ASEFlyer

I once booked an itin using a certain tactic heavily discussed in another forum that may or may not involve circumventing certain surcharges and was awarded miles for a segment I missed. The miles were from a carrier other than the one who issued the ticket and I did not OLCI for the flight, let alone ever make it to the city I was purported to have flown from.

I find this a little disconcerting. Say, God forbid, there had been an accident. Would my name have been on the manifest? Something triggered the mileage credit and I always thought that it had to do with swiping the boarding pass (and, therefore, being added to the manifest).

smn

Quick question (may be better for CO, but it relates to my UA MP account):

With the merger, it looks like CO still has it's own COC. If I skip the last segment on a CO flight with my UA # could they audit my UA account? It looks like based on their COC that the worse that could happen is they come after me for the fare difference or take "Other legal action". Their COC only says things about CO's OnePass account.

Any insights? Thanks.

mahasamatman

Anything's possible when you knowingly break the rules (and document it on a public web site).

al613

Subscribe to Easyupdate. If your flight, that you are going to miss, is seriously delayed or canceled you can claim the miles for it.

majortom

You cannot be seriously suggesting that a single passenger and the legacy carriers have equal power?

If I show up late, United can cancel my whole itinerary and keep the entire value of my ticket (they may choose not to do so, but it is in the rules). If United delays my flight by 23 hours they pay nothing.

I cannot give my ticket to someone else (like I can do with a concert, play or movie). If United overbooks a flight a flight for which I bought a ticket and I do not show up, yet the flight still flies full, United has sold the seat twice and I receive no benefit (again, most theatres will allow me to return tickets and if they are sold I pay no penalty).

I could continue, but I have made my point.

There is no balance at all in this equation.

emcampbe

You make a decent point with the oversold part, but are pretty much exaggerating everywhere else here.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and not interpret "If UA delays my flight" to mean they intentionally do it. If the flight is delayed and it is UA's fault (i.e. MX), they will give you compensation - for a delay that long, they will put you up in a hotel, provide food vouchers, etc. If it has nothing to do with them (weather, ATC, etc.), then they shouldn't really be compensating you. Sorry, stuff happens, and there isn't always someone who should take the blame. When there's a thunderstorm or blizzard, I suppose you can blame the mighty one, but anyone else, sorry. Passengers who show up late usually have no one else to blame but themselves. In the more extreme circumstances (i.e. death in the family), reports here seem to indicate that UA is usually pretty good in allowing changes, etc. without cost.

Most movie theaters will allow you to return tickets, as you indicate. But please do share which concert or play you had tickets to that has allowed you a refund. I haven't seen this.

al613

Very, very good point. If I miss my flight by 1 minute and it's the last flight of the day United can keep all the money. If the reason is weather (bad driving, not flying conditions) or traffic, which is not my fault, they still keep the money. If their plane delays by 1 minute for any reason do I get anything?

fastair

Yes, you as the consumer have the final say as to if you agree to the rules and ultimately agree to them and purchase a ticket under them. An airline will sell to just about anyone, the ability to discriminate belongs to the consumer. That is the ultimate power, so the consumer has more power (unless they are one of the tiny % of people who are banned, at which point the decision to buy is not theirs.)

I have the ability to buy many computers. Apple/Dell/HP...they all set the specs on their laptops, are mostly unchangeable buy me. I have the choice of either accepting their pre-dfined and published rules and specs, or not, as they cannot force me to buy, and hens, I as the consumer have the final say and the ultimate power. Once one agrees to the terms of the seller, those rules mostly favor the vender, but they have already been agreed upon by the joint parties when the consumer purchased the product.

Colin

There is ample rationale that airlines' contracts with customers do not morally bind the customer. If you're looking for someone to excuse hidden city ticketing because United has a plethora of rules & practices that are one-sided to the disadvantage of the customer, then you are hereby granted moral absolution.

BangkokTraveler

The CoC specifically states that you have the right to a refund of your ticket.

If I purchase a ticket, the rules are clear to me. I can choose to accept them, game the system a little bit (on something I don't like), or don't buy the ticket.

hindukid

I would agree for the most part but there is a difference. Computers are a completely free market with no government imposed barrier to entry.

Airlines is a limited market that depends upon government granted use of public property (airspace and airports). Not just anybody can fly between two cities.

Because of this the number of flight options is limited. Whence I would not describe it as a completely free market. I would also say that since the consumers choices are limited because we don't have unlimited public space they did not have complete power in their decision making process.

It would be similar to the government artificially limiting gasoline to two providers and then letting them charge whatever they want and place whatever restrictions they want on the gasoline. gas is a necessity and our subsequent decision to purchase at artificially inflated prices is not of free will.

Overall point is that when supply is artificially limited the decision to purchase is no longer of completely free will. completely free will is dependant upon having choices which have not been restricted by gov't intervention.

fastair

Hindukid,
While there are some govt restrictions, since the airline deregulation act of (I think 1974, but my date may be off,) these are mostly gone. Any us owned company that complies with the rules can fly between say DSM and MSN. There are a few slot controlled markets, but they are an exception, not the norm. The barrier is mostly financial. Look at ORD, one of the most congested airport out there. I believe Virgin America was given some gate space by the city, and bought other space on the open market from DL. Given enough cash, airlines sell their slots and gates. UA sold many of it's LHR slots over the past decade, and bought their Asia routes on the open market from Pan Am.

gardener

No nor have I called the police to report my marijuana stolen.

fastair

Lol! One of my ex-coworkers did. Well, sort of, she left her purse with her "bag" on an employee bus, then when she went to retrieve her lost purse at lost and found, she fond there was more than her purse waiting for her.

al613

Is she still your co-worker? Now I know why some GAs @ ORD are going by the book