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:

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).

Archive of older posts - Original Routing Credit (ORC) After Involuntary Re-Routing/Re-Booking (Archive)