bdschobel

On September 27, I flew United LGA-IAD-FRA and connected on the 28th to Croatia Airlines FRA-ZAG. The LGA-IAD flight, UA5707, was delayed by a lot -- one posted delay after another -- and finally landed at 9:40 pm according to the United website. The Frankfurt flight, UA932, was scheduled to leave at 10:03. And I had to go from IAD Terminal A to Terminal C. It looked like an impossible connection to make in 23 minutes, but I had nothing to lose by trying.

I ran full-tilt to the awful IAD train and took it to Terminal C, where I had to run up a very long ramp, then an escalator, then down a very long hallway to Gate C8. All the other passengers had already boarded the FRA flight, but the agents had not yet closed its doors. I was the last person on. After I boarded, they closed up and pushed back at 9:57 pm according to the website.

I was really winded and tired, but happy to be on board. Had a nice flight to FRA. When I got there, I needed to get my boarding pass to Zagreb (because United couldn't print it in NY). The Lufthansa agent told me that I was listed as a no-show on UA932, so all subsequent flight segments had been cancelled! Uh-oh. She worked very hard for 10-15 minutes, talking to colleagues in person and by phone, and finally printed my boarding pass for FRA-ZAG and reinstated the return flights, ZAG-FRA-EWR on October 2.

When I got home yesterday, I saw that UA932 had not posted to my MP account, so I tried to request credit on-line. The website said that I had not taken the flight, so credit could not be granted. Uh-oh, again! I called MP and was told to fax my boarding pass, which I did this morning. But I wondered what that really proved. Of course I had a boarding pass IAD-FRA. It was printed in NY. I still have it and can easily fax it to anyone who is interested. But how can I prove that I actually used that boarding pass and flew to FRA? Just having a boarding pass would seem to fall far short of "proof."

The best proof is probably the fact that I magically got from IAD, where MP knows I landed on the 27th, to FRA just 9 hours later, where Lufthansa checked my passport and printed a boarding pass for the flight to ZAG. The only flight between IAD and FRA during those hours was UA932. So, unless I chartered a private plane or learned how to teletransport myself, I obviously flew on my ticketed flight. That seems like much better proof.

Anyway, I did fax my ticket and boarding pass this morning. Will the flight post soon enough for me to get my two CR1s for the third quarter? I needed that flight to break the magic 10,000-mile threshold.

Any thoughts on all this? What could I have done differently?

Bruce

Often1

Nothing different except run faster at IAD. Seriously, an educated guess is that your BP simply didn't get scanned in until after the flight was closed. Given the size of the aircraft, the one pax would not have truly affected weight/balance. This would mean that the system had you as a "no show" even if the BP was scanned. As soon as you were a "no show" your itinerary was cancelled and the MP credit was not given.

Annoying, but better than being denied boarding because the flight was closed which GA could have done. If UA goes back and manually checks the PNR, they will see that your itinerary was reinstated and where.

weirdlyndon

Wouldn't they have had to have scanned his BP when he boarded for baggage purposes. International flights require postive bag match, unless OP didn't check a bag.

EmailKid

All kind of things get overlooked when they try to get the plane out on time

To OP: congrats on running and making the flight. You did everything right ^

EmailKid

neo_781

I believe after the segment posts a subsequent sweep should pick it up and grant you the CR1's.

Run faster?

bdschobel

I did check a bag, and as you might guess, it didn't make the flight. It arrived in Zagreb a day later. I basically knew that would happen. Not a big deal.

Bruce

Often1

Bag match (if actually utilized on the flight in question, which is doubtful) only matters the other way around, e.g., bag onboard but no pax.