Precise Rule for Non-Refundable Ticket
 

There appears to be some confustion at United about the new use it or lose it policy. I was on the phone with United Premier Exec Desk this morning making changes to a non-refundable ticket I had purchased before the use it or lose it policy. So now my new reservation is subject to the use-it or lose-it rule. I asked the reservation what the precise rule is for making changes to the reservation. Specifically, for my 6:00 am departure, do I have to call by 5:59 am in order preserve its value, or do I have until the end of the day. The original answer from the reservation agent was that you have to call United no later than your schedule departure time.

I replied that my understanding was that you had to call no later than the date of departure, meaning that you could call until 11:59 pm. I'm told, nope, scheduled time of departure is the deadline.

I call United.com to see if the tariff language is on the web. It reads as follows:

FARES NOT USED OR NOT CHANGED ON/BEFORE THE TICKETED DEPARTURE DATE ARE INVALID AND HAVE NO VALUE. OTHER FARES ON THE SAME TICKET THAT ARE HALF ROUND TRIP COMBINED WITH THE UNUSED FARE ARE ALSO INVALID AND HAVE NO VALUE.

To me, this says depature date, not departure date and time. United.com representative again tells me, nope, scheduled departure time is the deadline.

Then, I get a call back from the Premier Exec Desk Agent who tells me that I was in fact correct. You have until 11:59 pm day of departure.

Anyone else gotten mixed info about this?

Flight origination time zone point controls??

I concur that the currently published rule stating date of departure indicates 11:59 p.m. not flight departure time -- but keep in mind which time zone is applicable.

I recently had a ticketing deadline of 11:59 p.m. This particular itinerary originated on the east coast, although I live in the Pacific Time Zone. I happened to call in at 8:50 p.m. PDT and pleasantly said to the agent that I have a reservation that is going to self-destruct in about 3 hours, so I need to get it ticketed. After handling the transaction, the agent (equally pleasantly) advised me that because the flight originated in the Eastern time zone, the reservation would have expired in ten minutes, not three hours.

It appears that flight origination point determines the applicable time zone for ticketing,and presumably, changes.

How (not) surprising

According to the published fare rule, you need to change by the end of the travel date. It makes no mention of change before flight departs. Ideally, a travel date should be defined by the time zone the flight departs.

Is it flight origination time that determines the amount of time or is it Zulu time which is used for the 24 hour period you have to cancel a flight when booking directly with the airline?

[This message has been edited by chitownflyer (edited 09-11-2002).]

Based on Merriam Webster's definition of date:

Quote:

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Main Entry: date
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin data, from data (as in data Romae given at Rome), feminine of Latin datus, past participle of dare to give; akin to Latin dos gift, dowry, Greek didonai to give
Date: 14th century
1 a : the time at which an event occurs &lt;the date of his birth&gt; b : a statement of the time of execution or making &lt;the date on the letter&gt;
2 : DURATION
3 : the period of time to which something belongs
4 a : an appointment to meet at a specified time; especially : a social engagement between two persons that often has a romantic character b : a person with whom one has a usually romantic date
5 : an engagement for a professional performance (as of a dance band)
- to date : up to the present moment

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I think what the agent told you is correct, the usage of the word "date" refers to a specific time that an event will occur (in this case a specific flight), not an entire day.