So we were supposed to fly from Zurich to Denver with a layover in Munich on the 31st, arriving same day. Our flight Zurich to Munich was cancelled - the only one out of hundreds cancelled - and we were rebooked automatically on an overnight connection in Munich, and arrived 20 hours later in Denver. Also had to pay for hotel in Munich overnight, it was 9 pm when we got there. I will contact United to request hotel cost reimbursement - do we have any other rights in this situation to reasonable compensation? What would we ask for? Or do the agents decide what they offer? Thanks for any advice.

 

Untied doesn't operate ZRH-MUC so you are in the wrong spot. I'm assuming that was either an LX (Swiss) or LH (Lufthansa) operated flight. Your beef is with them and you will need to contact them through their website to request the following: 1) your hotel reimbursement (which should have been provided free of charge when you got to MUC if you stood in the service center line); 2) any reimbursement for meals you had during your unexpected overnight as long as you have receipts; 3) any travel to/from the hotel you chose if you have receipts; 4) EU261 claim. Since your flight cancelled and you arrived more than 4 hours after original schedule you are entitled to 600 Euro per person. This is assuming the flight was cancelled less than 14 days before departure and wasn't an act of horrible weather or something similar (sounds like that's not the case if it's the only flight cancelled between the two cities).

But, again, this has absolutely nothing to do with United. It doesn't matter if this was a United ticket or if you misconnected to a United flight. It's LX or LH that caused this problem so they are the ones you have to deal with. Let us know how it goes but if you still have questions I would start a thread on the combined Lufthansa Group Flyertalk forum.

-RM

 

Had a litany of issues on LAX-ORD earlier this week.

a. Flight was 3.5 hours delayed due to Mx issue on inbound plane, resulting in an aircraft swap
b. Non functional WiFi and streaming on flight.
c. Lavatory had a broken door and smelled like it hadn’t been cleaned in a month.

Wrote into 1kvoice and received $150 ETC per person. Also received $20 meal vouchers when the original delay hit n

 

Question regarding paid F downgrade. I am a general member, no status.

TLDR: Original flight canceled due to Max9 inspection. Downgraded to economy on rebooked flight. Current flight receipt shows purchase of Y fare. Will I get any refund of fare difference as promised by several agents? If not what is fair compensation for sitting in Y after having purchased an F seat?

Long story:
On Sunday, 1/7 my evening flight was canceled due to the Max9 being pulled from service for inspection - notification came 1/7 in the morning. I was automatically rebooked on a flight for 1/8 late in the day. Wanting to still get to my destination by 1/7 at night the latest, I rebooked myself via the app from an alternate airport for later that night. At no point during the rebooking process did it mention that F was not available or ask me to agree to accept a downgrade on that flight. It was only after I had completed the change and went to check in for the new flight that I noticed that I was unable to select a seat in F and it was even making me pay cash for any seat I attempted to select in economy.

I contacted United and was told that First was fully booked and I can ask at the airport to be put on the waitlist for First. The rep also assigned me an aisle seat in what I later saw was the economy plus section without charging me for it. I also asked about the free checked bags that came with the F seat because I was relying on it and she said I can sort that out at the airport as well.

I arrived to the airport well over an hour prior to my flight. There was no line at the check in counter. I explained to the agent that I originally had an F ticket and was told that I'm eligible for free checked bags but when he looked at my reservation he said he saw no record that it was originally booked in F and that I would have to pay $35 to check my bag. I attempted to argue with him and showed him my email confirmation from the time of purchase clearly showing F and that I had even selected seat 4B. He said he sees nothing of the sort and wouldn't budge. Being under stress as we were approaching the cut off time to check bags, I completely forgot that as a United cardmember even on economy tickets I get a free checked bag, and like an idiot I just handed over my card to pay the fee. It was only after I had gone thorough security that I remembered and had the presence of mind to take a screenshot of the baggage allowance in my reservation showing the first checked bag free.


I hope United will refund me the bag fee I paid. I've already submitted the request.

When I arrived to the gate, I approached the gate agent to be added to the F upgrade waitlist being that I was originally a paid F pax that was involuntarily downgraded. He had no idea what I wanted from him and just told me to contact United to get a refund for the fare difference. I tried gently explaining and pushing one more time but seeing that I was getting nowhere I gave up. Ultimately, nobody on the list cleared anyway so I'm glad I didn't waste my time.

My question is, what fare difference can I expect to receive? My receipt now shows that I paid for Economy Y fare. I cannot find anywhere which class my original F ticket was booked into ( I think P or Z but not sure). I do see that the miles and PQP that I received for this Y fare are higher than what I received last week on a P fare on a very similar route and ticket price so I'm starting to think that they aren't going to refund me anything because they're calculating a full Y fare on this ticket? If there's no refund for the fare difference, what is fair compensation for not getting the F seat I originally paid for?

 

For a domestic / North America route, which I�m guessing this was based on the MAX9 statement, UA uses a differential-based pricing system � the F price is effectively dictated by the current Y price plus a markup (unless F inventory gets tight or Y inventory gets particularly open). That markup is what you should expect to receive unless you happen to have proof of a higher fare difference at the time you booked.

 

If no refund of the baggage fee is forthcoming, you have a strong basis for a credit card chargeback of the $35.

 

My flight Saturday night was canceled due to the 737 max grounding. The earliest UA flight back to Houston they could book us on was 2 days later so they put me on AA to a nearby city the next day (on my suggestion) and I rented a car and drove home. I have ~$200 of expenses (with receipts) from rental car, gas and having to pay to check bags on AA I�d like to get reimbursed.

Does UA typically reimburse this or should I go straight to my credit card travel insurance?

 

When my Sunday evening flight was canceled for the same reason and I was rebooked the following day, United said they would reimburse hotel, food, and extension of car rental. I ended up flying later Sunday night so didn't claim any of the above but I would say that you have a good chance of being reimbursed since this was not weather related.

 

On 1/9/24 I was booked on UA, SLC-DEN-LGA. Arrived DEN at ~1600, received text that my 1745 DEN-LGA flight was cancelled (bad weather forecast) and I was rebooked on the 1345 DEN-LGA (#742) which was delayed until 1630. Fortunately the arriving and departing flights were at adjacent gates so I made the connection with a few minutes to spare.

Delayed UA Flight #742, 100% full, was scheduled to take 3.5 hours and land ~2230 local at LGA. At about 2200 pilot announces 20-25 minutes holding, shortly thereafter pilot announces wind shear reported at LGA so he cannot attempt landing we’re diverting to EWR, I felt the missed approach, pilot announces unable to control speed on approach to EWR we’re diverting to BOS where we land at ~midnight, 5 hrs flight duration (interesting Flightaware track for last 1.5 hours of the flight).

Deboard, gate agents announce baggage (I had a 51 lb suitcase with ski boots and helmet inside and a ski bag) must be claimed, hotel and voucher links will be emailed or texted, pilots need 11 hours, flight will continue to LGA at 1300.

I didn’t receive an email or text, spoke with UA agent in baggage claim office when I have my 2 baggage items, she sends text which I don’t receive immediately and she says it’s still in que. I call Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor (basically at the airport), confirm room availability, they send shuttle, check in at ~0120 at Distressed Traveler or Senior rate of ~$166, total ~$200 with all taxes and fees. While I’m checking in I received the text from UA with link to either a Comfort Inn (likely dump) 16 miles away or a Best Western (likely dump) 17 miles away.

Sleep, Globalist free breakfast, shower, hotel shuttle back to airport, board at 1230, 30% full, pilot announces brief maintenance issue (circuit breaker), taxi, pilot announces 10-15 minute wheels up delay, flight attendants announce they need 10 or 12 people to move from back of plane to front which takes a few minutes, take off ~1420, land LGA ~1500.

My question is what’s the likelihood that UA will reimburse me the ~$200 hotel cost and what’s the best way for me to request that reimbursement. Thank you.

 

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why UA gave out hotel vouchers in the first place, but given that they did, it�s not out of the realm of possibility that they�ll reimburse you too. Generally UA would not take responsibility for delays caused by weather.

Reach out to UA via their customer care form, explain that you were offered vouchers that didn�t arrive until you�d already made alternate plans, and ask to be reimbursed for your actual expenses. They�ll want you to send a copy of the receipt. I recommend using gmail or another well-known email provider, as their spam filter is hyper-aggressive and will just chop attachments from lesser-known mail gateways (while sending the body of the email through).

 

UA treats all diversions as controllable for purposes of hotel/meals.

 

Didn't realize that, thanks. It's a bit of an odd policy, in that it provides an incentive to cancel a flight rather than take it and risk a diversion, but I guess it's a flyer-friendly policy on the whole. In that case, getting reimbursement should be straightforward.

 

Both of my refunds were infuriatingly denied .

The email with the reason for denying the bag refund request states as follows:

Followed 11 minutes later by another email with the reason for denying my request for a refund of the fare difference:

Of course I did not purchase any upgrade because I had purchased First outright to begin with! And what does that have to do when my itinerary clearly showed that even when I was booked in economy my trip was eligible for a free bag?!?!

And of course I used my tickets as I flew with it on an alternate flight and I didn't ask for the full amount back, but I was promised and therefore did ask for the fare difference to be refunded. I cannot believe that there is no difference and I am due nothing. Where do I go from here as I am lowly non status pax?

I already tried resubmitting the refund request right away and reiterating that I am asking for the fare difference promised and that my booking was eligible for a free bag as per the screenshot, but I am not putting too much hope into it and would like to know what my best course of action is to get this resolved satisfactorily.

 

https://www.transportation.gov/airco...umer-complaint

Unfortunately, UA's refund department appears to be staffed by a drunk chatbot. The DOT will forward your complaint to a department that is staffed by their most senior CS agents, who actually take the time to investigate.

 

Booked one way nonstop TPA-SFO months in advance for my sister (non status pax -- I'm 1K). ~18 hours prior to departure, received notification of cancellation (737-MAX9 plane). Could not find any alternative options on United App. I contacted 1K Desk and was told the only option available was a two connection trip that ended in SNA (SNA is a solid 6 hour drive to SFO). Asked for anything to SFO/SJC/OAK and was told nothing. While on the phone, I found several flight options on DL and WN that were available (arriving within a few hours of original booking). Was told only UA or AA flights allowed to be booked by UA agents. Only options offered arrived greater than 24 hours from original booking. Since my sister has two young children she needed to take care of, this wasn't a viable option. Asked agent if I booked the WN flight and submitted a refund request, would it be honored. She alluded to a "yes". Submitted receipt for 1 Uber ride ($20) and the WN ticket ($480). UA customer care responded in 48 hours offering a $20 reimbursement and a $200 UA voucher. Made no mention of WN flight whatsoever. Original ticket cost was ~$180.

Thoughts on my options here? I assume I can request a refund of UA original booking ($180). $200 Travel Voucher gets me closer to out of pocket cost, but not quite there. I'm a reasonable person, but if UA refuses to provide alternative options that are bookable, should they be on the hook? Should I write back to UA Customer Care? DOT Complaint?