I was flying SEA-SFO-LAX which encountered weather delays, and so I went on standby for the SEA-LAX direct, which left at the same time. I was #1 on the list as 1K, and so they had tagged my bag & everything, and loaded it onto the direct flight anticipating that I'd clear.

However, I was working with the UA Express CSR for the standby, when the UA CSR came over from the SEA-SFO desk, and told the UAX CSR that she transferred 4 people going SEA-SFO-SYD to SEA-LAX-SYD, and that she was not to deboard those people. As it happened, I notice that these 4 were general members, and that the SFO-SYD flight departs roughly the same time as SFO-LAX, and so it ended up being me missing my SFO-LAX connection because they got on the plane ahead of me.

I'm pretty pissed off @ the whole situation, especially since the SYD and LAX flights are so close together, that UA CSR must have known I was going to miss my connection, and still put those other 4 ahead of me. Is there some rule or policy that puts int'l connections ahead of 1K domestic connections?


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Umm, I wouldn't be bringing the issue up had I not had an overnight delay. As it stands, EVERYONE involved was going to be stranded overnight, and yes, I spent the night at the lovely Red Roof Inn SFO...

As for the 24hour overnight delay vs. my 10hr overnight delay, is time the only criteria for 'inconvenience'? They were vacationing to SYD. I got 4 hours of sleep, missed my morning client meeting, and am now going to miss my afternoon meeting b/c UA also lost my bag in all of this. So yes... who's really more inconvenienced? Vacationers that could've slept for 10 hours & hung out in SF, or someone thats now going to miss 2 client meetings?


If not, what kind of compensation can I ask for? I'm assuming this would be similar to IDB rules?

Not that I know of, but think about the logistics here. There are many SFO-LAX flights per day; there is only one SFO-SYD and only one LAX-SYD. If they were going to miss SFO-SYD, they would have been stuck overnight; you would have been (and were) stuck for hopefully only an hour or so. There were also 4 of them and only one of you. For that reason, I would imagine they would have taken precedence out of sheer pragmatism, even if not policy.

As much as it would suck, I personally would be OK with losing even a few hours of my time in order to ensure that 4 others didn't have to lose an entire day. I suspect UA made the same call.

You should expect no compensation; this is nothing similar to IDB. You were going standby, something which is by definition not guaranteed. You ended up flying on your originally-ticketed flight, so you technically lost nothing (yes, I know you ended up missing your connection due to weather delays, but had you not gone standby or had standby not been available, that would have been your outcome anyway). You failed to clear standby, but since there was no guarantee of clearance, you didn't lose anything to which you were entitled. Since SEA-SFO was delayed due to weather, UA isn't at fault there, either.

It sucks that you missed your standby and then missed your connection, but this was not an IDB (nor similar), and you should expect no compensation.

Is there some rule that puts 1K domestic people ahead of int'l connections?
You aren't entitled to any compensation since you were on standby and it was a weather related issue.

Since UA loves to throw vouchers to it's 1K and above members, ask for the sun, moon and stars and be happy if you get anything.

It's not even clear to me that there was "improper processing". You were standby for the flight. The 4 passengers could very well have been confirmed on the flight by a CSR. That puts them ahead of you, even if they were GM's.

I also agree with cepheid's point: 96 passenger-hours of delays has to be balanced against a couple passenger-hours, even with status.

So they would have missed their flight to SYD if you'd gotten on the flight. And that is your preference?

I know as 1Ks we expect a lot, but if I were in your shoes, UA's decision would have made sense to me.

As you were on standby, you should expect no compensation. You missed your connection due to the delay on your SEA-SFO flight, there's no guarantee of getting on via standby.

I would agree with you guys had there been other LAX flights, but as it stands, both they and I were in the same spot: our original routings would have caused them to miss SFO-SYD, and me to miss the last SFO-LAX of the night. So we were both trying to get re-routed to avoid being stranded overnight @ SFO.

The one CSR said she couldn't confirm me and I had to wait on standby, while the other CSR confirmed them directly into SEA-LAX. We either both should have been confirmed at the onset, in which case I was first to request the re-route, or all put onto the standby list given that it all of us would've had to stay overnight and were in the same situation.

UA did the right thing. You are not entitled to any compensation. Status is not the only thing that determines standby priority - it goes below disserviced passengers and operational necessities.

Were there no flights on ANY airline from SFO-LAX that nite? If there were, as a 1K I am sure they would have put you on one. Not too many options for getting to SYD.

I know that I personally have volunteered to give up my seat in delays so that others can make international connections. I think UA did the "right" thing.

You were on STANDBY.

+1 for united doing the right thing.....I understand why you would have been a little irritated not to get the first stand-by, but with the circumstances of passengers flying to syd, this was a no brainer for united. sorry

Yes, but if you miss SFO-LAX, you are delayed until the next morning. If they miss SFO-SYD, they are delayed an entire day. If you missing SFO-LAX was a major issue, you should've called reservations or gone out front to the ticketing desk to see if they could've confirmed you on the SEA-LAX flight due to the weather.

I am sure this was because they had an international connection.

Did you end up getting stranded overnight? They would have been.

Actually, the OP should have booked the SEA-LAX non-stop in the first place.

Unfortunately (and probably very distressing to you) the agent was correct.
International travel--particularly missed connections go on the standby list as
BP5A which trumps any normal standby on the BP5B list. The 5B list is typically the status based list that we all refer to, but in this case United standby boarding priority was adhered to correctly and the GM members were placed on the higher than you on the 5A list.

Also, as a 1K they can do confirmed standby within 3 hours for free. So there was probably no inventory on SEA-LAX, possibly it was blocked due to people potentially missing and international connection. I think there is more to the story that the OP didn't know about. I would not think any comp should happen and things most likely were processes properly.

Since the other passengers were going to SYD, I think a roundtrip to SYD in F is the only acceptable compensation. Call the 1K line and state your case.