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UA cancels “duplicate” reservation -- due to another passenger with same name / info

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UA cancels “duplicate” reservation -- due to another passenger with same name / info

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Old Sep 12, 2022, 9:55 pm
  #76  
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Originally Posted by Wx4caster
It is doubly frustrating that UA found time and resources to turn off the short-lived PNR viewer, but chooses not to fix something like this.
To be fair, this is the first time we've ever heard of the system going nuts about the same reservation over and over again.

This isn't going to be the highest level issue -- "weight / balance calculator is down" or "booking engine is down." So let's say it's the second-most severe category. This isn't a defect fix; this is a feature request. Somebody's going to have to go in and figure out how to add a flag that says "exclude this reservation from duplicate analysis." Then they're going to have to test that fix and make sure they don't break anything else. Then, they probably need to get change management signoff to promote their change into the production environment (the one the public sees).

Even if they know exactly what needs to happen, it's likely to be a couple of days worth fo work when you consider the testing that'd be involved.
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Old Sep 12, 2022, 10:06 pm
  #77  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
To be fair, this is the first time we've ever heard of the system going nuts about the same reservation over and over again.

This isn't going to be the highest level issue -- "weight / balance calculator is down" or "booking engine is down." So let's say it's the second-most severe category. This isn't a defect fix; this is a feature request. Somebody's going to have to go in and figure out how to add a flag that says "exclude this reservation from duplicate analysis." Then they're going to have to test that fix and make sure they don't break anything else. Then, they probably need to get change management signoff to promote their change into the production environment (the one the public sees).

Even if they know exactly what needs to happen, it's likely to be a couple of days worth fo work when you consider the testing that'd be involved.
And rather, I think this feature already exists, as they clearly have an escalation path to get these types of situation to the RVI department which is responsible for the automation that detects/cancels these types of bookings. However it still requires someone in RVI to manually review the report and implement the exception (since I'm assuming those types of tools wouldn't be available to front line agents, or it would be a massive loophole in revenue integrity strategy), on top of whatever other reports RVI has to review (RVI is more than just detect/cancel duplicate bookings). And if the front line agent after the first or second time didn't properly recognize the need to escalate it to RVI it could cause a delay and recancel. Or maybe the exception handling system to exempt a PNR isn't working correctly, or they're trying to figure out why these specific PNRs are getting picked up as a duplicate beyond just a matching name/DOB (is there other factors the system should be considering but for whatever reason it is not identifying properly, etc).?
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Old Sep 13, 2022, 5:36 am
  #78  
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Originally Posted by ctownflyer
Seems strange to me. So no UA plane can carry 2 John Smiths?
I have a very common name. I have been handed the wrong "LIH's" boarding pass by an agent more than once where the only way I noticed is that the seat assignment wasn't what I was expecting. I've never had a PNR cancelled because of another LIH on my flight (and I'm telling you, I know it's happened dozens of times because even when agents get me the right boarding pass they will often say "oh there are two of you").

Last edited by LIH; Sep 13, 2022 at 11:01 pm
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Old Sep 13, 2022, 7:19 am
  #79  
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Made it through 24 hours w/o a further cancellation! Woohoo!
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Old Sep 13, 2022, 7:23 am
  #80  
 
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Sorry this is happening IAH-OIL-TRASH but.....

If you end up making the flight: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try your best to meet your "name-sharer". Get a pic!

grandpa_1780 had someone with the same first and last name and both flew frequently out of our local airport IIRC they were only on the same flight once.
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Old Sep 13, 2022, 7:31 am
  #81  
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Originally Posted by jhayes_1780
Sorry this is happening IAH-OIL-TRASH but.....

If you end up making the flight: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try your best to meet your "name-sharer". Get a pic!

grandpa_1780 had someone with the same first and last name and both flew frequently out of our local airport IIRC they were only on the same flight once.
I’m going to ask an FA to at the guy and see if he looks like me. Beyond that, I’m not sure asking FA to point out a particular person is kosher…
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Old Sep 13, 2022, 7:41 am
  #82  
 
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Originally Posted by jhayes_1780
Sorry this is happening IAH-OIL-TRASH but.....

If you end up making the flight: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try your best to meet your "name-sharer". Get a pic!

grandpa_1780 had someone with the same first and last name and both flew frequently out of our local airport IIRC they were only on the same flight once.
Posts like these are times where I'm glad I have a globally unique (if hyphenated and frequently mispronounced) name -- the second half of my surname there are maybe 15 of us on the planet. One time through a random Google I found the same surname working at a client of mine... sent a "I don't know you, you don't know me but we have the same(ish) last name, I'll be in your town next week. Want to meet up?" email... met for coffee then his family for dinner and turns out that he's my first cousin once removed (and also met an -inlaw and a few second cousins -- basically a whole side of the family that I had literally no idea existed.)

I-O-T I hope you make it to HI with no further computer battles required. And 5k points is absolutely an insult.
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Old Sep 13, 2022, 10:25 pm
  #83  
 
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Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH
I’m going to ask an FA to at the guy and see if he looks like me. Beyond that, I’m not sure asking FA to point out a particular person is kosher…
Just drop a book with your name on it in the aisle. Wait til they call your name and the other will appear.
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Old Sep 14, 2022, 12:00 am
  #84  
 
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Originally Posted by mike2003242
Just drop a book with your name on it in the aisle. Wait til they call your name and the other will appear.
or the FA looks up the name on the manifest on their handheld device and just walks it to the seat. And when the other appears and says it's not mine, they find the IOT's name again and walk to the other seat.
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Old Sep 14, 2022, 2:27 am
  #85  
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Originally Posted by kb1992
UA started to sent emails like this recently to warn people:




I had one of these recently, which alarmed me as I only had one reservation. When I dug a bit deeper, I realized that the reason was that I had tried to book the same reservation previously but the system had rejected my credit card so I had started over with a different one. However, the system somehow also managed to preserve the original uncompleted reservation as if it was still live, and it therefore thought my new completed reservation was the duplicate and was going to cancel it. It took a bit of sorting out!

A lesson learned. I thought that if a transaction was declined, that meant there was nothing left in the record. Evidently not the case.
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Old Sep 14, 2022, 10:19 am
  #86  
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Crew rest seats 1AB were unblocked last night so I was able to grab 1A in the (very early) morning hours. Hopefully this is the conclusion of this ticket/seat saga….
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Old Sep 14, 2022, 10:19 am
  #87  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
if by "plan b," you're referring to the ability to pay saver business when only saver economy is available, and waitlist, that's irritating.

If by "plan b," you mean a backup flight, where you were intending to take one flight or the other but not both, you're lucky they haven't closed your account yet.


Ua reads the message boards too. They know that the most common "trick" suggested when people are trying to break the rules is to leave your frequent flyer number off of the alternate booking. It's not surprising that they'd ignore that field.
oh, my god, united will close my account just because i am not sure about schedule and book two airtickets which i will only take one.

you scare me. It is ridiculous…

united do everything to get my business during past 15 years.
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Old Sep 14, 2022, 10:45 am
  #88  
 
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Originally Posted by willliamjia
oh, my god, united will close my account just because i am not sure about schedule and book two airtickets which i will only take one.

you scare me. It is ridiculous…

united do everything to get my business during past 15 years.
If your chronically doing this and causing them to lose money by holding inventory, they absolutely would take action to potentially close an account. There would probably be multiple warnings in advance, but yes holding two tickets is a prohibited practice. Most situations they resolve by just letting the automation cancel the duplicates out and don't need to escalate further. If people are taking methods to avoid their checks/systems designed to prevent this practice, then I would expect them to begin taking actions to escalate, in line with their contract of carriage.

From the contract of carriage
Rule 5
In addition to exercising any of its remedies in Rule 6 K) below, UA reserves the right to cancel bookings and/or reservations which it deems fraudulent, abusive, illogical, fictitious, which are booked and/or reserved with no intention of flying, or for which the passenger makes a misrepresentation without notice to the passenger or the individual making the booking. The types of improper reservations that UA will cancel without notice include, but are not limited to: reservations made without having been requested by or on behalf of the named passenger; reservations made to hold or block seats for the purpose of obtaining lower fares, MP award inventory, travel certificates, or upgrades that may not otherwise be available; reservations made to manipulate, abuse, or circumvent any of UA’s fare rules, policies or provisions; reservations made for the same passenger on flights traveling on or about the same date between one or more of the same or nearby origin or destination cities; and reservations with connections that depart before the arrival on the inbound flight

Rule 6k
UA’s Remedies for Violation(s) of Rules - Where a Ticket is booked, held, purchased and/or used in violation of the law, these rules or any fare rule (including Hidden Cities Ticketing, Point Beyond Ticketing, Throwaway Ticketing, or Back-to-Back Ticketing), UA, without notice to the passenger, has the right in its sole discretion to take all actions permitted by law, including but not limited to, the following:
  1. Invalidate the Ticket(s);
  2. Cancel any remaining portion of the Passenger’s itinerary;
  3. Confiscate any unused Flight Coupons until the amount reflected in 5) below is collected;
  4. Permanently ban or refuse to board the Passenger and to carry the Passenger’s baggage, unless the difference between the fare paid and the fare for transportation used is collected prior to boarding;
  5. Assess the Passenger for the actual value of the Ticket which shall be the difference between the lowest fare applicable to the Passenger’s actual itinerary and the fare actually paid;
  6. Delete miles in the Passenger’s frequent flyer account (UA’s MileagePlus Program), revoke the Passenger’s Elite status, if any, in the MileagePlus Program, terminate the Passenger’s participation in the MileagePlus Program, terminate any other air transportation agreement between UA and the Passenger, or take any other action permitted by the MileagePlus Program Rules in UA’s “MileagePlus Rules;
  7. Charge a delivery fee and penalty, set at United’s discretion, to send Checked Baggage to the Passenger; and
  8. Take legal action with respect to the Passenger.
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Old Sep 14, 2022, 10:45 am
  #89  
 
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In hindsight, and despite good info from FT I’m surprised I got away with booking flights that clearly wouldn’t work. At one point I had three different flights booked for the same time and UA never caught it. I canceled one, but kept the other two as it was literally same day of flight before I knew which city I should fly to.
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Old Sep 14, 2022, 10:46 am
  #90  
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Originally Posted by willliamjia
oh, my god, united will close my account just because i am not sure about schedule and book two airtickets which i will only take one.

They reserve the right to do so, and there are reports of them doing exactly that. Particularly if you're buying J/F.

Believe me, don't believe me; I don't care. I stand by what I wrote.
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