Jacketwatch

We booked ORD-HNL NS for 2 in several mos. ago for a Jan. 3-13 trip. I saw that on the UA website the price dropped by about 1 k for the same flight so I called UA to see if I could get some sort of adjustment. They seemed willing to do so but noted the price was the same that I paid. As it turned out I put in 1 passenger but when you search for two the those flights cost exactly what we paid.

So do you think UA would have given me some sort of adjustment if they could have?

When you look at the seat map there are plenty of open seats so does UA give discounts like this but only for one passenger?

Thank you.

Larry

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Airlines allocate seats to different fare classes for the same cabin. There may be only one seat in a certain (lowest) fare class left, after which UA sells the next seat at the next (higher) fare class. Number of empty seats this far out is totally meaningless. What counts is what UA thinks it can sell in next couple of months. Possibly one seat opened up at a cheaper price, but second (in next fare class) was at same.

I doubt you got a "discount" and don't know what the issue is with your ticket, but air fares are far more complex than most people realize.

Passengers on one record can't be in different fare classes. If you split the reservation, one might be able to get the cheaper fare class. If you want two passengers on the same reservation, the higher fare class might be the cheapest available w/ at least two seats allocated for sale. Random example below. A person looking for a reservation for two people will be offered an economy 'L' fare, not the cheaper 'K' fare. A person looking for a reservation for one will be offered the 'K' fare, because there's a single 'K' seat left. The person looking for a reservation for two on one record can't get or ask for 1 'K' fare and 1 'L' fare. Only by splitting the reservation can the separate fare classes be obtained. There are other things that come into play between fare classes (round-trip requirements, length of stay, etc), but your problem probably has to do with seat availability in certain fare classes.

Same thing happens in a premium cabin - one might see the cheaper fare class P1 and the next, Z2. In example below, there are no seats available for the cheapest P, Z and D fares, but the more expensive C fare class has plenty of seats allocated. UA appears to think they will be able to fill the cabin with higher fare-paying passengers and don't need to allocate seats to the cheaper fare classes.

Jacketwatch

Thank you for the reply.

it is quite complex indeed.

I do wonder if say say the cost for the class of tickets I bought for the two of us were to drop would I be able to get a reduction if I called them? would they do that?

Larry

CIT85

You should be able to call and have 1 of the tickets adjusted. Be prepared to cancel the one and rebook at the lower fare.

WineCountryUA

If two inventory spaces at the lower prices were to open up, yes you would be able to get the ticket repriced. The path might not be straightforward or it might, depending on the agent. Worst case you can cancel and use the canceled future flight credit (FFC) to rebook.
The price drop probably will not be refunded but would be issued as a FFC.

But would have to split PNR

Jacketwatch

Actually today they had two tickets for the same flight for around $600.00 less but they told me they can do a fare reduction but only if its w/i 24 hrs. of the original booking.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

You can cancel original tickets, book the new ones, and have a credit for future use on UA for the balance.

WineCountryUA

Bad info
The actual policy is to reprice in the first 30 days after booking for $50 service fee

However, as mentioned earlier, this can be done by canceling and then rebooking. UA does not make this easy and sometimes you will need to go to a different flight first and then switch back to the original flight.

But first HUCA, see if you can get a more accommodating agent,

MBS MillionMiler

For a refund.

Unless you bought <30 days ago, you're beyond getting a refund back to your original form of payment. Anything you'd get would be in the form of a travel credit...If the inventory is indeed at 2 or more for your trip, your best bet is to cancel online and start over. The $600 differential/remaining balance will be available for you to use on tickets in the future.

thesun

Did you try changing the flight online and just replacing with the same exact flights to see if it recognizes the price difference? I did this recently when there was an aircraft & schedule change, upgraded one segment to first that was previously on an economy only aircraft, and got future flight credit for the difference as it was cheaper than my original reservation. I'm not sure this works if you're switching to the exact same flights.

HNLbasedFlyer

Especially off peak days like Jan 3-13, it generally will always be more expensive to buy Hawaii tickets more than 2 months in advance - and optimally 4 weeks in advance unless it is a huge peak time like NYE

Jacketwatch

Thanks again for the replies.

I like the idea of canceling and rebooking and keeping the balance for future credits. Is there an expiration on when those credits expire?

HUCA. I just learned what that means. . Yes an agent can make a world oil difference.

I thought January would be peak especially for people like us coming from cold climates. It seems that way with the hotel reservation. That is I have a friend whose SIL works for Hyatt and can get friend and family rates. Weird thing is even when she gave me her credentials to book from here it showed nothing available. This was say in July I think. However when she booked us from her locale, Kuala Lumpur she was able to get us a those rates. Her F/F rate is good for 7 nights so the other 3 days we had to book on the normal rate but still its quite a savings.

HNLbasedFlyer

Peak for arrivals for Hawaii don't typically correlate to hotel rates except a major holiday like NYE.

Peak arrivals for Hawaii are June, July, August - any major holiday especially a holiday weekend - Spring Break. Essentially anytime kids are out of school.

Jacketwatch

I see.

Thank you.

when our son was much younger we used to take spring break trips to Mexico or the Caribbean and at that time prices were always more.

xph11

Hey,
We are due to fly to EWR and we wanna fly on United, but on the return flight, there are only 2 seats left in P fare, while we are 3 pax.
Is there a way to get all 3 pax the price of P fare? Will United comply if I request it? or is it a lost cause? (or just hope someone cancels their ticket?)

Thanks!