axpmaluga

At ORD I'd always opt for the longer layover rather than a tight connection. Too many things can go wrong.

GoingAway

Wow - sorry, but A blanket statement like this is just misleading

I've been delayed where a 4+ hour connection just wasn't (or was) enough. There are a lot of unknowns for the OP as well as the flight experience itself that can go into what makes sense for a connection. For all you know, the OP arrived at the gate 5 minutes after he got off the first flight which would've been an illegal cxn, so the 4 hour was all that was available.

studentff

Prior to this idiotic fee being enacted, I would often book the longer layover with the full intention of going standby on the earlier connecting flight if time allowed. That greatly decreased my chances of a misconnect. It saved me more times than I can remember.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it--passengers going standby in a would-be empty seat on an earlier flight and freeing up a later seat for potential sale are doing the airline a favor and should not have to pay for it. The only people who "suffer" from free standbys is non-revs traveling space available, since the revenue standby pax would trump them on the DM list. (I think that's a major factor in why the employees like this inane fee so much.)

I hope that in the merger process, they at least exempt 1Ps from the fee like CO does. IMO the standby fee and the close-in-award-booking fee (since rescinded) are the worst MP benefit losses I have suffered. Getting rid of this fee would motivate me to try to retain 1P next year.

bdschobel

I totally agree. Even though I'm currently exempt from this egregious fee, it still bothers me that any thinking person in airline management could consider it to be a good idea.

Bruce

Far From Home

Has anyone had success switching from a confirmed nonstop flight to standby on an earlier one-stop?

Looks to be against the rules, and was told by a phone agent that it won't work because the number of flight coupons is different -the nonstop has only one, and they wouldn't know what to do with the pax on the second leg because the coupon would be missing.

Just curious if there's a way to make it work other than buying the re-fared itinerary.

Context: I'm on the 4/13 10:00am nonstop LAX-PHL, arriving 6:16pm. That's the earliest nonstop for the day. There are a few one-stop options that arrive earlier into PHL which I would try on standby if possible.

GoingAway

Very unlikely they'd do it ... partially for the coupon issue, but moreso that if you got stuck mid-way, they'd have an issue they don't want to encounter. You can go from the one stop to a non stop though.

XLR26

On Friday I was supposed to be on the 5pm ORD-DCA. Get a call mid- afternoon saying the flight was delayed til 530. Get to ORD and go to the gate for the 4pm flight:

Me: Could I get on the standby list please?

GA: Credit card.

Me: My flight’s delayed. Do I still have to pay the fee?

GA: How late?

Me: Half an hour

GA: You still have to pay.

Me: Is there an official policy on getting the fee waived if your ticketed flight’s delayed?

GA: There's no official policy. Rule of thumb is one hour.

Me: Flightaware is showing the incoming plane for my 5pm flight isn’t getting in til 515 so I can’t imagine it’s going to turnaround 15min or even 30min.

GA: Sorry. Right now it’s still showing a 530pm departure. I’ll call your name if we can get you on this on.

So I pay the $50 and make the 4pm. Then when I get to DCA I have a voicemail from UA saying my original 5pm flight isn’t leaving til 6pm. So now I’ve had to pay that B*&! $50 fee just so I can get to my destination on time. Real nice.

bdschobel

You could attempt to get a refund of the $50 fee. I would in your shoes.

Bruce

XLR26

I just noticed that my bank account hasn't been debited yet so I'm going to wait and see if they actually charge me the $50. If they do, then I'll definitely try for a refund.

adambadam

Yeah, that is ridiculous. If any delay has posted you should be allowed to move around.

cesco.g

Fully agree! ANY delay - period. Knowing how initially announced delays most of the time become extended delays.

jk5598224

My understanding is there is a disruption code 5BXXXX that they can use. Please let us know what you find out. I wish UA would chime in here on what the code/policy is

Personally I have gone standby several times without being asked for the fee, right before the door closes type of thing.

XLR26

My account was debited (Tuesday) so I sent a refund request and an email to MP. We'll see....

Here's UA's response:

Dear XXXXXXX:

Thank you for your email.

Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience and frustration you experienced resulting from your delayed flight.

After reviewing our standby policy, I found that our agent mistakenly charged you. A fee of $50 is collected when a customer successfully boards another flight. However, the fee is waived during irregular operations or involuntary standby.

My regret is that not only were you a victim of a schedule change but we failed to properly follow rules and policies. I am truly sorry we failed to do our part.

We will gladly honor your request for a refund of $50 and in addition have issued you $200 E-Certificate as a goodwill gesture. I understand that our goodwill offering can not compensate you for the inconvenience of having to adjust and alter your plans at such short notice. Nonetheless, we would like to provide it as a tangible expression of our regret over what transpired and our gratitude for your loyalty with United Airlines for nearly 14 years.

We look forward to serving you again XXXXXX.

At the conclusion of this email, please fill out the survey where you can rate your experience with the Customer Care department. We value your feedback and hope that you are satisfied with our service.

Regards,

XXXXXXX
United Airlines Customer Relations


Props to UA for the quick response and making things rights. I may have to keep a copy of my email and UA's response with me when I travel as I'm sure this could easily happen again.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Curious what you wrote UA, since it would provide context for their response. In particular I'm curious about their mention of your loyalty to UA for nearly 14 years. If you didn't bring that up, then somebody's actually doing a decent job training people in customer service. It's a nice touch, indicating something beyond a boiler-plate response.

XLR26

The first part of my email was taken almost verbatim from my post above (#788), except that I deleted the last two sentences. After that, I added a few sentences about why I thought the charge was completely unjustified in my situation…and how the standby fee was annoying in general. Then I requested a refund and asked whether UA had any intention of implementing a policy that would cover customers who get stuck in a situation like mine.

I didn’t say anything about my years of flying UA, status, fare paid, etc. I agree that it was a nice touch and showed some effort/creativity on the part of UA and/or the CSR.