[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by scottgoold

I question your comment "United would have been obligated to rebook you on other flights (UA or non-UA) which did or refund your tickets." This is what I thought as well. Remember my original story... when we arrived in LAX, too late for their scheduled flight, I demanded not to be stranded for 10-12 hours. I asked them to put me on a Southwest flight. They refused. I told them I would not use the last portion of the United itinerary, which I must do to qualify for a refund. Yet they did not credit me there; they did not offer a non-UA flight. This is the point of my argument with United. They are responsible for making the error -- booking us too close to the connection and they are responsible to get us home near to our promised time.

It's not that they refused, it was that they were unable to. Southwest does not have interline ticketing agreements with any other airlines. It is impossible for UA to issue you a ticket to fly on Southwest. Had the situation been reversed Southwest, likewise, is unable to issue a ticket to it's standed passengers to travel on another airline.

The final point is that these conditions turn our tickets into a lottery. Regardless of when you buy, how diligent you are to check your itinerary, they can always change as they want with no penalty. If there is a major change at the last minute, you either pay much higher prices on another airline or you suffer through a bad schedule.

Barring a cancellation, which is not a schedule change, the flight schedule generally doesn't change within a couple of months of your travel date. That's why when you purchase tickets several months in advance it is prudent to check back within a few weeks of your travel date to ensure the schedule hasn't changed. I've purchased tickets as much as 10 months ahead of time and had the schedule changed at least four times in the interim. It's just something that happens that you should keep on top of. When the airline makes the final schedule change they send out an e-mail to those affected. Is it just possible that you received an e-mail but ignored it thinking it was advertising or some other "junk" mail?

United erased all of this by changing my plans -- sometime, I don't know when. Why buy early? Why give them our money? This is why the concepts of a contract must be in place. Their behavior distorts the efficiency of the market. I was punished for making an early decision. We must require the industry to be fair to us.

You weren't "punished" for buying early. Purchasing your ticket early guaranteed you had seats for a price you were willing to pay. In the past several months all airlines have made adjustments to their schedules and have decreased frequency and canceled some routes altogether. They can't possibly know 8-9 months out if the schedule they publish will need adjustments. They are, after a ll, a business and to stay profitable need to change according to demand. Two days ago Starbucks announced it was closing some 300 stores. Do you think that 8-9 months ago they saw this coming?