Hey guys I'm trying to get a refund for a flight I booked for my girlfriend to go to Turks and Caicos. She lives in Vietnam and was denied her transit visa through the US which was a layover on the way to Turks and Caicos. As soon as the visa was denied I cancelled the flight and received it in future flight credits. The issue is those credits are useless as she lives in Vietnam. I'm trying to get a full refund, partial refund or even transfer those credits to my name. What are my options?

May be out of luck unless a fully refundable fare was actually purchased.

Read the fare rules. Some fare rules specifically allow for a refund if a visa is denied.

Alternatively, FFC can be used on partner airlines in some cases. Can she fly through Europe, or Mexico or Canada, instead of through the US? Or, is there another destination you could visit together?

If none of that works, you'll basically just need to call UA and plead your case. They can turn it into an Electronic Travel Credit that can be used by anyone; they just typically won't.

Unfortunately, that may be true.

Refund is likely out of question, but simpathetic agent might convert it to ETC.

Separately, requirements for C visa are exactly the same that those for B1/B2, and actually, sometimes it is advisable to apply for B1/B2 rather than C.

Canada would be the same deal - they would require transit visa, after denial from US I wouldn't even bother with Canada.

OP - I realize this may be a sensitive subject -- but the more information you can give us the more we can help....

As others have pointed out the devil is in the details -- did you buy the ticket with your money? What are the fare conditions / basis? Is the flight only valid from Viet Nam? We need so much more information to help -- try not to worry about anything else -- just give the total picture.... On UA in general unless it is a basic economy fare you should have some options - especially since this is an international ticket....

Definitely check the fare rules. Not sure about Vietnam-based fares, but when I flew ex-India a bit, all my fares had the refund allowed for visa denial (and I remember once booking an L fare where the change fee was something like $50 instead of the standard $200 at the time).

Have you tried the UA online refund form? I had a somewhat similar situation and the CSR recommended I reach out to UA via that form. I explained the situation and UA unexpectedly responded to the request by making a full refund. YMMV vary of course but might be worth a try.

Here is the full story.

I had booked the flight for her under her name paid under my United mileage account with my credit card. Original fare type was a mixture of U/T/L/S for the legs. After I found out her visa was denied I canceled it and received a credit worth $2300. We asked immigration lawyers and travel agencies and they said she can reapply however if she gets denied again she will be on a "blacklist" from traveling to the US and allies. She chose to go through with the application again. When she did that I used the credits to book another flight this time fare type was S/L. She went to her interview again and go to denied her visa. Once I found out I cancelled the flight again. I requested a refund due to the fact that her visa was denied and the first time the 1K rep submitted it and 36 hours later I got an email saying the refund was denied with a scripted response "We appreciate your patience while our team reviewed your refund request. We found that the ticket you purchased is nonrefundable, and because your travel doesn’t fit into one of our eligible refund options, we’re unable to refund your ticket. Please review our eligible refund options for nonrefundable tickets below:" I have called 2 times since and both reps told me to request a refund via their website and provided me a link. When I try to request a refund the website says it's denied and I need to provide more proof but no options to upload additional proof. Now I'm stuck with $2300 in flight credits under her name that she can't use and I can't transfer to my name. United doesn't operate in Vietnam and there is no way of using it under her name.

This is not true. I detailed how the credits might be used in my eerier response. That said, UA refunds is also well-known for canned rejections.

That said, if you rebooked within the same ticket -- same confirmation number -- then there might still be a path to a refund if the fare rules include visa refusal, which some do. However, I couldn't find any UA fares listed from SGN to PLS, at least on my first attemp (I didn't check HAN, DAD or any other airport in Vietnam). Assuming you didn't save a copy of your fare rules -- which most people don't -- to look them up in ExpertFlyer, you'd need to post the re-tickeing date, the scheduled flights dates, and the route, including what airlines were operating each leg. When you say S/L, do you mean S on the way out and L on the way back, or were two flight legs in the same direction using different fare codes?

With that information, someone should be able to look up the rules and see if you have a case for a refund or if you're going to be asking for special treatment.

This was the first itinerary before it was cancelled.

Flight 1 of 6 UA7974 Class: Economy (U)
Thu, Nov 09, 2023 Fri, Nov 10, 2023
11:05 PM 07:00 AM
Ho Chi Minh City, VN (SGN) Tokyo, JP (HND)
Flight Operated by All Nippon Airways.

Flight 2 of 6 UA7942 Class: Economy (U)
Fri, Nov 10, 2023 Fri, Nov 10, 2023
10:50 AM 09:20 AM
Tokyo, JP (HND) Washington, DC, US (IAD)
Flight Operated by All Nippon Airways.

Flight 3 of 6 UA1817 Class: United Economy (T)
Fri, Nov 10, 2023 Fri, Nov 10, 2023
12:50 PM 04:05 PM
Washington, DC, US (IAD) Providenciales, TC, GB (PLS)

Flight 4 of 6 UA1466 Class: United Economy (L)
Mon, Nov 20, 2023 Mon, Nov 20, 2023
02:30 PM 06:25 PM
Providenciales, TC, GB (PLS) New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR)

Flight 5 of 6 UA131 Class: United Economy (S)
Tue, Nov 21, 2023 Wed, Nov 22, 2023
09:45 AM 02:20 PM
New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR) Tokyo, JP (HND)

Flight 6 of 6 UA7973 Class: Economy (S)
Wed, Nov 22, 2023 Wed, Nov 22, 2023
04:50 PM 09:50 PM
Tokyo, JP (HND) Ho Chi Minh City, VN (SGN)


This was the 2nd booking using the credits from the first.

Flight 1 of 6 UA7904 Class: Economy (S)
Thu, Nov 09, 2023 Thu, Nov 09, 2023
07:30 AM 03:15 PM
Ho Chi Minh City, VN (SGN) Tokyo, JP (NRT)
Flight Operated by Air Japan.

Flight 2 of 6 UA78 Class: United Economy (S)
Thu, Nov 09, 2023 Thu, Nov 09, 2023
05:40 PM 04:15 PM
Tokyo, JP (NRT) New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR)

Flight 3 of 6 UA1465 Class: United Economy (S)
Fri, Nov 10, 2023 Fri, Nov 10, 2023
09:29 AM 01:17 PM
New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR) Providenciales, TC, GB (PLS)

Flight 4 of 6 UA1466 Class: United Economy (L)
Mon, Nov 20, 2023 Mon, Nov 20, 2023
02:30 PM 06:25 PM
Providenciales, TC, GB (PLS) New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR)

Flight 5 of 6 UA79 Class: United Economy (L)
Tue, Nov 21, 2023 Wed, Nov 22, 2023
11:15 AM 03:35 PM
New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR) Tokyo, JP (NRT)

Flight 6 of 6 UA7913 Class: Economy (L)
Wed, Nov 22, 2023 Thu, Nov 23, 2023
07:05 PM 12:15 AM
Tokyo, JP (NRT) Ho Chi Minh City, VN (SGN)

OK, so it looks like it fared as Vietnam - US plus US-PLS, with an end-on-end construction. I took a look at both the UA and NH fare rules for the Vietnam to US leg. Unfortunately, neither of them have the provision about allowing a full refund upon denial of visa. Of course, that might be because those are refundable fares (less a cancellation fee) -- but because your ticket is combined with a non-refundable US-PLS leg, the entire thing becomes non-refundable.

OK, so these are your realistic options:
(1) ask to be re-routed avoiding the US. The only routing I can see that they might consider would eb SGN-BKK-VIE-YYZ, but (a) that's 60 hours in transit and (b) she'd still need a Canadian transit visa.
(2) find an alternative destination There's a decent chance you'd be able to get her ticketed on SGN-NRT-MEX, for example (note that a Mexican visa is required, so make sure that you provide enough time). Regional travel in Southeast Asia on partner airlines is also a possibility in some cases, although I can't make any guarantees; not all airlines allow UA to sell their discount fares, and UA generally doesn't like to sell tickets that don't involve them, or at least a JV partner.
(3) see if UA would be amenable to converting it to an ETC, which can then be used by anyone. This may be easiest if you already have a flight in mind that you'd like to use the credit on. This is not within policy, but UA does occasionally make exceptions. Front-line phone agents have the ability to do this.
(4) follow up with the refunds department. You may need to go outside of the automated process, though, which tends to be a hassle.

The last option, (5), would be to file a DOT complaint. I feel conflicted about this one, because you did agree to the fare rules when you made the purchase, but there's no rule that says you have to be right to complain. If you choose to file a complaint, I'd focus on the fact that UA is telling you to file a refund but that the refund process doesn't work. Note that this may result in anything from a flat 'no' to an offer of an ETC exchange to a full refund -- there's really no way to know.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thank you so much for all of the advice. I am going to try for a refund but I would take an ETC as well because I plan on flying to SGN to see her instead of going to PLS.

Based on my research, a Vietnamese citizen also needs a visa to transit Schengen. Given that the OP's gf was denied twice by the US I suspect all EU countries are also going to deny the visa request.

There are 24 countries that a Vietnamese citizen can go without a visa and the closest to PLS that is any significant size is PTY. But I can't find a single routing to PTY that doesn't touch a visa-required country like the US or Canada. If the OP's gf has an APEC business card then HKG opens up as a transfer point not requiring a visa but that, too, still routes through EU/US/Canada.

Sorry, OP. I think your best bet is to ask for the FFC to be converted to the ETC. They should be sympathetic to your pleas and hopefully oblige. It doesn't really hurt UA either way as they keep your money until it's spent. And if you have a serious plan to book a ticket to SGN then go ahead and book it with the same agent on the phone (of course this is not required).

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

-RM

Generally, this is not correct on two accounts:
* Vietnam nationals do not need visa for airside Schengen transit in any of the airports - so blanket statement on transit visa is not appropriate
* US visa denials have very little bearing on EU visas issuance (which are usually much easier to obtain). Obviously, having no idea about the grounds of those denials I can't predict the outcome, and the same grounds could preclude EU visa as well - but US denial by itself is not a factor.