 hours so missed my meeting.

WineCountryUA

Online conversion, if offered, appears to be essentially instantousily.

The case of bookings using previous credits has been reported as needing manual processing.

planes&trains

On all my tickets I asked for explicit statement and this is what it came down to -- they will recommend a refund, not guarantee. Then the refund department has to approve or decline the recommendation. If they decline, they will contact the traveler. So, I am not holding my breath. The earliest cancellations started with a refund window of 5-7 days, then 15, and now showing 30 days even on those. I have not received a single refund yet.

Indeed, $5,000 may end up in deep space as I cancelled the card used on a ticket. Waiting to start wasting endless hours once UA confirms a refund.

DMSFCA

Oh wow, I bet you have good stories!

I would think given how much you are booking, couldn't you get a relationship with United directly like any corporate entity? I can see if you are just putting it on your company or personal Amex they might get squirrely with you but maybe a corporate advisor would be able to handle it more appropriately? At your volume, they should definitely be calling you back to work with you!

Zorak

Didn't the lead plaintiff have problems because he booked through an OTA?

People have reported delays, and there have been scattered reports of shenanigans, but not as many as UA in my subjective and non-comprehensive recollection.

Class action lawsuit against Delta over cancelled flights (booked on OTA)

Often1

The cancelled card should not be a problem. It is absolutely routine. If you do nothing, in 2-3 billing cycles, the card issuer will send a check to the last known address. But, if you don't want to wait, as soon as the refund is issued, give it a week to be processed by the card issuer and then call and ask that the funds be handled as you wish, e.g. transferred to another account at the same bank, check, or even wire-transferred if you want to bother.

raehl311

So I have a flight that moved 4 hours earlier to 6:30 AM. No thank you.

I booked it after March 31, so it can be turned into a credit, but what are the chances the online ETC option would be available for this flight? People traveling in the future will likely change.

planes&trains

Thank you; very helpful. Called the bank as suggested. They said I should call back when the funds hit as they don't see anything yet. Will monitor.