jeanlucsf

I booked an award ticket SFO-HER in Premium Plus (SFO-FRA on UA in Premium Plus ON, FRA-HER on LH in Eco), for a trip in August. This was booked as a saver award for 46.5K miles.
Due to an equipment change, Premium Plus is gone, and I’m back in Eco XN. But now the saver award prices are gone, and this flight in Eco is available for 55K miles.
There are no suitable alternative flights in Premium Plus. Given the circumstances, I'm OK to fly in Eco, but am wondering about the refund. The schedule change (coming with the equipment swap) is pending my approval.
Should I call to accept the change? How many miles will UA credit me back? At the current price, they don’t owe me anything to fly in Eco. Will they go back in time to see how much Eco was priced when I booked to refund me the difference (16.5K)?
Or should I do nothing, keep my ticket in ON class and wait, in case of another equipment change before August, which could bring back Premium Plus (and most likely not at the saver award price)? Any suggestions?

Kacee

For August? The schedule is all just theoretical at this point. I would wait.

jeanlucsf

When they reticket me in eco (whether now or I wait until closer to the departure), how will they calculate the refund in miles?

PTahCha

As @Kacee had pointed out, I would wait until closer to schedule flight to deal with any refunds, since the aircraft assignment will most likely change again a few times between now and August.

When I was downgraded from 3-cabin first to business, they refunded the difference in saver awards, plus additional 10,000 miles for the inconvenience.

Often1

Schedules more than 30 days out are purely notional. That includes timing and equipment. I would deal with this in July. If UA does autorebook into Y, just leave it alone.

If PP is available in July due to another equipment change, you will have a ticket at a favorable fare and UA will rebook into that.

When you return from your trip, if you did wind up flying in Y, then you can deal with UA on a mileage refund. Indeed you will likely have a tussle about how that is calculated. On the other hand, UA may simply make a customer service gesture which is entirely acceptable. Simply not worth visiting until you are back from your trip.

Guate87

Keep the ticket, as is.

United is hit-or-miss with refunds.

With revenue differences, United does not refund the difference if the new price is lower, with rare exceptions. I usually cancel and rebook.

With reward miles differences, it might depend on the agent.

jeanlucsf

Thanks for the responses. I will leave the reservation as is until July. I did not mention that there is a return on the same ticket (with LX). I assume that LX won't have any problem keeping the reservation even if the ticket is out of sync on the UA side, correct?

Often1

If you are ultimately reticketed on the outbound, you will need to check with LX to make certain that the new ticket was pushed to LX. Otherwise, you will have a perfectly valid reservation, but no ticket to support it. Not anything to worry about until and unless there is a change made (whether involuntary or voluntary).

Kacee

The LX segments are almost guaranteed to change between now and August. Their schedule has been completely unreliable. I'd say odds are close to 100% this ticket will be reissued, possibly more than once, prior to departure.

stmen

I was in a similar situation for an award ticket over thanksgiving. Schedule change + Equip change, downgraded from PP to Econ+. Miles weren't refunded.

It's not clear to me if I booked a "saver" or "everyday" PP award, but I was curious if anyone has had success with asking to open up Saver Level Business Awards in this kind of situation? Or is that asking way too much of UA.

WineCountryUA

Worth contracting UA.
Also is there an alternative flight with PremPlus?

November / Thanksgiving schedules are still in flux.
Would estimate essentially 0% chance of that.

jeanlucsf

Additional feedback on this thread I initially started:

A few weeks after being downgraded, another schedule change caused me to call United to request a change (on the return flight - separate from the outbound with the class change). When the agent made the change I requested, he noticed that the miles I had paid did not match the class I was booked on, so he graciously refunded me the extra miles (the 16.5K I had paid to upgrade from Eco to Premium Plus).
A few months go by, equipment change, and Premium Plus is available again on the outbound - this time priced at 120K miles. I call to get upgraded to that cabin, at the price I initially paid (46.5K instead of 120K) - after escalating to a supervisor, they agreed: it was the exact flight I had booked months earlier (same date, flight numbers), so they accepted.
Good customer service!