Imagine you got to the airport in-time to check a bag ... (and that your checked bag was tagged onto your flight as planned)
But that due to Easychicken acting up and general mayhem at the counter you weren't able to checkin before your flight's departure ...
(The curbside checkin people declined checking you in because they weren't allowed to pull e-certs for your upgrade)

Who would you blame for the fiasco ? UA ? passenger ? both ?

would you expect to be charged a 100$ change fee to get on the next flight if you are told "you missed your flight" ?

Apparently the bag made it on your original flight , but not you ... isnt this a security violation of baggages rules ?

From my perspective : if UA accepted your bag on your flight then they should have been able to check you in for that flight .... (if you had been delayed through security, after checking in, then it would have been your problem, not UAs)

What airport did this happen? How long did you arrive before flight time? What day of week?


Only if I HAD to be on the next flight... otherwise standby for free.

Arrived at the curb bag checkin 40min before departure .
This happened at DFW yesterday early morning .

I agree about your point on the 100$ fee ONLY if you truly "missed your flight" ... I don't believe that UA not being able to check you in in a timely manner qualifies...

I disagree with your perspective - chances are you cut it too close, so the passenger certainly has part of the blame but if EZ Check In wasn't working, then UA has a share. Also, if it really was close on time, I would've foregone the upgrade and taking a bp just to get through security and dealt with it at the gate.

You're a 1K so get free confirmed on next flight w/i 4 hours - not sure why the change fee, that would depend on how long till the next flight and how full it was, etc. What was the routing and how much time between flights?

Baggage rules are joke ... nothing more to say on that one.

As a 1K - may I ask why you just didn't do OLCI? Even if you can't print it out at least you're checked in so the upgrade is taken care of, etc in advance.

From UAL's web site:

To facilitate an on-time departure, we recommend that you allow ample time for check-in. When traveling around holidays or other peak travel times, allow additional time.
For travel within the U.S., we recommend arriving 60 minutes before your flight if you are not checking bags and 90 minutes before your flight if you are checking bags. View the requirements for checking baggage at Domestic airports.


Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW)
Ticket counter hours of operation: 4:45am-7:30pm
Customers with checked baggage should arrive 90 minutes before flight departure (2 hours if traveling internationally)

IMO, 40 min was too close, so I am going to lay this one you.

Regarding the 100.00 change... NO MATTER WHAT you can standby for FREE. Getting on the plane is a different story (if the flight is sold out).

FWIW, I had a UX station try pulling the 100 change on me before (they actually closed thier counter an hour before a flight). They told me free standby couldn't be done, and there is NO WAY they would do it. So I walken over to Mr. Chicken and did it myself.

Did you pay the 100.00? If so, write CS... you probably will get equivlant value in TCV.

Thanks for all your comments ...

Definitely agree that it was cutting it short ... well under the guideline of 90min .
However as a frequent traveller this was an educated risk : early AM, weekday, Dallas, United terminal -> no security line (and actually there was none) , no long walk in the terminal , many Easychicken machines with no lines whatsoever ....

I would note that the 90min with bags to check-in standard recommendation was not even the problem here because the bag got in ....

What I find puzzling is that they would accept a bag without checking you in ... and that they could not print the BP in coach if they weren't allowed to pull the upgrades ... or at the very least give you a DM card to go through security and sort it out at the gate .... When the curb side folks said they could not do it I did not push it further as I expected that the Easycheckin machine would be able to sort it out (with the built in phone help if needed) it's really only when that failed and that I had to deal with the huge (absolutely unusual) line that looked pretty much unmanaged (first/ elite mixed in with economy .... ) that the real problem started ...

I agree that I should have done OLCI ...

Regarding the 100$ fee I intend to discuss this with customer relation ...
(choose not to argue the point when I finally reached the counter)

There is no bag matching for domestic flights.

actually if the $100 is a stand alone charge - i'd shoot the note now to customer service and then contest it (and explain why) with the credit card company. It'll likely get addressed that way unless you are happy with the voucher exchange for cash.

I thought there was : when you try to catch an earlier flight/different routing when there is a flight delay they always say you can't do it if you have checked bags ...

That's not a security issue - it's an airline policy because they don't like dealing with missing bag issues.