brooks8970

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.

jsloan

Frankly -- yes.

You made an unreasonable demand to a supervisor, that they reimburse whatever plan you came up with rather than allowing them to sort it out themselves, and then hung up on them. I'm not sure why you think they should be on the hook for your tickets, but they're not. All they owe you is a refund of the unused transportation.

Check to see if your credit card had trip interruption insurance -- this is what it's for.

brooks8970

How long do you recommend I wait for United reps to rebook me on a new flight in the future? Is 5 hours not enough time? Mind you, Im not talking about hold time, or waiting in line here. Im talking about United being unable to get us on a flight over 3 hours of face time, and 2 hours of talk time.

JAXPax

I would agree. I wouldn't have left the counter in the first place until I had the Delta PNR in my DL app or accessed it online somehow.

In past days working for a LCC, our reaccom was a Visa card with a $500k credit limit in my office. We were buying on airline websites, and would usually just go ahead and check the passenger in and give them their OA boarding passes. Had United, actually, once cancel a flight and try to send back the 40 people I'd booked on them to my counter. I walked them back over and said uhhh not so fast, they all have walk-up tickets on you, checked in, and are your problem. I'm more than happy to help them file 40 DOT complaints otherwise....

To the OP: I wouldn't have a.) left the counter until verifying it confirmed, b.) hung up the phone until the supervisor agreed to some next course of action. Your only real option at this point, as United has basically given back your original "fare" which technically absolves them from transporting you, is to take them to small claims court. They may or may not contest it, may point out in the contract of carriage they did everything they were supposed to do (and even maybe a bit more) and have compensated you (the route I took when I'd go defend my airline in such cases), or you get a judge who just hates airlines and sides with you. I once lost an airfare reimbursement case as defendant because the plaintiff missed their flight, as it was delayed, then went back to on time and they showed up late. The judge just could not believe that a delay could just disappear as he'd never heard of such in all his years of flying. So it's a roll of the dice and may be worth the court costs.

emcampbe

Yeah, sorry OP, not going to get reimbursed for OAL tickets you bought yourself. This is the reason you deal with UA (in this case....but in general, whatever airline you are supposed to be on) and then let them work it out.

Truth is, rebooking on OAL, especially within 24 hours, is often not as easy as it should be, and if not done exactly correctly, leads to situations like you had. If I had to guess, agent who was on overtime, especially having mentioned it, was itching to get out and was probably not dotting her Is/crossign Ts. Within 24 hours, it's always also ideal for the agent to check with the new airline to make sure they see everything is confirmed properly. If its not have agent work with you until it is. Quite honestly, agent should know to do this, and overtime isn't really your concern - if she's not getting paid for that, that's her issue with UA, and the company should do better, but the agent shouldn't make that your problem.

So yeah, I would have looked to make sure the DL tickets were issued and good. Lesson learned (hopefully there won't be one...but for next time).

You were right to call UA back, but hanging up was not smart. Ideally, you should have looked up various options to see where tickets were available, and you can feed them to UA. As long as they are on an interline carrier, UA should be able to book you on those flights. Booking on your own was an unforced error (even if you feel UA wasn't helping you). Agents (and the computers they use) aren't always great at generically finding flights, but if you say to them, there appear to be 3 seats on, say, AA flight #### to MIA, then AA flight #### to SLC, then they can search specifically for those, and probably would find them if you could see they were bookable. Once you book on your own, UA is not going to reimburse you - any comp. is up to them, and most likely going to be just a refund of the balance of your tin not flown (probably less then you think....) and maybe some ETC/miles for your trouble. They are not going to pay a bill for last minute flights on another carrier - they have arrangements with other carriers which is why you should go back to UA to rebook - they pay behind the scenes (and not the fares you and I see).

As a last resort, someone upthread mentioned trip delay insurance - so a good idea to see if you have it and if it covers your situation - if the result of MX most should cover it. It won't actually cover new airfare - that is typically done by rebooking via the carrier that screwed up - but would cover unanticipated expense due to the delay - night at a hotel, meals, etc. So not everything, but a little is better than nothing, right?

As frustrating as the wait for an agent is, fi you don't want to pay out of pocket, unfortunately, it's just something that needs to be done. My typical playbook is to wait in line at the counter, and call the reservations number, and see which way is faster (often....it's faster to get an agent on the phone if it's the flight canceled). You had the unfortunate luck of this occurring over a busy holiday weekend - which definitely makes it more difficult, in terms of probably longer wait/hold times, and less alternate flight options with most flights full. But that is life sometimes. You just need to deal the best you can. I deal with it by assuming that a trip without a hitch is the exception, not the rule, so to expect the bumps, and be happy if they don't come. Makes it easier to deal with when they do.

halls120

This. When the OP hung up on the UA supervisor, the OP lost me. I realize IROPS are a pain, but if you have to spend hours on the phone, that’s what you need to do.

Every time I’m in this situation, I always do the research and find available options, and every time I do this and speak with a CSR, I get a satisfactory outcome.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Pertinent part of the Contract of Carriage OP agreed to when purchasing ticket. Basically, need to let UA handle re-booking or get refund. "Sole discretion" is key here. Passenger can't tell UA he/she will book own transportation and demand UA to re-imburse. Sure, the DL flight was somehow screwed up, but OP still needed to 1) work w/ UA or 2) ask for refund and make own way.

Irregular Operations

1. Liability - Except to the extent provided in this Rule and the Warsaw and/or Montreal Conventions, UA shall not be liable for any Irregular Operations.
2. Delay, Misconnection or Cancellation
   1. When a Passenger’s ticket is affected because of Irregular Operations caused by UA, UA will take the following measures:
      1. Transport the Passenger on its own flights, subject to availability, to the Destination, next Stopover point, or transfer point shown on its portion of the Ticket, without Stopover in the same class of service, at no additional cost to the Passenger; or
      2. At its sole discretion, UA may arrange for the passenger to travel on another carrier. United may also, at its sole discretion, and if acceptable to the passenger, arrange for the passenger to travel via ground transportation.

brooks8970

I hear you all. I am aware of the need to work with them on a new itinerary, but you reach a point where no action has been taken, especially after having already waited and being issued voided tickets. Having a young child in tow definitely shortens the window.

At some point, we all drop off the line and take matters into our own hands, and perhaps when that point is reached whether it is 30 minutes or 24 hours, there should be no expectation of the airline reimbursing us for their failure to get us to our final destination and leaving us stranded halfway. FWIW, I did advise agents both at the desk and on the phone of alternatives, but they were unable to accommodate due to restrictions on their ability to book on other airlines. They have various ways of getting these to go through so they just kept trying different tactics, calling superiors, etc, but no movement.

It looks like my options are taking them to small claims court or just dropping it and accepting it for what it is. Thanks for the honest feedback.

bmwe92fan

OP -- we all totally get this -- and most / all of us have been there - and learned the hard way like you.... Once you are exhausted and just want to get home (I have six kids -- I get it) -- logic is suspended and just getting home just takes over.... Unfortunately in the US the law doesn't support us -- it supports the airlines -- hopefully you have travel insurance that can help to recover some of your expenses.... UA's poor customer service (on admittedly the worst travel week of the year) doesn't make any difference once you took things into your own hands unfortunately. Hopefully one day in the US we will have rules like they do in the EU -- until then we just have to stay up all night to get what we should.... Is it right -- NO -- is it reality - YES!

WineCountryUA

You mention getting tickets from Southwest, you should be aware Southwest will not accept tickets from other airlines including UA. UA could not purchase that space for you. Additionally, while airlines might oversell a flight to a retail customer (usually for a higher than normal price), they will not to another carrier. There are a variety of barriers to rebooking flights.

The problem with the DL rebooking probably had to do with DL not confirming the rebooking and the UA agent ran out of time but hoped DL would eventually confirm. This is a common complaint one hears from passengers in your position and it can be nearly any airline on either end. That is why others have mentioned the extra steps.

Inventory in these situations is very dynamic. One second it is there but by the time the agent tries to book, it is gone but may or may not be back a minute later.

And as others have mentioned, look to your credit card coverage for trip interruption insurance. Small Claims with be problematic as you went independent contrary to the Contract of Carriage for the flight.

Kacee

Yeah that's all understandable, I don't think anyone disputes it's a frustrating situation to be in, particularly where UA apparently messed up the initial rebooking. But if the question is, "does UA have an obligation to pay for the tickets I purchased on my own, and will it pay for those tickets if I keep pushing," the answer is "no" and "no."

iapetus

The last time I was in this situation I was traveling with my family, and I found myself looking for viable alternatives right alongside the UA agent. I finally took the rather unpalatable, but workable, alternative that UA proffered. The very next morning I was right back at it looking for more alternatives. When I found a better option with United, I was right back on the phone. It sux that one has to be so proactive during irrops, but I have learned that it is far better to do that than to assume an agent will get it all fixed.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

The usual empty threat. You agreed to the Contract of Carriage. I know you’re frustrated, but the way it played out was not optimal. You can certainly ask United to refund the unflown segment, but you have zero basis to demand reimbursement for tickets you unilaterally purchased.

brooks8970

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.

JAXPax

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.