Flashyphotos

Hi Guys

I have a UA Trip this weekend, booked about 3 weeks ago in "A" First

Route

LAS-ORD-SJU-IAD-LAS

On checking the system yesterday, I find that the ORD-SJU & SJU-IAD Sectors are no showing as "D" Business rather than "A" First

I called to check and was advied that this was a reallignment of International FLight naming to Business to Bring SJU into line with other International Desinations

I was told it was the same flight, same seats, same service so nothing had changed

I explained it had changed as I would now earn 200% Miles on my FFP rather than 300% that I would have got.

But I am just told "Tough" we have changed the product, all you can do is suck it and fly or cancel and fight with UA (UK Office) and fight with them for a refund, (it was booked with the UK before I left for the US)

Any thoughts on this, is there any chance I will be able to get the 300% Milage, E-Ticket still shows "A" of course but the booking now shows "D"

In my eyes its an involuntry downgrade, UA of course does not see it that way..

starflyer

Go to link: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,8566,3122,00.html

Hover over the balloon next to "Booking class". You'll see text similar to the following: "... The booking class that you purchase determines how many miles you will earn for your flight.".

I'd simply wait to see what appears in your account. If you only get the lower multiplier, I'd simply send an email to customer service asking for the missing miles based on your purchased (not flown) booking class or a refund sufficent to allow you to purchase the missing miles.

Flashyphotos

Cheers

But my FFP is BD or A3 and both of them are quoting Mileage is based on actual class flown rather than booked class,

But as you said, best I wait till the trip posts and take it from there, if it posts at 300% then its a none issue.

Cheers

Richard

Flashyphotos

OK

Points have posted and at the lower rate.

Fuming about this, booked and paid for "A" to get 300%

LAS-ORD Credited at 300% (Still "A")
ORd-SJU Credited at 200% (Changed to "D" on the booking)

So with the return SJU-IAD also being rebadged as "D" Rather than "A" thats a fair chuck of miles lost

UA Customer services are no use, just say they are renaming Leisure services to some international destinations to "Business" rather than first,

But I cant understand how they can sell it as first in "A" then several weeks later shift it to "D" without having any resposibilty or comeback

Still have my original booking prinout that shows "A" on all flights, any attempt to print it again shows the 2 flights in "D", and the Boaring pass still says United First

Any ideas on where best to approach this to try and get some remidy

FFP is Aegean, but all they say is - computer says you flew business talk to UA!

Any Help Appreciated

PTahCha

FWIW, UA typically sell business class fares and class to Central America, not first. You might want to double check your receipt to confirm the actual class/fare basis it was booked into.

Flashyphotos

No it was booked in first -a- ya customer service confirmed the service had been reclassified to business AFTER the tick was booked and paid for. My original itinerary shows -a- last week I got an email advising of the change to -d- business but customer service does not see this as a problem

Boogie711

The vindictive part of me wants to say "This is what you get for trying to game the system and get *G status for $1000."

But that would be mean, and therefore I wouldn't say that. You may have a claim for the difference between an A and a D fare, but that would be it.

jjclancy

Who would you complain to if A3 changed their earning chart for UA (after the ticket was booked and paid for) such that you earned less on this fare?

username

If you have the original receipt (i.e. in an e-mail) that shows A and the boarding pass that shows F, would A3/BD take them as proof that you were in F?

Also, I wonder if there is a fare difference between F/A and J/C/D between the 2 markets. It might be hard to determine since UA/CO does not seem to publish both at any given time (before/after the change).

Also, if the A still showed up LAS-ORD, can it be argued that the A fare between LAS-SJU still exists and the OP had to be booked into D because A inventory was yanked/not available for ORD-SJU?

Does anyone know what the IATA rule is - it seems on the ticketing/fare side, it is sort of a downgrade - you paid for A which included 3x the credit and UA made a change and gave you only 2x the credit without giving you anything back...

Flashyphotos

Just an update on this

After a lot of back and forth between UA & A3 I have just had another email back from UA Customer support to say they have decided that they cannot award the missing 2072 miles for the ORD-SJU or the 1571 miles for the SJU-IAD.

BUT after UA have spoken to A3 about it, that A3 have agreed to credit both myself and my wife with 1700 miles each to push us up to the Gold Qualification limit. So at least we get the A3 Gold in one which is what the trip was planned for,

Very Decent of A3 who seem to have taken the hit on that side of it, and UA have issued a $200 Credit each towards a future flight for the inconvience.

So sorted...

darksidesith

Congrats. A or D tickets are not cheap and I think this came out of your pocket. Glad you made gold and if cost ya just a 1000 bucks KUDO's to You.

chicaloca453

Excuse me but gaming the system? Puh-leeze! It's A3 who sets the rules for gold. If someone can find a creative routing that gets them there in 1 trip and $1k then good for them. It's no different than flying through HNL and GUM to Asia in order to get status faster or flying from ORD-MKE via IAD.

I'm glad it worked out for the OP. IMO UA did a classic bait and switch. Since the merger there's been a lot of that. And UA is making no apologies. I can remember having an award flight where one leg from a UA hub was switched to CO equipment after I booked. I tried to change the award ticket back to UA metal and was told I'd have to pay $150 because I was switching metal. I booked on UA and I was supposed to get free changes on UA. It was UA who did the metal substitution.

All of these stories are leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth about UA. Changing fare codes after the fact, changing equipment without the customer knowing and then expecting a fee for the customer to get something one should have gotten for free under original booking codes, Stuff like this makes me nervous for the airline's future. I'm glad the OP got things worked out (as I eventually did as a "one time exception.") But I'm treading lightly with this new airline because of stories such as this.

P.S. San Juan isn't exactly what I'd consider international. It's a lot less international than Canada since you don't even need a passport to get there. Is the new realigned international product headed there next?

mherdeg

CO actually spells out the subtleties on their lounge access page: "Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are considered international for the purpose of accessing United Clubs, but may not be considered eligible for entry into US Airways Clubs."

Dunno how Guam counts. They used to be explicit about it, iirc.

AlanInDC

I wonder if United has an employee training class on "airline geography" as opposed to "real geography"...

anc-ord772

I have had several UA -> CO equip swaps lately. Even wrote an ill fated thread about it. However, I have to say that UA and CO have been very willing to accommodate me in any number of ways, even if I am not the traveler. This is both award and paid itineraries. YMMV.