miamihoosier

I booked travel for my wife and three young children in April 2011 for ORD-RSW-ORD on March 23rd 2012 using Mileage Plus miles. I have a confirmed reservation. I've been trying to pull the reservation up online, however it says the number is not valid. I have called reservations five times and they always say the reservation is confirmed and fine, just a problem with the computer system in displaying the reservation. It will be fixed shortly. Right...

I finally found out UAL downsized the aircraft from ORD-RSW from an Airbus to an RJ. My reservations was "cancelled" and showed me leaving on December 30th 2011. My return flight is fine. I called and they finally put me on March 25th, two days after my Disney reservations! After several more calls, they moved me to March 21st. My kids can not leave school two days early. They tried to send me tour coupons for $50 off a UAL full fare ticket in the future??? Unacceptable.

I have written two letters to them with no response. I ask them to put me back on my original flight or any flight on March 23rd from ORD-RSW on any airline. I also noted that flying on AirTran from IND-RSW would be acceptable.

I am certainly prepared to take this to small claims court. I guess I would file in Indianapolis which is a UAL base and close to my home. I have read the contract of carriage, but need any advice from anyone who has found themselves in this situation. Does anyone know exactly what UAL is required to pay me when they can not get me to my destination within two days of my scheduled time? I have been to small claims court for rental property matters, but not flights! Any advice in presenting an airline matter in small claims court would be appreciated. Thanks so much for any help!

FriendlySkies

Welcome to FlyerTalk ^

I see two non-stop flights, ORD-RSW, on 3/23. One is operated by CO, and the other is operated by United Express. Sounds like your UA mainline flight may have switched to the CO 737.

If I were you, I would call United and ask to be put onto the non-stop CO flight. If that fails, ask to be re-routed through CLE on CO or CLT (mix of UA/US or 100% US).

TWAB747nomore

It could be they rebooked your onto another routing.

Do you have the record locator for your reservation or the confirmation email from when you booked it?

did you check the miles in your account to see the number of miles there?

If there are no seats available on that flight on day yuo want to travel not a whole lot you can do. However, there should be seats open.


It would go a long way if you have something with the orginal routing and ITN so to add credence that UA needs to get you on the flights want.

Last, remember you always attract more bees with honey.

Be nice to United people they will be more likely to go out of they way to help


Best of Luck i know this has to be frustrating and welcome to flyer talk

aisleorwindow

First of all, you have 3 months to figure this out, so let's hold off on the lawsuit threats. You seem pretty angry - you're going to need to be patient on the phone or you will get nowhere.

Don't bother e-mailing - phone calls only.

You mentioned Disney. Are you going to Disney World, or is this a Disney Cruise?

If the former, try getting them to reroute you to MCO.

Other options would be SRQ which is about a 2 hour drive from RSW, or to a lesser extent TPA.

Since this is an award ticket, you are not going to be able to get on a non-Star Alliance airline like AirTran, so just forget about it.

You would be best served to find award availability online first and then calling in. Keep calling back until you get an agent that will work with you.

Just did a search for you and on 3/23/12 there are plenty of options with 5 seats available for ORD-CLE-RSW, ORD-IAH-RSW, or ORD-EWR-RSW.

IND-CLE-RSW and IND-EWR-RSW are also available.

I know that's not as good as a nonstop flight, but it beats walking.

cordelli

Welcome to Flyertalk.

What would you sue them for? They will let you cancel and get your miles back because of the change, so you have no loss, and you can just book another flight.

Schedules change, it happens all the time. They aren't going to put the flight back for you, and they most likely won't move four people flying on award tickets to another airline, so you need to work with them for something that works for everybody.

cbechdel

I fly CLE-RSW often, and typically book these flights well in advance (holiday visist with family etc...).

I've seen aircraft changes multiple times on the route, 737 to ERJ back to 737 etc. Similar changes happen on flights into Miami and Palm beach too....

Given your flights in the winter, I'd almost suspect they will end up with a large plane closer in with vacationers....but no guarantees.

But since you've been canceled, you have no choice but finsd alternatives now, and keep watching fior tyour prefered flight to go back to a large plane and swap back over if it happens.

SFOFastAir

I you are close an airport ticketing location you might try to work it out there. A face to face interaction can often work better than on the phone. Be sure to bring paper work that shows your original confirmation and have a list of acceptable routings to provide the ticket agent. Also plan your airport trip so that most flights at that airport have departed and the agent has time to work with you. (Doesn't apply at a large station or hub.)

Gently suggest that they book in other the XY (saver award) since it was UA's change that caused you to loose the confirmed award booking. You may have to make this suggestion to a supervisor.

Good luck.

miamihoosier

Thanks for the Continental information. I did actually call and ask to be put on the CO flight. They since I used miles associated with the UA Mileage Plus program, they could not be transferred to CO! That's what they said...

I thank everyone for their suggestions. I still wonder how an airline can sell me (ok, with Mileage Plus points) four seats with a confirmation and then just cancel my confirmed reservation without putting me on another flight that arrives within a few hours of my original, expecially since they make the equipment change??? As I look at it, this is just like a denied boarding, just three months in advance. Am I wrong?

mduell

It's not a denied boarding, don't confuse the issue.

Call back and get them to put you on the CO flight.

fastair

The same way I order things online, get a confirmation and email that says item is in stock, and then am sent a cncl by the online retailer a few days later saying that they are out of stock and will no longer carry the item, then they refund the purchace price. It stinks, I know, but unless a sales contract is written with a penalty for the seller not being able to provide the product/service, the remedy is a refund.

I've been on your end on retail items before, so I know the frustration, but legally, there is very little action that can be taken on your part. As for the other suggestions, of calling back and trying to work for a solution, I think that is the best option. It often works with retailers on hard products too, they may work with me to substitute a similar item for the same price in the interest of keeping the sale and good relations.

miamihoosier

Ok, I think this is becoming clearer. Thanks for all your input.

I certainly feel like I've been "denied boarding", however I guess this is not a denied boarding issue. This is a cancellation. Ok.

Why was I cancelled. Just found out exactly. United changed the flight to a Continental flight. Same time, but on a Continental 737. Fewer seats. I'm bumped off, even with a confirmed reservation. I was just at ORD today and talked to a great CSR rep at the Customer Service counter. There is a huge note that Continental will not accept Mileage Plus tickets from United. The rep's supervisor who came over to help couldn't believe it and called her supervisor. No dice. They said this is just another example of the terrible, terrible merger (actually Continental taking over United) problems that are occurring. They said they see this on a daily basis.

I just can't believe that somewhere in the Contract of Carriage there is not something which requires the airline to compensate me when they make a specific change which results in the loss of a paid for, confirmed ticket??

Fastair, your example of the retail item is a great example. I certainly understand that. I really think the root of the problem is that airline executives are paid so much upfront, that their interest in the true performance (from a customer service viewpoint) of their airline is not even on their radar.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions. I haven't given up yet...

FriendlySkies

Did you ask about the afternoon UX nonstop?

miamihoosier

Yes I did. It is oversold, as are all flights to Orlando and Tampa. I know there are seats on those flights at some price. They simply will not make them available to me with my Mileage Plus miles. How is it that airlines have so much business that they can treat passengers like this and their flights are still full? I guess when most of the flying has been farmed out to RJ's, the capacity is much lower.

jmastron

That stinks -- with the merger, UA and CO are swapping some flights around solely for better fleet utilization, i.e. their convenience, even when it causes problems like this (and many other issues people have with these "frankenflights"). A flight at your originally booked time exists, and even has plenty of seats available for purchase (at least according to united.com). This isn't a case of you wanting to make a new booking, or change to another flight on the "wrong" carrier -- UACO should absolutely accommodate you by overriding whatever they need to get you on a flight comparable to your original booking. This is certainly worth a written communication to a higher level.

miamihoosier

Just checked again on the UX nonstop. 5 first class seats available at $1,673 per seat on the EMB 170.