iluvairlines

30,000 Miles... That's pretty good (when they already gave the hotel and food costs)

LarkSFO

Seriously?

If this happens to us on the beginning of our Australia trip in December we will be totally screwed... (ongoing flights from SYD on different airlines, prepaid accomodations and booked activities, etc.)

I would have to create an itemized bill and submit it to UA for compensation. Definitely would be more than $600 per person in actual costs, not to mention the hassles...

bmvaughn

That's why people buy travel insurance. UA won't compensate for all of that.

LarkSFO

Good point... I did not buy it for this trip...

Probably a thread on this, but I have always been skeptical of Travel Insurers. Who are the good ones? How easy to get them to pay?

I would definitely push UA for more than what was offered here though.

Doug 1029

It never gets any better than a $600 voucher.

I never travel internationally without travel insurance. You can take minimal coverage that will cover trip delay and medical evacuation for reasonable rates. I've had several claims due to delay and they always pay. There are a lot of good companies, I use Travel guard.

Daniel-SYD

I received the same (and took the miles). Other Y/B fare passenger with no status got offered $400, and another discount passenger got offered $200.

They provided $25 or $15 pp for hotel meals which IMHO is too small (that only covers the first cocktail).

I had a fantastic time!

dcsnowwake

delayed last week due to mechanical....$150 cert for me and $150 for my GF on the same PNR who is GM

nzpilot

+1 from my experience it hasn't gotten this good even. Mrs & I took a 24 hr delay in FCO due to mechanical. UA gave Hilton rooms + group meals & choice of 20%, $300 ecert, or 15K miles. We were both 1Ks in C...

rwm818

UA 897 IAD-PEK on 11/14 - 8+ hrs delayed.

options were: $350 domestic cert, 20% world-wide or 15 k miles.

Took the miles as I seldom buy my tickets (my travel is business), so didn't need the certs...

Asuka

Check your Credit Cards, some of them include free Travel Insurance.

My even low one comes with free Travel Insurance, never needed to claim on it, but I know it's there. If I go South America or Europe I purchase one, costs about $60-$100.

$600 is pretty good, I've got that for a VDB in SFO/LAX with a Hotel.

theoflyalot

Right, $600 (or event $350) is actually pretty good. I know we all WANT more, but in the end the airline really cant be held responsible for reimbursing everyone for what individuals think their time is worth, or the cost of the inconvenience.

If your car breaks down, the auto industry doesnt reimburse you for your missed meeting. If the taxi breaks down, the taxi doesnt reimburse you (heck, you probably still have to pay for as far as you traveled before the break-down). I hotel doesnt reimburse you because you had to wait an extra hour to check-in so a room could be cleaned.

In the end, airlines reimburse to generate good will (or at at least prevent increased bad-will)

Michilander

Was booked on UA961, BRU-EWR on 12 Nov. After 6 hours at the airport while they worked on the aircraft the flight was finally cancelled for mechanical. I got a 15 Euro food voucher during the 6 hour delay and they put us up in the Sheraton at BRU for the night. But, that's it. Have not gotten any customer appreciation emails or any responses to my emails about compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004. Earlier this year we got $300 voucher each for a flight that was diverted due to a panel light and ended up getting in 4 hours late. So, is it common to get not much of anything for a cancelled flight? Is this one of the changes we are going to like?

mcrw00

Contracted a musical guest for a convention. Guest was arriving LAX-BHM through IAH on CO (UA metal), and returning BHM-DFW on AA. Original IAH-BHM flight was canceled due to temporary inclement weather, and CO planned to issue hotel vouchers and reticket for a next morning departure. BEFORE this process was carried out, the guest asked if he could stand by for the next IAH-BHM flight that same day even though it was full, in case the weather subsided. It did, and he was able to fly on the flight.

When he came to check in for his outbound, AA said his reservation had been canceled. Because of an obvious contractual obligation, my organization had to purchase a ticket on the spot out of pocket, and we had no choice but to make it for the next morning (planned departure was late afternoon, and only other BHM-DFW later that day was full).

My organization bounced emails between AA, CO, UA, and Cheaptickets for a month until CO admitted to inadvertently canceling the itinerary during the IAH weather business.

My organization consulted a legal expert who informed us we were probably only legally entitled to the value of the unused portion of the original ticket.
Knowing that, I called CO at the number provided me in the explanation email about the cancellation and asked for a check in that amount. Agent informed me it would not be possible to issue a check. I reminded him that any company can issue a check to anyone, that what he meant was "we don't NORMALLY issue checks." He offered CO travel vouchers. I said he had two choices as far as I was concerned: either issue travel vouchers in the amount of BOTH the unused portion of the original ticket AND the total amount that we paid out of pocket for the replacement ticket, OR, let a court see how "impossible" issuing a check for the unused portion really was. He chose the former option, thankfully, and followed through. Very big travel voucher.

cheltenhamflyer

See my post at 1047---we too had no customer appreciation email following a 24 hour delay enroute to Hawaii from UK and in response to an enquiry sent to 1K voice were given (no Choice) 15K miles and no answer to the enquiry made. So the answer to your question appears to be yes.

genemk2

Just got a surprising customer service appreciation email for a flight between SFO and HKG. We were only delayed by 30 minutes on departure, and maybe by 20 minutes upon arrival.

Was offered 10k miles, $250 e-cert, or 10% off.

Chose the $250. Very happy and grateful.