May 7, 2022, 3:00 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Active thread; UA-Schedule changes; +25% TATL 2022 capacity, Q2 TPAC down 65% vs 2019; June changes

UA publishes a schedule for 330 days in advance (called Beginning of Schedule) and in the past would make tweaks quarterly and things would be fairly settles 3-4 months out. Updates would occur Friday evening / Saturday morning (Chicago time). Routine additions could occur anytime.
20 Oct 2021

Quote:

Originally Posted by EWR764

In the earnings call today, UA noted that has been transitioning back to its 'normal' (pre-pandemic) 90-day schedule load process, which should be complete in the very near future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UA Insider

The only thing constant is change and at United Airlines, some of the fees associated with changes related to flying are gone for good. The carrier announced today that it is permanently getting rid of change fees on all standard Economy and Premium cabin tickets for travel within the U.S., effective immediately. And starting on January 1, 2021, any United customer can fly standby for free, regardless of fare type, on a flight departing the day of their travel, a first among U.S. carriers, while MileagePlus® Premier® members can confirm a seat on a different flight on the same day with the same departure and arrival cities as their original ticket if a seat in the same ticket fare class is available.

United is also extending its waiver for new tickets issued through December 31, 2020, to permit unlimited changes with no fee. This policy applies to all ticket types issued after March 3, 2020 and is valid for domestic and international travel.

The new change fee policy applies to all standard Economy and Premium cabin tickets for travel within the U.S. 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and customers will not be limited in the number of times they adjust their flights.

Additionally, United is giving customers more flexibility to change their flights on the day of their travel so they can head home if a meeting ends earlier or enjoy a few more hours on vacation. With the ability to list for same-day standby for free, customers will now have an option to take a different flight with the same origin and destination airports as their original itinerary if space is available at departure. This enhanced option will be available to all customers for travel within the U.S. and to and from international destinations beginning on January 1, 2021. Customers who want to switch flights will be able to add themselves to the standby list through United’s award-winning mobile app, on united.com or at the airport no later than 30 minutes prior to departure for domestic flights and one hour before departure on international flights.

The carrier is also improving the travel experience for its MileagePlus members including waiving all redeposit fees on award travel for flights changed or cancelled more than 30 days before departure and allowing all MileagePlus Premier members to confirm a different flight on the day of their travel. As a way to thank MileagePlus Premier members for their loyalty, beginning January 1, 2021, all Premier members will be able to confirm a seat for free on a different flight with the same departure and arrival cities as their original ticket. This expanded option will allow MileagePlus Silver members and above to confirm a new seat in the same ticket fare class if space is available. Earlier this year, United announced that it will extend status for MileagePlus Premier and United Global Services® members through January 2022. United also reduced thresholds for Premier qualification by 50 percent for each status level, to make reaching an even higher status tier easier.

For more information on United’s new flexible travel policies, visit https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/change-fee.html.

Quote:

Change is here. Change fees are gone.We’re permanently getting rid of change fees for most Economy and premium cabin tickets for travel within the United States. This includes Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Learn more

For all other destinations, change fees are waived through December 31, 2020. See terms and conditions

Quote:

We’re extending electronic certificatesTo give you more flexibility when you travel, electronic certificates are now valid for 24 months from the date they were issued. This includes all currently valid electronic certificates and all new ones issued on or after April 1, 2020.

This policy change will automatically appear, but it may not be reflected everywhere right away. We’d appreciate your patience as we work to make that happen.

Quote:

Award flight redeposit fees waived

We’re waiving redeposit fees for award flights issued on or before December 31, 2020, that are canceled at least 30 days before the departure date. You can also change your award flight with no fee. Learn more about changing or canceling your award flight.

International travel advisories and waivers

For more information about international travel:

View our current travel waivers
See our country-specific travel updates
Search by destination for passport, visa and health requirements provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Visit the U.S. Department of State’s website for detailed information on coronavirus by country[/quote]

CARES service exemptions for United
United Exemption 042520 FINAL ISSUED.pdf
United Airlines 2nd Exemption_051220_FINAL ISSUED.pdf
latest (tentative) -2020-5-5 Order to Show Cause

Other Resources and Statistics

COVID19 UA-Schedule {Archive}

Closed Thread Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Mar 11, 2020, 8:47 am

#1336

jsloan

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2001

Location: Austin, TX

Posts: 21,415

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winkdaddy

Found it thanks! Its not very intuitive I would say as its hard to see which canceled flight was to where as it just shows Conf#...and doesnt automatically show the future flight credit until you try and apply to to another flight through booking process. A central "wallet" showing how much you have in credits for future flights and to pick and choose how much to use on future flights would be much easier I would think. (and cut down on having to call UA). Oh well, I am sure UA has other things on their mind right now then my constructive criticism!

One man's constructive criticism is another man's terrible idea that might reduce breakage.

If they wanted to make it easy to reuse credit, they could do so. (Well, probably -- this is UA IT, after all

). I suspect that the steps are convoluted so that they can say "yes, we make it available to people" while knowing that some customers will forget about the credit and allow it to expire.

Mar 11, 2020, 9:30 am

#1337

khkchan

Join Date: Jan 2003

Posts: 706

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winkdaddy

From my experience, the online change tool is pretty bad in general. Most of the times, the website errors out and asks me to call. Sometimes the website comes back with very bad fares.

I have read from previous post that someone changed a ticket to some very cheap domestic ticket and get back some refund in the form of travel certificate and subsequently use the certificate to buy a new ticket. Honestly I think I would call and ask the agent to get the fares I can bringup on united.com

Mar 11, 2020, 9:41 am

#1338

serialportme

Join Date: Mar 2009

Posts: 70

United Waiver to Book Cheaper Flight

I think this has been asked but I can't find anything specific to my question.

I booked a $500 flight that falls under the waiver. Same flight is now $250.

Other than an ethical dilemma - can I cancel the $500 flight and rebook the $250 with the credit and still have $250 left over?

Is there something I'm missing or a better way to accomplish the same thing?

Thank you!

Mar 11, 2020, 9:44 am

#1339

jsloan

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2001

Location: Austin, TX

Posts: 21,415

Quote:

Originally Posted by serialportme

There's no ethical dilemma. What you're asking about is specifically allowed. In fact, there are policies in place that cover it.

That said, you need to make sure that the fare rules allow for the residual amount of the fare to be refunded. UA has written some fares -- including nearly all fares published this month -- that will ignore the residual amount when it's lower, meaning UA keeps it anyway.

Mar 11, 2020, 9:53 am

#1340

EWR764

Join Date: Jan 2005

Location: New York, NY

Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott

Posts: 9,454

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsloan

That said, you need to make sure that the fare rules allow for the residual amount of the fare to be refunded. UA has written some fares -- including nearly all fares published this month -- that will ignore the residual amount when it's lower, meaning UA keeps it anyway.

Interesting... Does it go to an ETC under the rewritten fare rules if the reissued ticket is lower? Or is the fare differential (to the customer's benefit) on the exchange just ignored?

Mar 11, 2020, 9:58 am

#1341

Phillies

Join Date: Aug 2005

Location: New Jersey

Posts: 208

Anyone else wishing they didn't book a flight before March 3rd ?

Just venting a little I guess but anyone else here book a ticket sometime before the new cancellation policy and wish they waited ? Or wish they had a crystal ball and waited for the price of tickets to plummet ? I booked a flight from EWR to LHR about 3 weeks ago for June. I see my same coach seats are now $300 less a ticket. I guess if there is any upside I got my upgrade to Polaris now rather than having to wait until check in time...

Mar 11, 2020, 9:59 am

#1342

jsloan

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2001

Location: Austin, TX

Posts: 21,415

Quote:

Originally Posted by EWR764

Interesting... Does it go to an ETC under the rewritten fare rules if the reissued ticket is lower? Or is the fare differential (to the customer's benefit) on the exchange just ignored?

Where UA has written these rules, the residual is ignored -- no ETC. That's why I haven't taken advantage of their no-change-fee promotion; they added that text to pretty much every domestic fare (and possibly international fares also, but I haven't seen that). They've used it before -- I've passed up a couple of business class sales with that language -- but it's more widespread than it ever has been.

Mar 11, 2020, 10:30 am

#1343

VWang1111

Join Date: Apr 2016

Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist

Posts: 695

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phillies

With change fees waived for flights booked before March 3rd. Why wouldn't you just change the ticket and receive the difference in an ETC?

Mar 11, 2020, 10:33 am

#1344

narvik

Join Date: May 2010

Location: AVP & PEK

Programs: UA 1K 1.9MM

Posts: 6,360

I had two tickets expire, one for Feb 24 the other March 1.

Mar 11, 2020, 10:38 am

#1345

blueman2

Join Date: Nov 2006

Location: SFO South Bay

Programs: UA 2MM

Posts: 3,052

Not sure when this happened, but FCO has now been added to the "Northern Italy" waiver. Guess they need to rename that waiver.

Mar 11, 2020, 10:50 am

#1346

Zeeb

Join Date: Jun 2013

Programs: DL Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat, Hertz Prez Circle, National Exec

Posts: 1,357

Quote:

Originally Posted by VWang1111

With change fees waived for flights booked before March 3rd. Why wouldn't you just change the ticket and receive the difference in an ETC?

Fees are waived for tickets booked *after* March 3rd.

Mar 11, 2020, 10:52 am

#1347

Phillies

Join Date: Aug 2005

Location: New Jersey

Posts: 208

Quote:

Originally Posted by VWang1111

With change fees waived for flights booked before March 3rd. Why wouldn't you just change the ticket and receive the difference in an ETC?

My understanding is fees were only waived from March 3ed on. Although if the prices get any lower, it might be worth to cancel with fees and rebook and still save money...

Edit:

You are correct, there flights booked before March 3rd can now be changed for no fees but only for airfare from now to April 30th. My flight is in June...

Mar 11, 2020, 11:07 am

#1348

VWang1111

Join Date: Apr 2016

Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist

Posts: 695

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phillies

It will be officially extended in due time. In the mean time, did you try calling? Phone agents have quite a lot of latitude and most likely will waive the fee anyways.

Mar 11, 2020, 11:10 am

#1349

Phillies

Join Date: Aug 2005

Location: New Jersey

Posts: 208

Quote:

Originally Posted by VWang1111

It will be officially extended in due time. In the mean time, did you try calling? Phone agents have quite a lot of latitude and most likely will waive the fee anyways.

I did not try calling. If i do call, I just wont say how I plan on then immediately rebooking at the huge discounted rate lol

Mar 11, 2020, 11:31 am

#1350

CCIE_Flyer

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: COS

Programs: UA Gold/1.5MM (several years running now!), Marriott LTTE, Hertz Prez

Posts: 1,899

I'm guessing there will be a new pre-3/3 thread or perhaps this expanded eligibility just belongs under an existing waiver thread (apologies, haven't been around these parts much lately). In any event, I just canceled a trip booked back in Jan for travel commencing next week. I was easily able to do this online and a credit for the full amount was indicated by the system (have not yet received the promised follow-up e-mail).

All change fees waived for tickets issued on or before March 2, 2020

Airports:

All cities

Original travel dates:

March 9, 2020 - April 30, 2020

Additional information

FLIGHT CHANGES:

New tickets must be reissued on/before December 31, 2020 or 12 months from original ticket date, whichever is earlier
Rebooked travel must commence within 12 months from the original ticket issue date

ORIGINAL TICKET MUST BE ISSUED ON OR BEFORE:

March 2, 2020

Edit: Just received said follow-up e-mail, and it includes the following stock language: "Change fees will apply when you use the remaining future flight credit." So not clear if doing this online is the right approach as yet (but again, believe this is probably just generic canned language).

Last edited by CCIE_Flyer; Mar 11, 2020 at 11:39 am