United Changed Flight Times...??Refund

Friends had a great flight booked on United in January - arriving in SJU around 2pm. United has changed their flight to now arrive at 10:30pm... they didn't notify them, just happened across it when they logged in.

They changed them to a flight with a 20min "layover" (I'd call this more of a run for your life) in Newark to make the connection for the earlier SJU flight.

Anyone ever have any luck with United actually refunding $$ for flights that *they* have changed/cancelled that don't work with your plans? I think an 8 hr delay in arrival time is totally unacceptable :(

This happens all the time. Your friends had the option of asking for the refund instead of accepting the changed itinerary. Usually anything over 2 or 3 hours, but it varies by airline. The problem now may be that they accepted the latest itinerary (with the 20 min layover) and it is possible they cannot get a refund at this point. They should call the airline and ask however.

They should be able to get a refund or at the very least changed to different flights. That 20 minute connection is illegal.

They can probably get a refund from United. However, will they be able to buy flights at the same or better cost? Are there better flights available?

Airlines change schedules all the time; it's not just UA.

It doesn't matter if they accepted this new time. As stated, a 20 minute connection is not a "legal" minimum connection time. They need to either ask for a refund and start over with another airline, or find flights that will work for them, call UA, and asked to be changed to those.

They can't keep what they have; it's impossible to make a 20 connection.

It really doesn't matter what anyone says here. They are only speculating.

If they can't find another flight on UA then they need to ask for a refund, but no one can guarantee if a refund will happen.

Keith

It really doesn't matter what anyone says here. They are only speculating.

 

If they can't find another flight on UA then they need to ask for a refund, but no one can guarantee if a refund will happen.

 

Keith

It's not speculation. MCT at EWR, domestic to domestic, is 30 minutes. For domestic to international it's 40 minutes. For this reason alone, if this passenger wants to cancel their ticket and receive a full refund, they will get it.

We have experienced unacceptable flight changes and United did give a full refund. I don't recollect how long it took to get it --DH thinks it was a few days.

Happened to us for this December flying to Miami - we had booked through Expedia who were quick to work with United to provide us with an alternative. Not an ideal solution because we are now connecting through another airport to the one we preferred.

That said, no way were we settling for a 20min. connection but if we had settled for a refund, we would have had to pay almost another $100 for the same trip on other airlines. So, be careful before you ask for a refund - might be better just to push United to change your flights as airfares may have become more expensive for the route you need since you first booked.

United has changed our flights no less than 5 times since we booked back in May.:mad:

Before you cancel and rebook, definitely check fares. The CEO of one of the airfare websites was being interviewed this morning....you may have heard WN initiated a fare *hike*, which is rather unprecidented but the "new normal". He also said there have been more across-the-board fare hikes than any previous year.

That said, your EWR connection is illegal and I'm surprised their system allowed them to book it. Your luggage probably won't make the connection even if you do. Once you know what the fare will be if you start over, you can play either the cancel or the change card.

BTW, numerous schedule changes seem to plague airlines who are in the process of merging flight ops. DL/NW went through the same thing but it seems to be settling down. Be sure to consider both UA and CO hubs to connect to SJU.

The 8 hour delay means United should be fairly helpful. The illegal connection means United will definitely be helpful. I would push them to put the passengers on better UA flights versus a flat out refund.

Don't the terms and conditions you agree to when you finalize your purchase say that schedules can be changed? You're writing on behalf of your friends. They haven't yet called United to ask just what their options are?

Don't the terms and conditions you agree to when you finalize your purchase say that schedules can be changed? You're writing on behalf of your friends. They haven't yet called United to ask just what their options are?

That was my point too.

If this was me I wouldn't be asking others for opinions. I would be on the phone with the airline.

One way or the other I am sure it will get resolved but I would be talking with them directly and not relying on others for advice.

Keith

One way or the other I am sure it will get resolved but I would be talking with them directly and not relying on others for advice.

 

Keith

But if people did their own research or made their own phone calls, and didn't rely on total strangers for advice or to make their decisions for them, you would eliminated about three-quarters of the posts on Cruise Critic.

But if people did their own research or made their own phone calls, and didn't rely on total strangers for advice or to make their decisions for them, you would eliminated about three-quarters of the posts on Cruise Critic.

So true such as can I make a 10:00 AM flight out of Miami? :D

Keith

United has changed our flights no less than 5 times since we booked back in May.:mad:

You mean it isn't just Delta that makes schedule changes???

you may have heard WN initiated a fare *hike*,

The things you discover on a Sunday morning.....:D

But if people did their own research or made their own phone calls, and didn't rely on total strangers for advice or to make their decisions for them, you would eliminated about three-quarters of the posts on Cruise Critic.

Only one quibble...is it only 75%??

Although we weren't flying for a cruise, earlier this month United cancelled an outbound flight of ours 7 hours before departure (departed 6:15am, got notified by cell phone at 11:15pm the night before - after we were in bed because we had to get up before 4am). They automatically put us on a flight that connected through EWR (GSO-EWR-PHX). The flight left GSO 8 hours after the originally scheduled flight and got to PHX 12 hours after the originally scheduled flight - 11:30pm (GSO-ORD-PHX). This was unacceptable since after arriving in PHX we still had a 4 hour drive to get where we were going. So immediately I got on the phone. After going around and around and around with United on the phone for an hour and 15 minutes (and getting on the iPad and finding alternative flights on US Airways), a Supervisor protected us on a US Airways routing instead (GSO-CLT-PHX) that left GSO 40 minutes after the originally scheduled flight and arrived in PHX more than an hour earlier than the originally scheduled flight (arrived at 10:30am - yay!). No offer of a refund was ever made, although we would not have taken a refund since we were already at the airport in the Marriott hotel, ready to fly out in 7 hours. Worst case scenario, we would have taken the flight United automatically changed us to if we absolutely had to.

Not to hijack the thread, but is United protecting folks on US Airways a common occurrence? I know they're both in the Star Alliance and when booking, we had always been able to see US Airways options on the United website when trying to use FF miles. Does it depend on the type of ticket we purchased (we were using FF miles - fare code on ticket said X)? Of course United did not offer any US Airways options when I called them. We had to find them on the US Airways website and suggest that to them. I even asked if we could instead originate from either CLT or RDU as opposed to taking the automatic change they gave us - we could have driven to either airport since they were close. But they said nothing was available. Funny how once I suggested the US Airways options we still ended up routing through CLT anyway from GSO.

I just assumed that when something like that happened they would try to put you on the next best option, whether on their own metal or a partner carrier...not something that arrived 12 hours later. I guess there really was no other option on United from GSO - when when we looked on the United website there really wasn't. But it was WE who had to do the legwork and point out much better option on US Airways (like so many here have always said...tell them what you're seeing and see if they can accommodate you).

Did United ultimately have to pay US Airways money to fly us? I thought maybe that was the reason they never suggested a US Airways flight. We had used 37,500 miles each (12,500 for the outbound, 25,000 for the return) so maybe because we had used the fewest miles possible for the outbound they were ultimately not in any hurry to protect us on another carrier.

For the OPs friends' situation, I wonder if seeing if they might be able to travel on US Airways instead would work?

Here is what happened to us this July.

United cancelled the early non-stop flight out of Cleveland, and added on a 9am. and kept the afternoon flight.

United placed us on the afternoon flight without checking with us.

When we were contacted they informed us they just wanted us to have a seat guaranteed.

We were flying out the day ahead of our cruise, but, still we wanted to spend some time at port.

Once contacted United immediately changed us back to the 9am. flight.

No fees were involved.

Safe travels.

Sue and crew

For NC Mtn: US and UA are two separate companies. What you have with revenue tickets is codesharing. US/UA have an agreement to sell seats on flights operated by the other carrier, while still putting their own flight number on the sale. How the cash is split is a trade secret between the two airlines. Inventory availability is a factor of the specific codesharing contract - unfortunately, I don't have full details on the US/US deal but believe that it is mostly free-flow.

In terms of FF tickets....when you are redeeming UA miles on a partner carrier, UA must compensate that partner for your ticket. So it is to their advantage to fly you on their own metal if possible. At one time, UA would engage in blockage of redemptions on partners; this was the infamous "Starnet Blocking" if you want to look up the story.

However, it's not just UA being cheap. The other factor is simply automation. When a flight is cancelled, computer systems look for the options that work to get pax from A to B. Whether it is the "best" option isn't always the priority. Moving bodies is. A human may never have even seen the change made to your record. Which is why you always want to know what your options are, even the night before your trip.

My wager -- the UA computers found UA seats available and moved you to them. Once it found that, it didn't look for "better". Remember, they had to find alternatives for ALL the pax on your original flight.

Finally, about the refund offer. I would guess they didn't bother because most everyone at 7 hours out til flight time would just be concerned about getting the heck out of GSO. At that point, buying a new ticket would be at full walk-up rates and who would choose that??

I got a refund, with a wait of nearly 2 months, after UA downscaled MIA-ORD service so my flight got to ORD 50 minutes after the only connection departed. Only one-changers were +/- 4 hours. UA policy is refund if the change is +/- 1 Hr IIRC. Ticket was through an online agency so not sure if that was part of the delay (had to call several times).

United placed us on the afternoon flight without checking with us.

When we were contacted they informed us they just wanted us to have a seat guaranteed.

We were flying out the day ahead of our cruise, but, still we wanted to spend some time at port.

UA had a schedule change.

UA rebooked you on a new flight since your first one no longer existed.

You didn't like that option.

You contacted UA and they revised the change to reflect a morning departure.

You could not be changed "back" since your original was non-existent.

You were placed on a flight that you preferred. Fortunately, there was availability.

They called United - were going to reroute through Houston making it arrive at the same later time - the 8 hr delay would now just be spent in assorted airplanes and airports. They asked for a refund and got it... Booked on US Air for $8 less...

Don't have the heart to tell them what US Air's reputation is LOL

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We had a flight changed by Delta 3 times for our flight to Florida next month. The last one, a 4.5 hour layover, with an earlier flight out to begin with. This would take us 8 hours, 11 in total travel time from Ct to Daytona. I looked and noticed a flight leaving earlier and getting into Daytona 6 hours later with a pretty good connection. I called to see how much it would be to change our flight going down. I was told because "they" changed our itinerary, we could change the flight at no extra charge. So I have a higher priced flight, better times, at no cost to me. I was shocked. :) Flying into Daytona, Delta is about the only option for us.

Don't have the heart to tell them what US Air's reputation is LOL

 

Despite the reputation, US Airways is currently much more reliable than UA. They've definitely improved from a few years ago, while Untied is a good description of United currently.