Airline policy changes (United made another big one)

[TXTransplant]

I should also add, that domestic is different than international. Some airlines are flying empty to maintain levels of service to get bailout money. International flights are probably really cancelled because the countries won't let people in.

My flight was between Houston and Chicago, so between 2 United hubs, and had a much lower chance of cancellation than is probably typical. So YMMV.

Their website says that policy I pasted in the OP is good for all GLOBAL flights at ALL airports. They did previously distinguish between domestic and international flights, but with this latest update, they've done away with that.

 

[lovetotravel]

I am going to have so many airline credits that I know what to do with, all expiring before I can use them
I won't be cancelling my Dec flight with United then because I have to use it by January. But I am still going to call in case they are willing to give it back to me as the flexible 'ecertificate'

 

[lovetotravel]

Has anyone here successfully cancelled a United flight and got a 2 year ecertificate instead of a credit, please let us know!

 

[Cliffside]

I saw a thing on Twitter a few days ago which prompted me to cancel (I had planned on playing cancellation chicken).

The travel certificate I received is good for 2 years from the date of cancellation.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/booking/flight/travel-credits.html
And I think the 4/30 thing is intended to be generous for anything this year. Instead of only impacting flights through say 5/31.

The link you attached talked about e-certificates not travel credit...just wanted to clarify that you got a travel credit from a cancelled flight that you can use for two years..thx

 

[laceltris3]

Has anyone here successfully cancelled a United flight and got a 2 year ecertificate instead of a credit, please let us know!

I think that if you cancel, you will get the 2 year certificate. That's under just the no change fees part. If you cancel, you don't get hit with the change fee and you receive the travel certificate by email.

I want to clarify that my outcome did not depend on who I talked to. I literally just hit cancel on the website.

 

[lovetotravel]

I think that if you cancel, you will get the 2 year certificate. That's under just the no change fees part. If you cancel, you don't get hit with the change fee and you receive the travel certificate by email.

I want to clarify that my outcome did not depend on who I talked to. I literally just hit cancel on the website.

Wow okay. I am always hesitant hitting a button on the website because especially when I don't know all the rules. Thanks for sharing this experience.

 

[Cliffside]

Wow okay. I am always hesitant hitting a button on the website because especially when I don't know all the rules. Thanks for sharing this experience.

I too would be hesitant about just clicking the button.. I wonder what would happen for me since I booked through the Chase portal with points and cash but the reservation is sitting in my United account just like any other. If I would get two years from now to use the credit I would probably cancel now just so I had something.

 

[Hopingforpixiedust]

I had a flight cancelled by United. I waited until it was cancelled by them. They still would not give me a refund because there was another flight option available to me within a certain number of hours . I spoke with two different people and they insisted I was not eligible for a refund.

 

[TXTransplant]

I had a flight cancelled by United. I waited until it was cancelled by them. They still would not give me a refund because there was another flight option available to me within a certain number of hours . I spoke with two different people and they insisted I was not eligible for a refund.

They very quietly changed that policy in early March, when things first got crazy. The policy used to be you got a refund if there was not another flight within 6 hours. They changed that window to 25 hours. They are being sued over it now.

Here is the link explaining the FOUR changes they made in like two weeks.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united-schedule-change-policy/

 

[TXTransplant]

I think that if you cancel, you will get the 2 year certificate. That's under just the no change fees part. If you cancel, you don't get hit with the change fee and you receive the travel certificate by email.

I want to clarify that my outcome did not depend on who I talked to. I literally just hit cancel on the website.

That is NOT what their policy says. I copied and pasted the policy directly from their website. If you cancel, it's at most a one year window to travel (underlined below), depending on when the original travel was scheduled for.

Now, this is for them to WAIVE the cancellation fee. Maybe the terms are different if you agree to PAY the fee???

Original ticket must be issued on or before:
March 2, 2020
Original travel dates
March 3, 2020 - May 31, 2020
Flight changes:

• New tickets must be reissued on/before December 31, 2020 or 12 months from original ticket date, whichever is earlier
• Rebooked travel must commence within 12 months from the original ticket issue date

Original ticket must be issued on or before:
March 2, 2020
Original travel dates
June 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020
Flight changes:

• Changes or cancellations must be made on/before April 30, 2020
• Rebooked travel must commence within 12 months from the original ticket issue date

 

[laceltris3]

That is NOT what their policy says. I copied and pasted the policy directly from their website. If you cancel, it's at most a one year window to travel (underlined below), depending on when the original travel was scheduled for.

Now, this is for them to WAIVE the cancellation fee. Maybe the terms are different if you agree to PAY the fee???

Original ticket must be issued on or before:
March 2, 2020
Original travel dates
March 3, 2020 - May 31, 2020
Flight changes:

• New tickets must be reissued on/before December 31, 2020 or 12 months from original ticket date, whichever is earlier
• Rebooked travel must commence within 12 months from the original ticket issue date

Original ticket must be issued on or before:
March 2, 2020
Original travel dates
June 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020
Flight changes:

• Changes or cancellations must be made on/before April 30, 2020
• Rebooked travel must commence within 12 months from the original ticket issue date

Ok then. I cannot convince you that it's not a flight change or rebooked travel. It's just a credit from a cancellation.


https://simpleflying.com/united-travel-credit-extension/

 

[TXTransplant]

Ok then. I cannot convince you that it's not a flight change or rebooked travel. It's just a credit from a cancellation.


https://simpleflying.com/united-travel-credit-extension/

I don't mean to argue, but that is NOT what United's website says. What are we supposed to believe?

I'll ask the question again...if anyone reading this HAS cancelled a flight with United and gotten a 2-year voucher, please post here.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html
Oh, goodness! United has conflicting info on their OWN WEBSITE!

https://hub.united.com/united-coronavirus-covid19-safety-update-2645397564.html

• Changes to your travel plans: To help with the uncertainty around future travel — be it summer vacations, conferences, events and more — customers now have until April 30 to make changes to, or cancel, any travel they have booked through the end of the year without fees. This is in addition to existing waivers already in place which allow customers to change or cancel plans for travel through May 31. If you decide to cancel your flight, you can retain the value of your ticket to be applied to a new ticket without a fee. These electronic travel certificates are now valid for 24 months from the date they were issued. This includes all currently valid electronic certificates and all new ones issued on or after April 1, 2020. You might not see this policy change reflected everywhere right away – we appreciate your patience as we work to make that happen. See details

Totally different policy than what's posted here...

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html

 

[laceltris3]

I don't mean to argue, but that is NOT what United's website says. What are we supposed to believe?

I'll ask the question again...if anyone reading this HAS cancelled a flight with United and gotten a 2-year voucher, please post here.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html
Oh, goodness! United has conflicting info on their OWN WEBSITE!

https://hub.united.com/united-coronavirus-covid19-safety-update-2645397564.html

• Changes to your travel plans: To help with the uncertainty around future travel — be it summer vacations, conferences, events and more — customers now have until April 30 to make changes to, or cancel, any travel they have booked through the end of the year without fees. This is in addition to existing waivers already in place which allow customers to change or cancel plans for travel through May 31. If you decide to cancel your flight, you can retain the value of your ticket to be applied to a new ticket without a fee. These electronic travel certificates are now valid for 24 months from the date they were issued. This includes all currently valid electronic certificates and all new ones issued on or after April 1, 2020. You might not see this policy change reflected everywhere right away – we appreciate your patience as we work to make that happen. See details

Totally different policy than what's posted here...

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html

Rebooking travel on your current ticket is *not the same thing* as a credit you receive as an electronic certificate for cancelling a non-refundable ticket. You keep asking for someone who cancelled and received a two year travel voucher and I say that I have.

I'm out of here.

 

[vicarrieous]

I had a flight cancelled by United. I waited until it was cancelled by them. They still would not give me a refund because there was another flight option available to me within a certain number of hours . I spoke with two different people and they insisted I was not eligible for a refund.

I had the same exact experience. Called and talked to three different reps all who denied a refund despite their policy that was in place when I purchased the ticket. Their flurry of policy changes and retroactively enacting them is horrible. They said because there was another flight within three hours of my original flight that I was not entitled to a refund. My original flight was a non stop and their other flight had a layover. Within 40 hours of my flight I had to just cancel and take the 2 year ecert. I didn't know how much longer I could wait without completely loosing out. They ended up cancelling the other flight within 20 hours of take off.

 

[TXTransplant]

Rebooking travel on your current ticket is *not the same thing* as a credit you receive as an electronic certificate for cancelling a non-refundable ticket. You keep asking for someone who cancelled and received a two year travel voucher and I say that I have.

I'm out of here.

You cancelled a REFUNDABLE or a non-refundable ticket? That's kind of an important distinction to make! I can't speak for everyone, but I think quite a few of us are trying to deal with non-refundable fares. And according to United you CAN "cancel" now and rebook LATER with your voucher. But the voucher is not good for 2 years...it's good for the terms I posted above.

And I understand that rebooking is not the same thing as cancelling. However, most of us want to "cancel" (ie, get a travel voucher) that we can use to rebook at some point in the future when things calm down. We aren't trying to rebook now. Which is exactly what you plan to do with your e-certificate.

 

[DLgal]

I had the same exact experience. Called and talked to three different reps all who denied a refund despite their policy that was in place when I purchased the ticket. Their flurry of policy changes and retroactively enacting them is horrible. They said because there was another flight within three hours of my original flight that I was not entitled to a refund. My original flight was a non stop and their other flight had a layover. Within 40 hours of my flight I had to just cancel and take the 2 year ecert. I didn't know how much longer I could wait without completely loosing out. They ended up cancelling the other flight within 20 hours of take off.

You see? They totally screwed you because if you hadn't canceled, you would have gotten a refund since THEY cancelled.

 

[DLgal]

I had a flight cancelled by United. I waited until it was cancelled by them. They still would not give me a refund because there was another flight option available to me within a certain number of hours . I spoke with two different people and they insisted I was not eligible for a refund.

They lied.

It's not up to them to determine if a new flight is acceptable to you. DOT regulations require a refund if YOU don't like the alternative flight option.

I'm sorry you were lied to. This is why I posted what I did. It's basically a game of chicken right now.

The law is on the consumer's side, though, when the airline cancels. They don't get to choose whether or not to refund you. They HAVE TO, by law. If they don't, you can file a complaint against them via the DOT website and they will be fined. You can also then have your credit card reverse the charge after you have shown that you made attempts to get a refund unsuccessfully.

 

[vicarrieous]

You see? They totally screwed you because if you hadn't canceled, you would have gotten a refund since THEY cancelled.

I totally agree. I mean it's part of the wait 72 hours to call as well since they won't cancel if they have occupancy. The question I never found an answer to was how long could I wait to cancel before being screwed out of anything? I played chicken, held off until 40 hours before my flight and I could still see/book the flight on their website until about 20-18 hours before take off. Just annoying. I figured that is how they were going to play, but I guess they out chickened me.

 

[TXTransplant]

They lied.

It's not up to them to determine if a new flight is acceptable to you. DOT regulations require a refund if YOU don't like the alternative flight option.

I'm sorry you were lied to. This is why I posted what I did. It's basically a game of chicken right now.

The law is on the consumer's side, though, when the airline cancels. They don't get to choose whether or not to refund you. They HAVE TO, by law. If they don't, you can file a complaint against them via the DOT website and they will be fined. You can also then have your credit card reverse the charge after you have shown that you made attempts to get a refund unsuccessfully.

These kind of games make me sick. United knows what they are doing is not allowed, but they are banking on Big Company vs. Individual Consumer (who doesn't want to completely lose their money) winning out every time.

I hope when things get back to "normal" the DOT goes after United for this awful behavior. It's unacceptable. Maybe some lawyer will go after them in a class action lawsuit.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Good grief United is KILLING ME! But I live in Houston and so seem to be tied to them. We had a trip to Europe planned for end of May-beginning of June. Booked flights at 11 months out, as soon as the flights were released, which means under this policy I have to fly by this June to use my credit, which is NOT going to happen.

They lied.

It's not up to them to determine if a new flight is acceptable to you. DOT regulations require a refund if YOU don't like the alternative flight option.

I'm sorry you were lied to. This is why I posted what I did. It's basically a game of chicken right now.

The law is on the consumer's side, though, when the airline cancels. They don't get to choose whether or not to refund you. They HAVE TO, by law. If they don't, you can file a complaint against them via the DOT website and they will be fined. You can also then have your credit card reverse the charge after you have shown that you made attempts to get a refund unsuccessfully.

United's policy clearly states that if they cancel but can rebook you on a different flight within 25 hours, then you are not entitled to refund. Are you saying their policy is illegal? In any case, I hope they change this policy because it is unacceptable.