Opinions Please

EWR-MUC 27 DEC..
YTJK1 and 2 (both non-status passengers), traveling in Polaris on parent's Plus points... Both tickets "originating" in EWR... but YTJK1 part of a larger trip SFO-EWR (stopover for christmas) EWR-MUC-SFO. 2 separate tickets for her

so EWR-MUC 27 Dec. 6 PM scheduled departure Delayed 3 hours. Ultimately Bailed on the aircraft #1 and went to the spare. Loaded into the spare. Taxiied... Came back to the gate, maintenance. cancelled at midnight. Told they had to pick up their bags carousel 6. Bags never came. Promised hotel voucher in the United App. Never came. They called United about the hotel, the service center said that could only be handled locally, it was 1 AM in Newark and of course there just was no one there... Got to some local newark airport hotel at 2 AM. It's the run-around we all know and hate :) Good life learning for the kids.

Scheduled to depart 3:30PM next day. Of course, since United left all the bags on the plane, they inevitably had luggage for a passenger who had bailed and who didn't board. Unfortunately they taxiied before they figured it out. So-- back to the gate. sit there for 2 hours while the offending luggage is found and removed. Depart at 6 PM and arrive 3 hour late (and a day to MUC)

"We're sorry" note comes with a $300 Voucher offer for each.
I think it's not a lot for a full day's delay and 12 hours in the airport and sitting on a static display of an airplane... And I think as a Polaris non local passenger, they should also comp the hotel.

Just looking for opinions on this one thanks.
YTJK

Going rate for non-functioning video monitor in Polaris?
 

Flew Frankfurt to Washington in Polaris a couple of days ago and video system was not working at all during the entire flight despite multiple efforts to reboot. Purser offered a choice of $150 electronic travel certificate or 7,500 miles as compensation. Took the certificate. Wondering if I was low-balled, or if this is a pretty typical offer these days? A few years ago I was
on a UA flight with all video monitors down, and they comped everyone $600 in ETC.

That's exceptionally high, certainly a one-off, and not ever to be expected. Standard comp for a non-functional J seat is less than that.

$150 for no AVOD seems entirely fair and appropriate to me.

This appears to be the standard compensation these days. I had non-functioning audio for BRU-ORD, and I was offered $150 ETC or 7,500 miles as well.

That voucher amount for the delay is consistent with what they would offer for an overnight 24+ hour delay, if anything a little bit on the higher end for an initial compensation offer. You can separately submit the hotel receipt for reimbursement (which is different than compensation) since you were entitled to one for multiple reasons (confirmed J, maintenance caused delay) but didn't get a voucher,

I had these two things happen to me on separate occasions last year. Here's what I got.

My EWR-SFO business class flight was cancelled, and I "voluntarily" accepted a Y seat on the next available flight just to get home. I called (before takeoff, but I don't think it matters when) and got a sympathetic agent who gave me a $200 ETC as compensation, and refunded me the fare difference between J & Y, using a very generous "historical Y fare" comp of ~$120. In all, I got ~$580 back on my $700 fare, plus a $200 ETC.

My bag was delayed by 48 hours on an international trip. After I got home from the trip, I called and immediately got a $200 ETC as compensation; in addition, I submitted $580 worth of expenses for reimbursement (I basically bought 3 days worth of clothes from Lululemon to hold me over). They approved a $1,000 reimbursement for some reason (I feel like they misread what I filled out in the form, but I'm not complaining), which they're going to mail me as a check. This happened over Christmas / New Years and I waited until this week to call because the hold times were crazy.

(I was worried they'd balk at reimbursing me for buying somewhat pricier clothes from Lululemon, but I feel like I actually let United off easy because I was traveling to a place with real winter, and I did not opt to buy a whole winter jacket...)

I don't think you should feel bad asking for the full $1,500 per bag; that's their written policy, and it will help deter them from doing it again. As for me, I went out of my way to get compensated because I was angry at how it ruined the start of a special trip. And, flying from SFO, there was no weather-related reason for the delay; they simply forgot to load it at SFO. But I'm satisfied with the outcome.

I was on the LHR-LAX flight that got canceled yesterday. We just arrived a few hours ago which was a delay of about 18 hours. UA was very explicit that this was an MX issue, and I have written communication from them confirming that. My understanding of the UK regulation is that this entitles me to £520 in compensation.

However, when I go to their united cares website it’s only offering me $300 in ETC. I don’t see any option to escalate this on the united cares website, nor can I find any official government channel on the matter. Is this simply a case of calling UA until they give me the money? I’m a bit puzzled why they aren’t offering the legally required amount since everything I’m reading online seems to be crystal clear that I should be getting the full £520.

United Cares is separate from UK.261 / EC.261 compensation. To receive UK.261, contact UA directly, not through the United Cares site. See guidance here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...st-united.html

You should also be eligible for the United Cares compensation, as a customer service gesture above and beyond what the law requires. However, most people suggest (and I concur) that it's best to wait until after taking care of the UK.261 filing to accept United Cares, lest UA try to claim that you accepted that in lieu of the larger amount, despite the fact that no-one in their right mind would do so.

How many people would take an offer of lifetime miles as compensation?

Thanks, that’s good advice. Everything we heard from UA employees in person as well as online seemed to imply United Cares was what UA was offering as compensation for the cancellation. Not one single mention of UK 261. I’m glad I knew it existed otherwise I would have though that $300 was my only compensation.

752 LAX-EWR (UA2085) - wifi and some video screens not working for the entire flight. To FAs credit, they petitioned UA overlords for compensation for all pax. $25 ETC or 1,500 miles - my offer.

Moving Myself to AA when UA Couldn’t.
 

I’m in the middle of a status match challenge from AA Executive Platinum to 1K.

My TVC market is served by RJs with equal, overlapping frequency between UA and AA. On 2 of 3 trips of my challenge so far, I faced delays of between 8 hours and 2 days, with UA unable to move me to AA, as AA was showing as sold out. These were MX issues leading to crews timing out, compounded by WX on 12/25.

On both occasions, I invoked my AA status (and 3,000,000 worth of experience with the system) and bought tickets on the sold out AA flights and got to my UA connections without further delay. Simply put, AA flew when UA couldn’t, and I got on flights myself that UA could not or would not put me on. In the last instance, my “self-help” mitigation efforts salvaged our Christmas holiday to PLS, as had I accepted UAs “solution” we would have missed 2 + days and simply would have CXL’d.

Here is the issue. UA has given 2 hard “no” responses to my request for reimbursement of $200 and $800 for the money paid to AA. I am not satisfied with this response, which is basically “you should have shut up and taken the pain,” but before I press further, or simply walk away from the challenge completely, is this in fact the correct response, and should I expect any change in their position if I press further? In other words, is “self-help” always going to result in a denied claim? If not, is there a winning argument I should make?

Thanks for helping me manage my expectations.

Of course.

No.

Pretty much. UA’s responsibility to you is a refund for the cancelled flight. While they may have been willing to move you to the AA flight, space permitting, it sounds like you forced your way on as an AA ExPlat, something that the UA systems weren’t going to be able to do. As a UA 1K, you would have had access to UA sold-out flights (admittedly, at an extremely high price point) if the situation were reversed… and I wouldn’t expect AA to foot the bill for you there either.

jsloan hit the nail on the head but just to be clear UA likely would have put you on AA if you requested it and AA was showing availability. Close to departure unless AA is showing wide availability, generally, UA will be required to call to confirm AA is willing to accept the passenger which AA is under minimal obligation to do (UA FIM to AA with Checked Bags can be painful...but 100% of that pain comes from the AA side. UA has worked some miracles for me in spite of AA, not because of AA's help). If AA is showing Y0 (as it sounds like they were) UA has no meaningful ability to even ask AA to accept a displaced passenger. It sounds like if you were anyone else (without status), AA wouldn't have even sold you the ticket directly.

Self help is a great "break glass to get the trip done" and sometimes you gotta do it but the tradeoff is the potential financial hit (for some reason the few times I've done it I've somehow managed to come out nearly even or even slightly ahead on refund value vs. new ticket cost)

Every airlines Contract of Carriage can be useful as a sword and shield for both you and the airline; in UA's case it can be found at https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/con...-carriage.html

Rule 24(E)(1)

Thanks to you both. This is really all about knowing UAs temperature for self-help going forward. If I do plan on sticking with UA after this-and I did meet the 5K and 15 segment challenge-I need to know where to place self-help in my toolkit. To be fair, I am being offered $300 future credit (which I did not ask for) and a refund, which is not bad, but I needed to know if the denial was a matter of routine policy vs a bad CS agent. Now I know. Would not have done anything differently here, and now being fully informed, will use it sparingly in the future.