dkc192

This is an ongoing issue that I and others have experienced and documented in this thread: Reprotection in PZ? on UA initiated schedule change.

Basically UA should absolutely rebook you onto NRT-EWR while keeping you in PZ. A supervisor might be required to do this, and evidently you need to find the right supervisor who is willing to do so. A gentle nudge to check the "schedule change guidelines" in their "policy manual" (as referenced in that thread) might help.

Ghoulish

No travel insurance, huh?

ftweb

I think I have insurance through my credit card, but it only protects against irrops or inability to travel, not schedule changes. Since UA is offering me a full refund, hard to see how I could file an insurance claim.

Ghoulish

Full travel insurance (not the limited type provided by a card) typically covers all non-refundable trip expenses resulting from circumstances beyond your control, like your villa deposit.

Premium policies will often offer additional fixed payouts for inconveniences as well, like luggage or tarmac delays.

Usually quite inexpensive, for future reference.

ftweb

I just don't understand what the trip insurance is going to do--buy me $4000 tickets to replace my $2000 tickets? Pay my share of the villa that I rented with three other families? I mean in point of fact, Singapore airlines flies an A350-900ULR on the SFO-SIN route, an aircraft on which economy happens to be called "premium economy." So the insurance company could actually buy me a $1500 ticket on SG to replace my $2000 UA ticket, stick me in economy, and claim this is as good as premium plus to ICN.

The schedule change problem just doesn't seem like the kind of thing you can insure against in all cases.

jsloan

SQ isn't calling economy "premium economy." I believe that you're mistaken about the plane they're using on that route -- I believe it's the XWB not the ULR -- but on the ULR (e.g., on EWR-SIN), it's PE/J -- no Y. And sold as such.

On SFO-SIN, I see Y, not PE.

Kacee

SQ definitely flies the ULR SFO-SIN; we were on it 10 days ago. They've also got ULR assigned for future flights (e.g., SQ34 on 9/27). I don't know if these are originally sold as two or three class, but if sold as three class, nice treat for those who booked and paid for Y.

prestonh

Yes. You can get cancelation and trip exchange coverage with travel insurance. Also, how are you insured medically overseas without trip insurance presuming you have US based health coverage?

COSPILOT

Isn’t the health insurance question worthy of maybe a different thread, not airline related? It’s something I don’t fully understand. I’m thinking the nice Omni land but maybe someone has a better suggestion.

Back to Op issues. I’ve always booked as much as could for hotels, cars, etc as refundable. Mostly it’s easy to get a credit with the airline, not so much on other things. So travel insurance has never crossed my mind, or unintentionally one could say I’m self insured.

Back in my heavy travel days, I paid full fare for some trips, knowing there was only a less than 50% chance I would take the trip. Now it’s kind of a non issue if your content with a travel credit.

jsloan

Fair enough. I searched the route and saw that they were selling Y, but it's possible that I was looking at SQ31/32 rather than SQ33/34. I didn't think to look at both flights individually.

Regardless, I think it's a stretch to call SQ's PE product "economy," although I grant that 2-4-2 seems a little tight for PE in a 359, given that UA goes 2-3-2 on the similarly wide 787.

ftweb

Okay, maybe this is a little harsh for a product I've never tried (SQ PE). The point is that I paid hundreds of dollars extra for UA premium plus compared to SQ PE for reasons that are valid to me but don't necessarily make sense to an insurance company. In particular:

1. I've successfully slept in the UA premium plus seats, so it's a known thing for me
2. I have an enormous heap of unused plus points, and UA provides at least a theoretical possibility of an upgrade from O->J
3. I value lifetime miles on UA for me and my family.
4. While I requalified for 1K a while ago, I value PQPs for my family
5. The UA premium plus cabin is very small, which could minimize the risk of COVID transmission compared to the larger SQ premium economy cabin (I verified that on the flight I need SQ is flying the ULR).

That said, at this point I wonder if I should have booked SQ in PE anyway. Unfortunately the price of that has increased by $1000/pax since I started this thread.

I guess I could also book UA in refundable coach with the hope of an either an upgrade clearing or a price drop. If next week is any indication, though, the J and O cabins do seem to sell out. I mean I'd pay $4k for O with a reasonable shot at an upgrade, but J is selling for $15k one-way, which is ridiculous.

I may be in the bargaining phase of grief. I mean I've flown a lot of J recently and have kind of gotten used to it, but I've certainly survived Y on longer flights. So now I'm thinking if only I could get my family seated together, I'd happily get Y which is super cheap at only $1k/pax, but there are only a few Y seats open in the seat map and they aren't near one another. It's so frustrating that when I originally booked the ticket that got invalidated by the schedule change, there were a lot of other options available. Now I haven't even gotten my refund from UA yet (which includes a voucher I'd like to use if possible), so I'm watching prices increase and can't do anything about it.

Kacee

Unless you're aiming for lifetime status with UA, it wouldn't make sense to many of us to choose UA over SQ, as the inflight product on SQ is so much better.

ani90

There are though plenty threads on this forum where a decent body of (? minority) opinion argues a preference for UA vs SQ in Y or PY (I don't subscribe to that school of thought).

Ghoulish

Travel credit is fine if you know you'll use the same carrier again within 12 months of the original booking.

Beyond getting your money back if something happens to you, or you need to cut a trip short due to a relative's illness, (or 75% "for any reason at all" with an optional add on ) even the smallest claims like a short tarmac or baggage delay, a dropped laptop, more than cover the small premium, nevermind true high dollar emergencies like a Medical Evacuation flight back to the US.

Insurance often seems pointless until it doesn't.

Personally I just buy annual plans, since they're only slightly more than single trip coverage, already paid for itself with one baggage delay and a lost cell phone.

findark

The 350 is an industry-wide plague on PE. I believe only LH and CI have opted for 2-3-2.