Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965239)

Hi all - I had an issue with a United flight from LIR -> IAH -> SLC over thanksgiving and I am getting shut down by united customer care. I'd like to hear if I am wasting my time with this, or if I am missing something.

Our flight was delayed for mechanical reasons from costa rica LIR -> IAH, and we missed our connection, two parents and a 6 y/o. We spent 3 hours at the customer desk with United trying to get us on a Delta flight the next morning but they were having a lot of trouble booking it. The United flights were all sold out as it was thanksgiving Sunday. The woman remarked she was supposed to have left her shift 15 minutes ago and wasn't getting paid for overtime, and suddenly she had fixed the issue, handed us 3 tickets on Delta and we left headed to a united sponsored hotel for the night. The whole experience seemed a little odd and I was unable to check in for my flight online, so I called Delta and they told me the tickets were not properly confirmed and had been voided. So I get on the phone with United for another 2 hours and they are unable to accomodate us, like at all. It's 2 am now. I tell a supervisor that I am going to have to book flights home directly and will request reimbursement, hang up the phone. I ended up finding 3 southwest flights out of Hobby airport. We take an uber the next morning to hobby and get home. The tickets cost ~1600 since they are last minute and United has been completely unwilling to refund the money I spent getting home. They have given us $200 each in flight vouchers ($600), 12,500 miles apiece, and they refunded the miles from the IAH->SLC portion of our trip (it was a very pricey award ticket). I am not happy because I just want my tickets paid for. Am I wasting my time here, or is there another avenue besides filing an online complaint and talking to cust service reps on the phone.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965622)

​​​​The airline industry is a monopoly in America

Originally Posted by JAXPax (Post 35965627)

Don't confuse UA "could not purchase that space for you" with "UA will not purchase that space for you." Several airlines in this country without FIM agreements, such as one where I worked, whipped out a credit card, went to southwest.com and clicked BUY. Or have something like an Orbitz for Business portal to do so, ensuring that it complies with certain limits (like not buying a First seat just because it's all that's left on a DL flight). United has chosen to limit its OA rebooking options.

Originally Posted by AJNEDC (Post 35965653)

So you purchased tickets on UA to get you home and they did not deliver. You then ended up purchasing tickets on Southwest because UA did not deliver. You have the option of calling your credit card company and charging back the UA payment as they did not deliver what you paid them to deliver. It may be less than what you paid Southwest and the associated overnight costs, but you would at least get something back. Use the reason of service not provided and provide your credit card company with all the relevant documentation and explanation.
Good luck

Originally Posted by jsloan (Post 35965654)

It's interesting, then, that you were able to purchase a flight to return home on a competitor -- those things monopolies don't have. Also, you were flying internationally -- you could have flown with any number of carriers.

Incidentally, if you purchased the ticket from United.com, they offered to sell you travel insurance during the purchase process. You declined.


Sure, UA could have done that, and I personally saw a B6 rep purchase a couple of F seats on the SEA-EWR red-eye to replace their SEA-JFK Mint seats. I'm not sure which was worse -- losing the lie-flat seat or ending up in New Jersey. ;). But nationwide, that's the exception, rather than the rule.


There's no need to initiate a chargeback. UA will issue a refund, if they haven't already, for the unused portion of the ticket. You're certainly not going to get the entire amount back via a chargeback -- just the same amount UA would refund anyway.

Originally Posted by jsloan (Post 35965654)

It's interesting, then, that you were able to purchase a flight to return home on a competitor -- those things monopolies don't have. Also, you were flying internationally -- you could have flown with any number of carriers.

Incidentally, if you purchased the ticket from United.com, they offered to sell you travel insurance during the purchase process. You declined.

Originally Posted by AJNEDC (Post 35965661)

There is absolutely a need to initiate a chargeback: The OP get's the credit for what he's charging back immediately or within days depending on his card company. United gets the opportunity to provide employment to someone to work the chargeback case. The employee working the case gets a paycheck. A win all around.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965666)

I am under no obligation to purchase overpriced travel insurance from an airline in order to cover its ... when it doesn't deliver on customer obligations.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965666)

Please show me where in the contract of carriage it tells me the amount of time required for a UA rep to book an alternative flight.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965666)

I am under no obligation to purchase overpriced travel insurance from an airline in order to cover it's ... when it doesn't deliver on customer obligations.

I spent 5 hours of my time with united representatives attempting to get a new ticket issued. Please show me where in the contract of carriage it tells me the amount of time required for a UA rep to book an alternative flight. This is the key legal issue here and one that would be decided by a judge.

Originally Posted by jsloan (Post 35965667)

The folks in the UA refund department need jobs too. :)

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965666)

Please show me where in the contract of carriage it tells me the amount of time required for a UA rep to book an alternative flight.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965702)

Does anyone know... If I do go the small claims route, do I risk United suspending or terminating my mileage plus account?

Originally Posted by jsloan (Post 35965667)

Apparently it's at least five hours and one minute. Or you could have waited for the next available seat on UA. That could have been set up in five minutes, but you chose not to do that.

Originally Posted by jsloan (Post 35965722)

They would be within their rights to do so under rule 2, via the "conduct detrimental to the interests of United" clause, but I haven't heard of that happening in any similar cases and don't think it's a real risk. (Also, if they were to take that action, would you really want to do business with them again?)

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965728)

....We were flying on two separate confirmation codes that had been linked by a UA rep. For whatever reason, the system unjoined the reservations in order to make that automated itinerary. ....

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965728)

I was never given the option of a refund.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965728)

We were flying on two separate confirmation codes that had been linked by a UA rep. For whatever reason, the system unjoined the reservations in order to make that automated itinerary.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965728)

I spent 5 hours working with the UA reps to figure something out. At some point, you have to give up.

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965734)

Thank you. I appreciate that information. I have a lot of UA miles from years ago, and they are worth more than the $1600

Originally Posted by brooks8970 (Post 35965622)

The airline industry is a monopoly in America and consumers do not have the consumer choice required to decide what giant corporations put or do not put in their terms.

Injuries to parties can occur regardless of the fine print, as occurred in this case.