[VJ Rao]

I just finished the most unbelievable flight of my life, United 265 on Oct 31st, 2009. I was scheduled to fly from Pittsburgh-Los Angeles on United this evening, a ticket which I paid about $600 for. This ticket was more expensive than many of United's competitors, but I decided to pay it, because United is the only airline that offers nonstop service on this route.

I arrived at the airport and boarded the plane normally. I estimate that there were only about 20-25 passengers on this flight. Once we were strapped in and ready to go, the captain announced that we would be making an unscheduled stop at Washington-Dulles to pick up about 100 passengers that were scheduled on a Washington-Dulles flight that had been cancelled. This would delay us by 2.5 hours, causing most of us, including myself, to miss my onward connection (I was continuing on to Australia on Qantas). To make matters worse, since I was flying a different airline, they wouldn't pay for my accomodation in LA (since I was stranded there for a full day). They did hand out free drinks and $100 flight coupons as compensation (which did not cover the cost of rebooking my Qantas flight or my hotel). Basically, United made the calculation that it would be better to **** me and 25 other people off than to **** off 100 people at Dulles. Well, they accomplished their mission. I'm done with United. I'll take my 1K membership business elsewhere.

[PHXFlyer]

As a 1K you should probably know better than to book a connecting trip on separate tickets.

That being said, I would write a letter to United and include receipts for all of the extra expenses incurred because of the divert to IAD. Include the change fee/additional fare you had to pay Qantas, hotel, meal expenses in LA, and any penalties you had to pay in Australia since you were delayed a day I assume the hotel charged you for the first night you weren't there too.

If you don't get any satisfaction from UA from your letter then consider filing in small claims court in Pittsburgh. United doesn't have a very large presence in Pittsburgh so you'll probably receive a default judgment since they probably won't go through the expense of sending a representative to court.

[The_Judge]

I will say this....I have been involved in and even asked for stops like this to made to my city when a flight of ours was cancelled. The city I worked in was La Crosse, WI and all of our flight came from and went back to Minneapolis. Sometimes we would ask that a flight coming from the east or southeast, such as Green Bay or Chicago, make stop to pick up our people. This was only done if it could still let the original people on the flight make their connections.

A 2 1/2 hour detour is completely ridiculous and you should have been told ahead of boarding. Having 2 seperate tickets doubly sucks cuz as you said, you received no help from the offending airline and the airline you were flying overseas probably added a fee to change. This type of situation is avoidable and I hope you pursue this with United until you get some sort of satisfaction.

[jimworcs]

As a 1K you should probably know better than to book a connecting trip on separate tickets.

I agree with everything you write in your post Phx, except this! Passengers should not be blackmailed into flying with US airlines internationally because if they don't, the airline won't take responsibility.

In this case, the airline is responsible and will NOT be able to weedle their way out of it.

If this case goes to small claims, the passenger WILL WIN. There is no doubt whatsoever that United are culpable. The actions taken were entirely for the operational benefit of United, and the compensation offered entirely inadequate.

The standards offered by US airlines are very low compared to international airlines. If I had a choice between flying QANTAS or Singapore Airlines versus United on a long haul international flight, it is a total no brainer... and that should not affect my expectation that United will fulfil their part of our contract if I use them to get me to the international port of departure.

[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

I agree with everything you write in your post Phx, except this! Passengers should not be blackmailed into flying with US airlines internationally because if they don't, the airline won't take responsibility.

In this case, the airline is responsible and will NOT be able to weedle their way out of it.

If this case goes to small claims, the passenger WILL WIN. There is no doubt whatsoever that United are culpable. The actions taken were entirely for the operational benefit of United, and the compensation offered entirely inadequate.

The standards offered by US airlines are very low compared to international airlines. If I had a choice between flying QANTAS or Singapore Airlines versus United on a long haul international flight, it is a total no brainer... and that should not affect my expectation that United will fulfil their part of our contract if I use them to get me to the international port of departure.

Point taken, Jim, however this itinerary could have been booked on a third-party website such as Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity (just to name three) using one continuous itinerary and ticket. Had it been booked that way United would have been obligated to pay for his hotel and meals in Los Angeles and the Qantas flight would have to be re-booked at no additional cost or fee. Some people have avoided using these websites in the past as they traditionally charged their own ticketing fee but many now have none.

[VJ Rao]

Hi all,
Thanks for the advice and the help. I am still in Australia, but when I get back to the States, I will be pursuing some kind of remediation from United. As for the 2 separate tickets -- I bought them just as jimworcs said below. Even though United does fly to Australia, I would MUCH rather fly Qantas (even though I wouldn't be earning Star Alliance miles). The service and staff on Qantas is significantly better than United, and I couldn't stand the thought of being stuck on a United flight for 14 hours from LAX-Sydney.

[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by VJ Rao

Hi all,
Thanks for the advice and the help. I am still in Australia, but when I get back to the States, I will be pursuing some kind of remediation from United. As for the 2 separate tickets -- I bought them just as jimworcs said below. Even though United does fly to Australia, I would MUCH rather fly Qantas (even though I wouldn't be earning Star Alliance miles). The service and staff on Qantas is significantly better than United, and I couldn't stand the thought of being stuck on a United flight for 14 hours from LAX-Sydney.

Next time use a travel agency or third party web booking site such as Orbitz, Expedia, ... That way if there is an interruption of your travel along the way they will be obligated to re-accommodate you on alternate flights at no additional charge and/or put you up in a hotel if it's a mechanical delay.

[Zion21]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

Next time use a travel agency or third party web booking site such as Orbitz, Expedia, ... That way if there is an interruption of your travel along the way they will be obligated to re-accommodate you on alternate flights at no additional charge and/or put you up in a hotel if it's a mechanical delay.

I agree, I never book flights without using orbitz now. Good Luck next time though!

[The_Judge]

I guess it's all personal preference but I wouldn't book with an online travel agency if you gave me the ticket for free. Too many horror stories compared to a brick and mortar travel agency for my tastes.

[jimworcs]

Bricks and mortar travel agencies in the UK are shutting down at a fast rate of knots. It is very hard to compete on price when you have rent, taxes and staff to pay. I often find when I go to a travel agency, I know more than the staff. I once asked for quotes for a flight to Casablanca. When the quotes came up, she was quoting me for flights to Istanbul. When I questioned her, she told me that Casablanca was no longer called Casablanca and that it was now known as Istanbul!!

I assume that she doesn't know the difference between Constantinople and Casablanca, but really...

[Gromit801]

And you complain about American businesses? LOL.

[jimworcs]

I complain about any business which does not provide good service for the money paid. I am an equal opportunities complainer.. nationality is irrelevant.

[fastair]

Separate tickets=separate contracts. The end of UA's contract was LAX. No one is blackmailing someone into flying across the Pacific on a US flagged carrier. (Amazing that another thread has patriotism thrown in the face of an airline for not waiving excess fees on uA and a foreign carrier for someone in the US military, yet patriotism to US flagged carriers/employees/profits is non-existant) I mean, if you get a cab to get you to a concert, and the cab breaks down, is the cab company liable for making sure you get to another similar concert? Of course not. UA dropped the ball for you here, but UA has ZERO control over the separate ticket/contract you purchased with it's main competitor on the US-Australia route. ANd UA's reservation system would have shown you had no such connection, because it was booked separately. As fare as UA knew, LAX was your final destination. Who know, maybe, if UA had seen that you had a continuing ticket on the same reservation/ticket as your PIT-LAX ticket, they may not have taken the extra stop, and possible found another plane to help out the stranded IAD passengers. It is all hindsight now.

The extra stop thing is VERY RARE, and it really hurt you in this case. I am willing to bet that UA compensated you very well as a 1k. The "warm fuzzy" you could have gotten from your inconvenience helping out those stranded in IAD was overshadowed by your own personal inconvenience.


As for being stuck on a UA flight for 14 hours, as a 1K in economy, you would have had economy plus, something Qantas would NOT give you for the same price. If you purchased C or F on QF, you should have booked the ticket from origin to destination on one ticket (if you insisted on QF over UA, an AA/oneworld ticket) as you could have most almost obtained an elite level status on just the one ticket.