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.

Mods feel free to move as I could not find the consolidate comp thread for 2023 (Improve the search function on FT for sure) .

"Delayed" flight 36 hrs from PHX to SFO. Spent the night at airport Hilton until approx 1pm next day when finally the "delayed" headed to SFO. It was a mechanical issue (not weather related) and I did receive compensation for the hotel and a $250 voucher. Having not had this experience in years does this seem like appropriate compensation? I did loose a day of work fwiw.

There were no options on AA, AS, or WN? I flew this both directions last week on AA with no issues at all.

The compensation thread is consolidated and not period specific. I just posted in the thread the other day, so it should be near the top.

$250 + hotel reimbursement - pretty good.

I agree with Kacee. If you need to get to SF, there are multiple other options, but if you have to stay with UA and leaving UA to find alternative travels for you, well, you lost a day of work, unfortunately.

This compensation amount is in line with what UA currently offers for a controllable overnight delay.

That does seem light for a delay of a day and a half. Not to mention losing a day of work.

Was the $250 sent automatically? It seems like it would be worth the time to send in a request for additional compensation for the delay and see if it works.

*I have seen a compensation thread on here somewhere. It might have a list of standard offer amounts for various delays.

As someone who has done exactly what you did 4 times last year when UA cancelled flights, leaving me only next day or later options, I can tell you that UA would not put me on another carrier to get me to my destination on time. Now, I didn't stamp my feet and demand to be rebooked or anything because that is not the way I conduct myself. I tried calmly reasoning with them (i.e. flights are available on DL and AA, and could they please reaccomodate me?). I ended-up having to rebook myself and got cash refunds for the unused portions of my tickets. I requested adjustments to make up for the additional money I had to spend (over my original UA fare) to get to my destinations on time, but have been denied in every case.

Believe me I tried, it was right after new years and WN was still dealing with delays/cancellations. The WN last evening flight was also severely delayed to like 11pm. As I recall "no space available" on the AS flight. I initially was told that my flight was leaving at 8am so I just spent the night at the airport Hilton and figured I would be back early enough so no big deal. Turns out when I get to PHX at 7AM they announce my flight is further delayed to Noon. Live and learn I guess.

Thanks for the response. I do find it odd that AVOD down = $150, 26 hour delay in J = $300 but it is what it is.

Compensation for diversion
 

Jan 20 UA1172 SJO-IAH

A little bit into the flight we were informed there was an issue with the potable water leaving the toilets unusable etc. So no toilets for about 2hours, and then approx 30min on the ground. We diverted to Cancun where ground maintenance fixed the issue and we continued on.

Am I entitled to any sort of compensation as a result of this? Or is it partly dependent on if you missed a connection etc (I did not).
I am Canadian, not sure if that matters in regards to my eligibility for potential compensation.

You diverted where?! Many people mistakenly use MUN to refer to MUC (Munich), but that seems unlikely on SJO-IAH. So, I was hoping that we had finally found a real use of MUN… but when I looked it up, it’s Maturín, Venezuela, which also seems really unlikely.

Anyway, Canadian consumer protection laws wouldn’t apply to SJO-IAH, so, you’re not entitled to anything unless there’s a relevant Costa Rican law I haven’t heard of. And, it sounds like your total delay was less than the ~4 threshold UA has been using recently for compensation in terms of a customer service gesture. You can certainly ask, but don’t get your hopes up.

Edit: Ah, I see CUN, not MUN. Just a typo — that makes much more sense. :)

I’m not sure if there is any compensation for getting in an hour and a half late. You could always try.

I will say that having a diversion and a ground repair and still only getting to IAH an hour and a half after scheduled time is better than I would have expected.

Flight Aware shows you were diverted to Cancun and got into Houston by 12:02 PM instead of 10:27 AM.

I changed it. We diverted to Cancun. (Sidenote: This messes me up quite a bit, sorry. I think it has something to do with ICAO vs IATA airport codes or something? I am ATC, and I see "MMUN" for Cancun nearly daily, so just dropped the country code and typed in the 3 digit code trying to fit in with the way people seem to refer to airport codes on here... OOPS!)

I may call and see.

Agreed, it was a quick turn around. On one hand I feel a bit petty even looking into compensation, but on the other hand (as a Canadian who only recently have had changes to consumer aviation rights, and as a result have been screwed for years) I feel like if there's a legal obligation I may as well look into it.

Never feel petty in asking. You might get some miles. The worst they can do is say no. But there’s no regulation or policy I’m aware of.

I’m usually prepared for hours of delay when there is a diversion, so I was surprised it was so quick.

LOL :D Yeah, I think the ICAO codes are only really used by on FlyerTalk by pilots or other insiders, and the IATA (or, sometimes and for the sake of confusion, FAA) codes are used by everybody else. I'd have had to look up MMUN, but I wouldn't have given you a hard time about it. :)

I mean, as an American, I would strongly oppose the introduction of any European/Canadian-style legislation. :) But, I think even under the Air Passenger Protection Act, this flight wouldn't have qualified. For one thing, they probably would have argued that it was a safety requirement, which gets them out of compensation (and, which I applaud as a carve-out, even though I know that some passengers will insist nothing is safety-related and airlines will insist that everything is safety related. :). Even if it isn't considered a safety requirement, a 3-hour arrival delay is required before any cash compensation would kick in.

But, for future reference, the APPA appears to have taken a slightly different approach than EC.261. As written, it would apparently apply to all carriers on flights to Canada, whereas EC.261 does not apply to flights to Europe by non-EU carriers. However, nothing in the act would make it apply for Canadians (or anyone else) traveling between two other countries.

Legal obligation? Likely not. Customer service gesture for the inop lavs and unscheduled stop in CUN...possibly. big picture not a huge delay but I can see where it would be annoying if they wouldn't let you deplane and the lavs were inop for that long.

It's quite weird knowing all the airport / airline codes yet they are all "wrong" in regards to how things are referred to on here. I'm in training again.

The safety / weather cop outs are good in theory. But I can say from first hand experience as a small example, ATC is cited as being a source for delays *often* and at least in my terminal it's very rarely true. I'm not the biggest fan of airlines being allowed to self police the reason for delays, they are wildly misrepresented in favor of not paying out delayed passengers. But I digress.

O/T: but for the bolded, why?

I prefer low fares to the possibility of hitting a delay jackpot.

Yup.

Nope.

The Canadian rules have even less force than anything existing in the U.S. They're practically useless.

Lets please keep European and Canadian over regulation out of the US.

Anyone remember the high fares of regulation? No thank you.

That rule works only for K, C, and P where there is a one letter country code (so the last 3 are airport specific. Most of the world has the first letter for the region and second for the country so only 2 letters for the specific airport. Since IATA codes are meant to be more memorable than geographical, they have 3 letters often unrelated to the ICAO code (EGLL=LHR)

Hmmm, hadn’t thought about comp for a trip in August, but curious what ppl would say.

Booked LAX-EWR-ROC. LAX-EWR on the 78J in PP, arrived 2.5 hours late, missed connection, got UA to rebook EWR-BUF, arrived BUF 2 hours later than flight was scheduled and UA left car seat in EWR. Got lucky that lost baggage opened around 1am and arrived ROC by 3am. I chose to reroute EWR-BUF instead of overnight at EWR so I kind of charged all the ridiculousness to the game.

Should I have asked for a goodwill gesture?

UA seems to give me a $150 voucher as a 1K in First or Business these days for anything gone wrong. Lately that:s included a 6 hour delay to final destination owing to transatlantic mechanical (IAD BRU), non operational DirecTV on IAD MIA, and a half broken tray table on IAD SRQ. The first was after I wrote to them and the other two were offered proactively on board by flight crew.

P is like most of the rest of the world; it's just clever coincidence that it works for the two biggest airports (HNL and ANC).

OGG is PHOG, FAI is PAFA, etc.