Protected and then Unprotected?
 

I was scheduled to fly PIT-ORD this morning on UA1154. I was up at 0400, and saw the Easy Update text telling me that it was canceled. Also had a call from the 1K desk telling me the same thing, adding that it went MX.

I called up the 1K line at 0405 to make sure I was protected, and was told that I was on a flight at 1018 through IAD getting me to ALB after 1430. No problem, went back to bed for a few hours then headed to the airport.

I go to check in, and the agent tells me "Oh no, you were protected on the 0615 flight, and the 1018 flight is full." I was totally shocked, as I had already selected seats for the 1018 flight, but my record showed nothing but the early morning flight. Of course, there are no other options to ALB today on UA, and anything on other carriers would have wasted an entire work day; now I'm back at home and scheduled to leave on the 0615 flight via IAD tomorrow.

I just got off the phone with the 1K line and the story I was told was basically, I was protected on the 1018 flight, and then unprotected because "there is no crew for the flight to IAD." I was really skeptical, but the agent seemed very unwilling to offer up any other explanation, other than to tell me that I'm in the best possible position because of delays at IAD and ORD. I just checked, and 7783 (the 1018 to IAD) is still showing an on-time departure.

I really don't know what to think, as this kind of thing have never happened to me. Should I be upset with being unprotected with no real options for later today?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Just a guess, but in this case it sounds to me like you several people were working on the reservations of the cancelled flight. Maybe the computer auto-protected you on a later flight while some human was physically going through the records of passengers trying to apply logic to the new flights (which oftentimes the computer doesn't), and in your case didn't realize you were banking on that later flight.

Sounds feasible, but it'd have to be multiple people and maybe the computer because I definitely spoke to a human to confirm the 1018 flight, seats and all.

It doesn't appear as though 7783 has departed - this flight may have xld already...

And that's the reason I was given, and if that's the case, then that's fine. I guess another question would be if I was taken off of 7783, why did the cycle of protection stop?

EDIT: Just checked, and 7783 departed with ~30 minute delay. Now I'm really skeptical about the information I was given.

Yes, UX is not very good at keeping flight status updated. :td: But what else is new. :p We will see later today if 7783 will actually operate.@:-)

It's in-flight now.

Protection can be done one of two ways...

(1) "EasyRebook," which puts you on the next available flight (re: has Y inventory) -- note that EasyRebook has its limitations (if the next available seat to LHR is two days later, it won't rebook you; nor can it handle complex itineraries) and has been known to rebook passengers SAN-SFO-NRT to SAN-ORD-NRT.

(2) manually, which is when an agent "sells" your new flights & calls in for your ticket to be exchanged. If you were unprotected, that means an agent likely removed you from the flights (why, I don't know) -- unless EasyRebook put you on the 6AM, the agent on the 10AM and AutoRobot killed the later flights for duplicate bookings -- not likely to happen within 24 hours.

I was told I couldn't be protected today. The new robot at United would cancel double bookings/\:confused:
Anyone?

Hang up and try again? That would certainly be a big change if UA won't allow protection anymore.

As for the OP of this thread, I would point out that what you were looking for is not "protection" as I understand it. When an airline "protects" a passenger it means they are booking them on an additional flight in case something happens to their original flight. Since the OP's flight was already cancelled, they were not looking for protection, but for rebooking.

Believe it or not, UA actually has a team of people dedicated to rebooking 1Ks during irreg ops like this. I met one of such employees on a flight from SNA-ORD. He told me the office was based in ORD and that he would make alternate arrangements for 1Ks and sometimes call them. @:-) Also, according to him, "UA treats you 1Ks like God" :D

Sometimes we're unable to protect a passenger until the next day (or several days). I recently took a call in which I wasn't able to protect an international-bound passenger for three days (and I called a half-dozen airlines -- none had seats!)

AutoRobot's been here for awhile... he cancels, among other things, duplicate bookings -- but generally not until 24-hours after the space has been reserved.

Actually I believe the rebooking IS the protection. When we protect a passenger, we're suppose to delete the original reserved space (that hasn't been canceled) so that it returns to inventory. Allowing passengers to hold space on multiple (non-connecting) flights is frowned upon, even for 1K/GS (although common, yes).

I called back and was told that the following happened when I called to get rebooked this morning:

-I was added to flight 7783 (1018)
-I was removed from 7783
-I was added to flight 7305 (0615)
-All of this happened in the same transaction

Direct quote from the agent, "Clearly whoever worked this reservation did not know what they were doing."

Of course hindsight is 20/20... but since you were already at the airport, I would have stuck around and tried standby (you would have been right at the top as a dis-serviced 1K) for the remaining flights.

I would have also tried to have them push me to another carrier.