fastair

I work at ORD and am really curious as to who this agent and supe are. FT rules (for good reason) prohibit you from posting them, but as empathetic as they were, while on the clock on company property, wearing a company issued uniform (or it the supes case, a suit,) it is bad to air internal dirty laundry. Bad for the agent, worse from a member of management.

If they have a beef with the merger, they should discuss it behind closed doors, or come on FT and discuss it on their own time as a representatives of themselves!

miamihoosier

Thanks for your comment! I just wish I know where to write so that I felt like someone could actually change something. All employees are so apologetic and continually apologize about their worthless company. It makes their jobs so much harder. They are just powerless to do anything.

The real question is what about my return flight???? In the future, will they also cancel or change that one also so I will not be able to return home on a timely basis??? What is the purpose of a "confirmed" reservation???

fastair

Strange question, and I assume the answer is "yes", but have you been ticketed for this trip?

Mike Jacoubowsky

Everything I'd written in reply (now deleted and replaced by this) has been rendered irrelevant by subsequent comments from the OP, comments that really don't add up. Maybe it's true, but it's difficult to believe that UA & CO employees are handling the merger and their interactions with customers in the wretchedly-poor manner described. In a way there's "too much" detail for credibility. Not saying it couldn't be true, just a bit hard to swallow. And it just doesn't feel right. The company is well on its way to seeing the end of the CO name, so it would seem that any turf wars should have been long past. And if it's not turf wars that would account for the OPs understanding of the issue, then what is it? Why would UA management at this point be doing anything contrary to pretending to run things as one big happy family?

Mike Jacoubowsky

Emphasis added by me. I have issues with that (the section I highlighted) statement. I know a great many UA employees, and observe many more. They may be apologetic about the coffee served, but in general, they do not believe they are working for a "worthless" company. There might be differences of opinion and things they're not happy about, but you do them a dis-service to paraphrase them as working for a "worthless" company because intelligent, caring people wouldn't put up with that. No, not all employees are caring & intelligent. Not at United, not anywhere else. But ORD is adjacent to United's World Headquarters, with a lot of management cruising through, and it's hard for me to believe the company would tolerate that sort of attitude, or that that sort of attitude could be hidden.

CleUnited

Have you thought about cancelling the whole itinerary and remaking it using miles for both the new co 737 and the return? I only ask because i see those all the time where in the linear fare basis on the e-ticket shows "valid co/ua only" instead of just "valid ua only" where yours might be... Especially working here out at CLE. I also see AC thrown into the mix because i work the jazz flights in and out so i know rewards and miles are valid for use on the *A partner flights but they have to be booked that way for it to ticket properly... and just to double check did you call UA res deptartment or MP res to try to switch the tickets?
-Curious
-CLEUA-

aisleorwindow

This makes absolutely no sense. I think you're asking for the wrong thing. Who did you talk to at ORD?
You're not asking CO to accept a MP ticket. You are asking for your UA miles to be used on a CO flight.
There is a big difference between the two.

For goodness sakes, I can go on United.com and book award travel on a CO ticket right now.

gobluetwo

I'd guess it's due to the more restrictive change rules for UA compared to CO. I believe CO lets you change routing and even carriers, but UA has to be same routing/carrier. Although you'd think there'd be some latitude, given that UA and CO are now under a single operating certificate...

aisleorwindow

I understand that's the rule, but in this case they should be able to "break" the rule to assist a displaced customer, no?

Joshua

My advice to miamihoosier is to request a full refund of MP miles, link OP and MP accounts, transfer the miles, and then re-book the family vacation on continental.com with OP miles.

Any reservation made with MP is going to be a gigantic pain next year once the MP reservation system ceases to exist for new bookings, since it is pretty apparent that OP's system will be used going forward. (Plus the OP website is just plain better to use.)

We'll leave out of the discussion that ORD-RSW is a trip FTers would take as a revenue flight and 100k should be spent on a J class TATL award.

Often1

1. Threat of lawsuit - Non-starter. Not only is there no case, but if you read the t&c, you will see that all UA has to do is cancel and refund your payment (miles). Also, as soon as you start threatening, you lose any chance of help.

2. All employees are complaining - They aren't. And, even if they are, what has that got to do with getting your kids to Disney.

3. Call UA back and start with, "I have a problem and I need your help." Don't be accusatory or entitled. Explain the problem regarding flexibility on dates because the kids are in school. Ask what options there are (CO, other airports, etc). If the CO miles problem is raised, ask them to cancel, transfer miles and rebook on CO (also ask them to hold the seats on CO so you don't lose them while all of this takes place).

4. If you don't get anywhere, politely ask to speak with a supervisor and start again with "I need help." Don't bash the line employee. If that doesn't seem helpful, politely hang up, call back and start again.

miamihoosier

I guess the bottom line is Continental will not accept United Mileage Plus miles for travel on Continental. Fact as of 12-13-2011. I simply ask for them to transfer my tickets to the Continental. No way, no how. Some of you who are saying you work for United, go look on reservations and see of you can find a way to get them accepted. I would be very greatful. Many agents have tried, none have succeeded. The reason I don't simply ask for a refund is there are no tickets available at this date for a reasonable price relative to using my Mileage Plus tickets. I bought these ticket almost nine months ago. I truely have been very nice to everyone I have talked to. I have never raised my voice. I have ask a lot of questions. I have gotten nowhere. Certainly frustrating. I only mention small claims court, because I have gotten no where with this problem. I really think United should be somehow financially liable when they caused the problem and have made no effort to correct it. As far as I can tell, if they make me fly two days early, they should be responsible for two days of hotel and food. I had a confirmed reservation and they made the change. They should pay for the difference. How is that unreasonable?

cordelli

As already mentioned

Link your UA and Continental Account

Transfer the miles from your UA to your Continental Account

Book the trip using the miles you just transferred into your Continental Account.

You are seriously making this way more difficult than it needs to be.

Even if you don't do that, you can redeem United Miles for a Star Alliance award for Continental.

SAN 1K

I had a similar experience with flights to/from RSW for next spring. When I had to rework my outbound due to "consolidation" of the merged schedule, the GS agent let me transfer the reservation onto CO.
By the time (a few weeks later) the return got discombobulated for the same reason, the policy must have changed, because there was absolutely no flexibility to move my UAL XY reservation onto CO, despite the fact that the merger was clearly responsible for the changes in schedule. And yes, I called back multiple times (3 I think) with a very humble (sometimes I try naive) approach.

miamihoosier

SAN 1K,

That's exactly what I'm experiencing! As hard as it is for everyone to believe, I can find not a single agent who is able to link or transfer my miles so I can travel on Continental. There is even a note in Apollo, an agent showed it to me, which specifically says that Continental is not accepting any United Mileage Plus mileage tickets at this time. I spent almost two hours talking with several agents in the B consourse under the Dinosaur on Monday night. They all took a shot at fixing my problem. No luck. You all are correct. This is so simple. Put me on the Continental flight and problem solved. It's just not happening. Why am I upset? I purchased four tickets, all seated together, for my family to travel on March 23rd. I want to travel on March 23rd. It's that simple.