United757

Thank you thank you this is the most helpful interesting threads ever!

PCTraveler

Apologize if this has been asked before, but it seems very inconsistent on when refares are credited to your credit card and when they are issued as vouchers. I have had the refare credited back to the credit card when doing so online with no change fee 1 out of 3 times.

When getting the refare over the phone, it has been 100% issued as vouchers and the agents tell me that they aren't able to refund to the credit card without charging a $150 change fee.

RSSRnotinIndia, are you able to provide some clarity on the rules for such refares? Are there ever any circumstances in which you are able to refund the difference to the credit card for a nonrefundable ticket without charging the change fee?

All tickets described above are nonrefundable, I unfortunately don't remember the fare codes. Some are domestic, some international. Why do I call to refare? I call to refare when the online functionality says that it can't be done online.

RSSRNotInIndia

PCTraveler,
It's per the fare rules -- some fares permit a cash refund, with the service fee subtracted, while most don't. Domestically this is rare, internationally it's more common but to certain markets and/or in certain (higher) fare classes only. This is why, IMO, it's ALWAYS important for the agent to verify the fare rules (although this takes some time, and per Beth Higgins-based on YOUR feedback-UA will begin penalizing agents with higher-than-average talk times shortly... so don't be surprised if some generic steps are rushed).

DBCme

Thank you again for your wonderful posts, as others have said, this is one of the better FT threads.

My question: I occasionally will call and ask about flight loads to see if the sold out flight is booked to capacity, oversold, or undersold but maybe carrying extra cargo. How do you feel about these calls (annoyance, enjoy these inquiries, etc) and whats your experience with relaying this info to a passenger?

RSSRNotInIndia

mikensf74,
They're easy calls : ). We just have to be careful in how we deliver the information... e.g. we can't give specific information out, which many passengers want ("I need to know exactly how many seats are open in the back...")

Lurker

Wow! RSSRNotInIndia, Sorry to hear this.

Another disincentive for good RAs to "go the extra mile".

Bad dog United!


Lurker

snic

Exactly. Beth Higgins claims this move is because of "OUR" input - what on earth does that mean? Probably that it takes way too long for non-elites to reach an agent, which of course people will complain about. So the logic, then, is to limit the amount of time the agents have with each caller. Now, that's a great move. Everyone will get an agent sooner, but won't be able to get everything done, and done right, that needs to get done... so people will just call back, further jamming the lines.

qfrodo

Maybe better trained agents, such as RSSRNotInIndia, would be the direction to go. Often read in many other threads that the best method to deal with incompetent agents is to hang up and call again, and again, and again,.... until you reach one that can actually understand and deal with your situation. Waste of their time, and more importantly, yours.

Liz

Hi res agents!! Fox News reported a 25 fee just to talk to a person? Is this true???

bmvaughn

Wow, an FA chatting with an RSSR. Let's get some pilots and GAs in here

The $25 should only be for booking, not just to talk to an agent

UAX_Brasilia

What specific instructions can I give India on how to enter FQTV and FQTS?

Polar Bear

First of all thank you, RSSRNotInIndia , very much for your time and wondeful information.

My questions is that my native tongue is bear language and my English is not very good. How would the phone agent handle people like me, e.g. with accent, cannot speak or understand english, etc. What should I do to make your life much easier? I love to write emails but email cannot solve every problem.

BTW, United do provide telephone number for the agents who speak bear language. But I had a hard time to commuicate with them because the phone agents, who I spoke with, were American Born Bear and they have very strong accent in Bear Language. Ironically, it would be more efficient that I commuicate with them in English.

Thank you for your time,

Polar Bear

garak67

Hi, just a quick question if you have the time. I'm trying to book a flight from Frankfurt to Orlando round trip via the website. I'm a Mileage plus general member. I notice that when I put in as a search option MH, it ups the price by about 300 Euros. Is this normal? I thought co-pays weren't coming until July 2009. 577 Euros with no upgrade versus 871 upgrade eligible. You think I can get a better deal over the phone? Any advice would be most welcome.

GoingAway

Wirelessly posted (goingaway's phone: SAMSUNG-SGH-I607/UCHA1 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 6.12))

it is not an upgrade you are being charged for here, instead it is a fare class class that is upgrade eligible. no guarantee of clearing but you need the more expensive ticket to eve try.

once the co pay is in effect, all fare classes become upgrade eligible with miles and a co pay i believe.

garak67

Thanks for the answer. Yeah, that's what I thought. I just didn't want to believe it. I'm a big guy, 6'8'' and 250 lbs. I appreciate the upgrades, believe me. Just for the leg space. I'm still going to take and shot and call the reservation center. Can't hurt, they can look for flights with upgrades available and they can valid the upgrade manually and immediately. Read the same thing about the co-pays, will probably end up using those too.