schley

2 years ago we had free unlimited holds and now UA comes up with this Farelock is a low cost hold your itinerary option. It used to be free but with all the abuse people did for this, where you could hold anything for 3 days I believe. 23 bucks for 5 days and 30 bucks for 7 days. I suppose if you really want to grab something first and you think inventory is short for your particular fare class it could make sense.

Anyone else have an opinion? I guess at least having he option is there. You also have the online 24 hour cancel policy I assume is still there for free.

aacharya

Umm, farelock is awesome. And there are other ways to hold a fare for a day without paying. You've been around long enough...

schley

Farelock maybe a nice feature but paying for it makes it less appealing. Especially for those with status. IMO this could easily be rolled into a status benefit, then it would be valuable.

I already pointed out one way to hold your fare for a day that anyone can do. It is the ability to hold it for 5-7 days that would be valuable.

aacharya

Again, there are other ways.

There was also a way to hold it infinitely, but due to abuse they took it away.

schley

There maybe. Why is farelock so awesome if you can do it for free?

I know of several that could give 3 days but not more than that, thus kindly shoot a PM if known.

emcampbe

Yes, you can cancel for free within 24 hours of making a reservation. This option has been there for a long time, even before the recent regulation forcing this - but most legacy's had this.

Yes, free hold has been long gone. While I used to use it sometimes - I understand why they took it away, I can see the huge potential for abuse, and I assume that led to its demise.

I think Farelock makes sense for certain situations, and I think that given today's world - where fees are mostly what are making airlines profitable - that it makes sense for them to do this.

SharonLPK

Hi all! Now that my month of miles promo has posted, am looking to make 3 award tickets, same itinerary. Can get all 3 seats at the lowest mileage but not 100% sure who is travelling. Am pretty excited about the Farelock since it's worth the $33 to me to hold for the 7 days, if that is indeed the case for award travel -- ? -- Assuming that is the case, do I have to indicate all traveller information now? If so, can I change that info within the Farelock time period?

Thanks in advance!! I have no status...

flyhighajw

Whilst I was please that there is functionality to hold a reservation for a period of time - despite paying, I thn saw how customer unfriendly the catch is. It is neither refundable (which I can agree with), but then it is not credited towards the final bill!!

In the UK if we make any sort of commitment to a company like being asked to pay for something up front, the deal is ALWAYS that any early payment is taken forwards in the final invoice as already paid.

I had understood that in the US the customer is king? Who thinks that the new consolidated United should review the "not credited towards fare costs" and change it to the customers' favour?

MatthewLAX

Under new DOT regulations, we'll never see UA take away the ability to cancel fares without penalty within 24 hours of purchase, and IRRC, we'll soon see a mandatory and complimentary 24 hour hold as well, which seems a bit excessive but I will take advantage of.

LAX UA 1K

It's not a deposit, it's an option. Options cost money. In a competitive market, options increase in price based on the time to expiry and the variance of the underlying price (fare).

Mike Jacoubowsky

+1. Not sure where someone would get any other idea about it; it's pretty clear in the description that you're paying to hold the price, not placing a deposit.

I also think the OP is either being sarcastic is or seriously misinformed with his remark about "The customer is king" here. That might be the tenor of direct interaction with a salesperson, maybe, but from a legal standpoint, the EU is lightyears ahead of the US in terms of consumer protections. Didn't used to be that way. And as a result, a number of EU-based firms are now taking advantage of various loopholes and government incentives to sell product dirt-cheap in the US, because it's more profitable than selling in the EU. Strange world. Totally flipped upside down & inverted from not that many years ago.

Beerman92

burp?

lhrsfo

AFAIK if you buy your ticket on the UK site there is no right to cancel within 24 hours and there's no pending legislation to require it. So the grass is not always greener on the other side of the pond.

The UK site does, however give 500 bonus RDM for booking on it.

phillipe

In the US, can we still cancel a reservation booked on the website within 24 hours without penalty? Is this written down somewhere?

mduell

Yes, in federal regulations.