Consolidated Thread to Post Your UA Website Experiences/Complaints
Mar 12, 2013, 12:51 pm
#3871
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 67,136
I was in the middle of a search and .bomb switched to yen. I can't figure out why; I hadn't timed out, used the browser "back" button or anything like that. All I had done was clicked "Start New Search" and changed one of the airports.
Mar 12, 2013, 1:39 pm
#3872
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: where lions are led by donkeys...
Programs: Lifetime Gold, Global Entry, Hertz PC, and my wallet
Posts: 20,342
I have had that happen to me in the past. I thought we had a thread on that somewhere.
Mar 13, 2013, 9:40 am
#3873
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
Don't know if this system flaw has been reported but I ran into a very unique situation the other night.
I was trying to book an award flight from Sochi (AER) to LAX for Feb 2014 (return from the Olympics). When I input flights using the multiple destination page, it would show availability AER-IST-FRA-LAX. With the FRA-LAX flights on US Airways (stop / change of plane in PHL). However, it turned out that the PHL-LAX segment was actually phantom availability. Other routes also showed phantom availability. Could get all the way through inputting passenger name. I even called customer service and they said the PHL-LAX flight, in their system showed as cancelled. After trying various routes and combinations, was able to get the flights booked from IST-LHR-YUL-LAX. One leg was in coach so the system, as has been reported, did not price out the award correctly so I had to call and have the agent talk to the rate desk to get that straightened out (she did not want to call because she KNEW the system priced the flights right - but finally did and the rate desk got it corrected).
However, what was surprising was that when I went into my itineraries, it had about 8 or 10 different sets of flights on hold! It turned out that when I was trying to book a set of flights and the phantom availability showed up, it put the available flights on hold. So I wound up with about 4 or 5 IST-FRA reservations (2 people each) and about 3 or 4 IST-MUC flights on hold. As well as one FRA-PHL, one FRA-CLT and one AER-FRA flight. Some of the reservations were for C and some for coach.
Amazed that the web page would put all of these flights on hold for the same flight times (and in many cases the same flights). Also, when it put the tickets on hold, it took the seats out of inventory. That is why, whenever I would look for a new set of flights, the selection seemed worse until there were no available seats from IST to FRA or MUC.
I was trying to book an award flight from Sochi (AER) to LAX for Feb 2014 (return from the Olympics). When I input flights using the multiple destination page, it would show availability AER-IST-FRA-LAX. With the FRA-LAX flights on US Airways (stop / change of plane in PHL). However, it turned out that the PHL-LAX segment was actually phantom availability. Other routes also showed phantom availability. Could get all the way through inputting passenger name. I even called customer service and they said the PHL-LAX flight, in their system showed as cancelled. After trying various routes and combinations, was able to get the flights booked from IST-LHR-YUL-LAX. One leg was in coach so the system, as has been reported, did not price out the award correctly so I had to call and have the agent talk to the rate desk to get that straightened out (she did not want to call because she KNEW the system priced the flights right - but finally did and the rate desk got it corrected).
However, what was surprising was that when I went into my itineraries, it had about 8 or 10 different sets of flights on hold! It turned out that when I was trying to book a set of flights and the phantom availability showed up, it put the available flights on hold. So I wound up with about 4 or 5 IST-FRA reservations (2 people each) and about 3 or 4 IST-MUC flights on hold. As well as one FRA-PHL, one FRA-CLT and one AER-FRA flight. Some of the reservations were for C and some for coach.
Amazed that the web page would put all of these flights on hold for the same flight times (and in many cases the same flights). Also, when it put the tickets on hold, it took the seats out of inventory. That is why, whenever I would look for a new set of flights, the selection seemed worse until there were no available seats from IST to FRA or MUC.
May 8, 2013, 9:49 am
#3874
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
Programs: Hyatt GLOB, Marriott Lifetime PLT, UA 1K 1MM.
Posts: 1,728
is anyone having website issues? doing a normal search seems to take me to the advanced search page, and when i hit submit it just loops to itself.
May 23, 2013, 1:23 am
#3875
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: LAS ORD
Programs: AA Pro (mostly B6) OZ♦ (flying BR/UA), BA Silver Hyatt LT, Wynn Black, Cosmo Plat, Mlife Noir
Posts: 5,992
I just canceled a nonrefundable ticket on the website within 24 hours of booking, and it showed that the full payment will be refunded to the correct CC type but the wrong CC number. I'm ready to dismiss this as just a website glitch, but has this happened to anyone before and should I be worried?
May 23, 2013, 1:20 pm
#3876
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DAY
Programs: UA 1K 1MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Amex MR; Chase UR; Hertz PC; Global Entry
Posts: 10,159
I just canceled a nonrefundable ticket on the website within 24 hours of booking, and it showed that the full payment will be refunded to the correct CC type but the wrong CC number. I'm ready to dismiss this as just a website glitch, but has this happened to anyone before and should I be worried?
In the end, it worked out fine as my CC was not charged (cancelled pretty quickly after booking). But pretty crappy that UA can't fix these types of things. I have to imagine it generates a LOT of unnecessary phone calls.
The new UA loves to waste time...ours and theirs.