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Original Routing Credit (ORC) After Involuntary Re-Routing/Re-Booking (Merged)

Old Jun 12, 2013, 8:18 pm
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Last edit by: WineCountryUA
What is ORC?

ORC=Original Routing Credit: Claiming credit for your original routing as you originally booked it in the event you are rerouted on flights that earn fewer miles than you originally booked.

When do I qualify for ORC?

If you are flying a UA flight on a UA-issued ticket and crediting to UA Mileage Plus, then generally after being rebooked during IROPS due to a misconnect or canceled flight (regardless of the cause--weather, mechanical, ATC delays, etc.) on a more direct routing than you originally booked that earns fewer United miles. This includes being rebooked on other airlines, even if they are not United partners, as well as being rebooked on other UA flights or UA partner flights.

What if I SDC and then have IROPS?
Reports suggest SDCing AAA-BBB to AAA-XXX-BBB and then having IROPS where you are placed back on AAA-BBB, that ORC might be denied for AAA-XXX-BBB. As your original purchase was AAA-BBB.
Unknown what would happen in more complex situations, such as you traveled to XXX and then IROPS occurred, you would probably just be better without ORC.


You will generally not qualify for ORC under the following circumstances:
  • A change to your itinerary made in advance
  • A United-initiated schedule change made prior to departure
  • A voluntary change made during travel (i.e. SDC, walking away from a segment, etc.)

A reroute during a VDB has been an open issue (best if you can get the VDB marked INVOL but still should be possible -- may take some pushback if refused)

How do I get ORC?

ORC will not post automatically (even if a gate agent assures you otherwise). You will have to call in or write into the MPSC (Mileage Plus Service Center--NOT the reservations center or Premier reservations line), provide your record locator or e-ticket number, and state that you were rerouted at United's request and would like to receive the mileage as you originally booked. You cannot do this until the miles for the flights you actually flew posted (which, for United metal, is usually shortly after your flight, as of mid-2019) and at least 5 days have passed between the original VDB flight date and the date of the request for ORC. If the agent grants you ORC, and you have UA miles already posted from the flights you actually took, they will send it to auditing. After about a week the miles for the flights you actually flew will be removed from your account and the miles for the original routing will be deposited, so check and make sure that your original routing would have indeed given you more miles than you actually earned!

If you were rebooked on a carrier which isn't a United partner (i.e. AA, DL, etc.), you can generally credit the flight you actually flew to that carrier's mileage program and still claim ORC with UA.

Any tips to ensure I am successful?

When dealing with UA over a rebooking that will earn you fewer miles, make sure the agent marks your ticket as "INVOL." When the MPSC sees this note, they will be much more likely to quickly agree to grant you ORC. The absence of "INVOL" on your ticket makes the agent think you may have voluntarily rerouted yourself on a shorter itinerary, in which case you wouldn't be able to claim ORC.

Automated rebookings (the kind where you misconnect and then check your itinerary or go to a kiosk after landing and find yourself already booked on another flight) generally seem to properly be marked "INVOL," so you should be fine in these cases. You can see if your ticket was marked "INVOL" by clicking on the "View Receipt" function for your itinerary on united.com; it will be shown next to "Fare Rules" below the fare breakdown section, like so:

Fare Rules: Additional charges may apply for changes in addition to any fare rules listed.

INVOL;CXL BY FLT DT/
Note that some people have reported success in claiming ORC on VDB rebookings if they were able to successfully persuade the agent to mark the itinerary "INVOL."


Is there ORC for MM / Lifetime credit? for PQDs?

Yes and Yes (Generally included but to be safe specifically mention these in your request)

Can a get a refund?

It is believed that requesting a refund will block the ability to request ORC.

Other issues?

You may run into difficulty if any of the following are true:
  1. You're not flying on a UA-issued ticket (recent 2022 reports suggest this is possible)
  2. The rebooking was done by a third-party due to IROPS on that third party carrier
  3. You're not crediting to UA MP

The first two may not be impossible to overcome, but you may need to work harder to get the credit (YMMV, though, especially if both #1 and #2 are true).

The third one is a different case--you need to request credit through the program you're crediting to, as third parties don't have the ability to make adjustments to programs they don't own (UA can't adjust your LH balance, for example--they can only send LH a feed of what flights that person flew, a process which is automated and tied to their operations system).

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Original Routing Credit (ORC) After Involuntary Re-Routing/Re-Booking (Merged)

Old Jul 15, 2021, 5:25 pm
  #136  
 
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Thanks for the info! Reading United rules is like reading a law almanac of sorts...
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Old Jul 15, 2021, 7:40 pm
  #137  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
If done the day of travel / irrops, you could try for ORC -- may take some effort.
If done as an advance schedule change, nope. UA will not do it even for its schedule changes.
Am I reading correctly that you can get ORC went flying a partner airline and crediting to UA?
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Old Jul 15, 2021, 7:45 pm
  #138  
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Originally Posted by Flying Machine
Am I reading correctly that you can get ORC went flying a partner airline and crediting to UA?
yes, I have done it, as have others but it may take a bit longer
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Old Jul 15, 2021, 8:55 pm
  #139  
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The clear case in the OP's: 1) advance schedule/carrier change; and 2) not an 016 (UA) ticket
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Old Jul 16, 2021, 1:39 am
  #140  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
The clear case in the OP's: 1) advance schedule/carrier change; and 2) not an 016 (UA) ticket
im not sure number 1 is clear - OP just says they are being rebooked but unless Im missing something, does not specify in advance (or not). Also, I have gotten ORC on a *A ticket before, so its not impossible. In my case, was flying BLR-BKK-TPE on TG on their stick. First segment arrived 2+ hours late, and we missed our connection. TG rebooked us on a China Airlines flight to TPE, which I think was the next flight (I was a little surprised they didnt put us on EVA, which has a flight leaving like an hour later). Anyway, I called UA and they told us to email tickets and BPs. A few weeks later, the credit showed up. This wasnt even that long ago, maybe 2 or 3 years ago.
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Old Oct 15, 2021, 8:20 am
  #141  
 
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I had a flight from EWR-IAD-MYR next Thursday and i intentionally booked a connecting flight even though there was a direct EWR-MYR because i knew that would give me 36 segments and the 13500 spend to make 1K. UA cancelled the IAD-MYR flight and rebooked me on the direct EWR-MYR flight so now i will end the year with exactly 35 segments and 14200 PQP. Can i request ORC for this? I have quite a bit of travel planned and really dont want to try and add another segment now that all my flights are already booked but i will if i have to. ORC would make it easy if its applicable.
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Old Oct 15, 2021, 9:43 am
  #142  
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Originally Posted by Weez_1000
I had a flight from EWR-IAD-MYR next Thursday and i intentionally booked a connecting flight even though there was a direct EWR-MYR because i knew that would give me 36 segments and the 13500 spend to make 1K. UA cancelled the IAD-MYR flight and rebooked me on the direct EWR-MYR flight so now i will end the year with exactly 35 segments and 14200 PQP. Can i request ORC for this? ...
As covered in the wiki, ORC generally does not apply to schedule changes, but in these circumstances, it is worth a try, I would reach out to a MPSC agent, unfortunately, it would need to be post-flight as nothing can be done pre-flight.
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Old Nov 20, 2021, 7:43 pm
  #143  
 
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Partner trip in vain

Hi guys. Trying to figure out if I can get Mileage Plus credit for a partner (AI) flight that I didn't take due to a last minute change in my plans. The ticket barely has a few bucks I would get refunded and I would rather have the PQP. Should I reach out to AI or UA?
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Old Nov 20, 2021, 7:47 pm
  #144  
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Originally Posted by deepakvalecha
Hi guys. Trying to figure out if I can get Mileage Plus credit for a partner (AI) flight that I didn't take due to a last minute change in my plans. The ticket barely has a few bucks I would get refunded and I would rather have the PQP. Should I reach out to AI or UA?
No fly no credit.
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Old Dec 29, 2021, 5:54 pm
  #145  
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I prefer to fly NRT-LAX-SFO rather than NRT-SFO, for lifetime Million Miler purposes.

However, if I am "forced" to take the latter during IRROPS, I will happily seek original routing credit (ORC).
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Old Jan 4, 2022, 2:22 pm
  #146  
 
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ORC?

I have never done this but one of my flights was cancelled today so instead 3PQFs I will only get 2PQFs. PQFs are important for the lower PQD threshold.

Has anyone been successful requesting ORC for PQFs? The 500 miles BIS would be nice too but the PQF is more important.

FWIW: original was SAN-SFO-LAX-SYD, now SAN-SFO-SYD.

(Fortunate they had me going through SFO to LAX.)
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Old Jan 4, 2022, 6:45 pm
  #147  
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Originally Posted by Aussienarelle
I have never done this but one of my flights was cancelled today so instead 3PQFs I will only get 2PQFs. PQFs are important for the lower PQD threshold.

Has anyone been successful requesting ORC for PQFs? The 500 miles BIS would be nice too but the PQF is more important.

FWIW: original was SAN-SFO-LAX-SYD, now SAN-SFO-SYD.

(Fortunate they had me going through SFO to LAX.)
quick 1 line Email to [email protected] with PNR info and requesting ORC for SAN-SFO-LAX-SYD.
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Old Jan 17, 2022, 4:19 pm
  #148  
 
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Originally Posted by Aussienarelle
I have never done this but one of my flights was cancelled today so instead 3PQFs I will only get 2PQFs. PQFs are important for the lower PQD threshold.

Has anyone been successful requesting ORC for PQFs? The 500 miles BIS would be nice too but the PQF is more important.

FWIW: original was SAN-SFO-LAX-SYD, now SAN-SFO-SYD.

(Fortunate they had me going through SFO to LAX.)
Originally Posted by cfischer
quick 1 line Email to [email protected] with PNR info and requesting ORC for SAN-SFO-LAX-SYD.
Just heard back and they gave me the ORC, specifically the PQFs, and the BIS
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Old Jan 17, 2022, 4:40 pm
  #149  
 
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Originally Posted by Aussienarelle
Just heard back and they gave me the ORC, specifically the PQFs, and the BIS
I sent an email for one of my more adventurous trips (reroute included an hour train ride between flights) ... didn't hear anything for a week... sent a follow-up... didn't hear anything for nearly a week. Called the MPSC and agent promised it would be credited within 24 hours (it was there when I checked as soon as I got off the call) -- only downside when calling was I got not 1 but 2 CC pitches... Had I gotten a 3rd I probably would have turned rude (I'm increasingly tempted to get whatever the no-fee one is just so that the "has CC don't harass him" flag on the account gets set... I tell your company NO explicitly at least a dozen times a year and implicitly several hundred between the in-flight shilling and mailers. Why do you keep harassing me with this garbage? but I digress)
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Old Jan 21, 2022, 11:48 am
  #150  
 
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Am I okay? Partner airline re-booking PQP

Hey all, I'm new to Flyertalk so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I booked a flight via AmexTravel from IAD to OPO via FRA on Lufthansa. So the booking was: To: IAD-FRA-OPO Return: OPO-FRA-IAD

Got an email this morning from AmexTravel saying my itinerary was updated and the new itinerary no longer had the the OPO-FRA leg in the return as that flight was cancelled.
New itinerary: To: IAD-FRA-OPO Return: FRA-IAD

I called Lufthansa because I needed to find a way to get to FRA from OPO and they offered to rebook my return journey one day early so now my new routing is exactly the same as before except the return journey is just one day early.

Onto the question!! Will this impact my PQP in any way?! I'm super concerned that because Lufthansa changed the reservation, somehow I wont get PQP for the return journey anymore (even though the routing and everything is exactly the same, just not the date). I called MileagePlus and they said it shouldn't impact my PQP earnings at all, except I've seen some posts on Reddit and Flyertalk saying that some people needed to request Original Routing Credit (not sure if that applies here or not).

Thanks so much!
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