late arrival policy?
 

Hey guys, I'm a new user who is looking for help regarding a problem I had with United this weekend. I couldn't find a specific answer by searching the forums.

My party and I arrived at the United check-in desks at Munich airport about 50 minutes before our flight to Washington Dulles because we got lost and delayed on the S1 line to the airport (some locals told us to take a train to Laim station where we had to get out and wait for the S1 for half an hour because of construction or something. when the train came, we sat on it and it didn't move for another 20 minutes). When we got to the United check-in area, we were questioned about our bags and we replied that we were running late for our flight, but this only made the woman waste more of our time. By the time we got to an check-in agent it was about 45 minutes before the flight. The agent told us the flight "closed for security" a minute ago and that we would now have to contact united ticketing for new tickets.

After talking to the manager, he offered to make an exception and put us on standby for the flight to Chicago for 200 Euro per person. (They rudely said that it "would make us learn"). We continued to plead with them, and after they consulted with another agent, they offered us standby to Chicago for $189 USD per person, which we had no choice but to accept. Once we were charged, we were given boarding passes and did not actually have to do standby.

About a year ago, I barely missed a LAX-SFO flight due to horrible traffic, and I was accommodated for no additional charge on standby. The check-in agent said this was standard United policy.

Can someone tell me if it was the normal policy for my group to be charged $189 per person for standby for just missing the cut-off? it sounds like such a random number. Does United offer free standby for missed flights or has it ever? I tried calling customer service but they said free standby does not apply for most fares.

Thanks for reading this! I didn't know where else to find help

I would have thought the flat tire rule would allow you to go on standby for no cost as long as you arrive anytime within 2 hours after the departure. Now if you wanted a confirmed seat instead of getting in line on a wait list, I can see where they would charge.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

I hope you got a receipt for that $189. Hope that agent didn't pocket the fee.

This is not right. The agents should have been reasonable and accomodated you on your regularly scheduled flight rather than trying to delay you from being able to check in your bags.. If you encounter such a situation again, you must be firm and insistent that there is the flat tire rule and reasonable expectations that the ailrine is to be accomodating. I would also call United customer relations and politely explain the situation and request a refund.

Missed Trip Policy Should Apply
 

United has an official policy or procedure (also called a profile, referring to UA computer jargon) called the
Missed Trip Policy
if you do a search in the UA forum, you will be able to find the internal UA text for this policy.

Essentially it makes the flat tire rule official, and states that you should be accommodated on a new flight via standby if you miss your original flight and arrive at the airport with in 2 hours. The policy makes it clear that sometimes this standby might be on a flight the following day, and indicates that all change fees, additional collection, etc. should be waived.

In practice, if flights are not full or overbooked, often airport agents will just confirm pax on alternatte flights bypassing standby. You should be aware that this is solely an airport customer service function and will not be performed by telephone reservations agents short of a major disaster or storm where UA for instance implements a weather waiver.

It sounds like you got scr**d in MUC :(. You should have just told the agents and any supervisers that you didn't have any money or available credit on your credit card, and that if they did not accommodate you essentially you would be homeless in Germany. They probably took advantage of you and got you to pay these fees since you were out of your country and element.

For international missed flights, you want to point them to: "S*FAR/RULE 80-MORE 2"

UA Status?
 

Another consideration is that, from your profile, it looks like you may not have any UA status e.g. Premier, Premier Executive, 1K, etc?

Not all the time, but often enough, they treat pax with frequent flyer status better and give them more breaks than someone without status. This is true across all the airlines. So if you can get status with UA or whatever airline you mainly fly that might help you.

--------------------
I'm not disagreeing with the frustration here but do you really think saying you don't have any money is going to make an airline just give you a seat (even under these circumstances)??. C'mon, Nobody travels internationally without money or a credit card.

LOL with yet another dip in the dollar you could almost plead that case all summer long.

hey again. thanks for all of your responses!

I do have the receipt and it lists the 189.00 charges simply as "service charge base fee." It was sold to us as the "standby fee." We didn't have any bags to check, we were just slowed down at the entrance to the line by being asked "are you carrying anything for anyone else?, have your bags been in your possession at all times?, etc." of each passenger.

I searched the forums and found this:

S*FAR/RULE 80-MORE 2
----- MISSED TRIP PROVISION -----

IF A PASSENGER HOLDING CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS AND
TICKETS MISSES THE FLIGHT AND PRESENTS HIMSELF/HERSELF
AT THE UA DEPARTURE AIRPORT TICKET COUNTER AFTER THE
CLOSE OUT OF THE SCHEDULED FLIGHT AND NO LATER THAN 2
HOURS AFTER THE SCHEDULED DEPARTURE TIME..THE PASSENGER
WILL BE ACCOMMODATED ON A STANDBY BASIS ON THE NEXT
AVAILABLE UA FILGHT (POSSIBLY THE NEXT DAY) AND THE
SERVICE CHARGE/CHANGE FEE WILL BE WAIVED.

I asked about this on the customer service line (which sounds like it's in India) but they seem to think this rule doesn't exist. Do I have no hope of getting any money or compensation? Or should I just be happy they didn't stick me with the threatened 200 Euro charge instead?

If you didn't get a response you liked, call again. You can often get a more sympathetic agent on the second or third go-around.

and/or dispute the charge, file a DOT complaint, or sue them. Your levels of recourse are hardly exhausted on this one.

I would try send a letter or email united customer service rather than phoning.

United Airlines
Customer Relations
P.O. Box 66100
Chicago, IL 60666

I also like the idea of sending emails with all the facts instead of calling a confused CSR in the ICC (Indian Call Center.)