United red eye canceled

[Scotttyd]

Scotty, I just called the phone number to ask what happened to my reservation. The rep came back with "The 11:45 flight not offered "....which I knew. I asked if there was an alternate flight...after checking the answer was "No".. and then offered the credit for an overnight stay at An EWR hotel. I agreed as the only other option would be to cancel the flight which would also not work well for my prepaid lodging and truck rental. Now, I am fully aware that this credit as promised is still not a 100% shot as I will not know for sure until the dY of reckoning, however, the rep told me she attached the credit and a memo to my reservation. I will keep my fingers crosses and hope for the best !

gotcha - I had my flight moved to Houston so now I am getting in a day early - and booked an extra night at Buddy Dive - so pretty sure that will not be an option - oh well, wrote a letter - will probably get a 1000 mile "courtesy credit" for my time

 

[Candiru]

Hmm, I called and specifically asked for a hotel voucher or credit. They said that isn't done. I'm curious how you were able to get one?

 

[Sue Sue]

Hmm, I called and specifically asked for a hotel voucher or credit. They said that isn't done. I'm curious how you were able to get one?

I am curious also, however I can only guess because there was no other flights available the solution was to add the hotel stay for the unexpected overnight layover. It could also be that the rep I happened to get ahold of had the authority to do so and made it happen. Or, it will be my surprise when we arrive that there will not be any note and they will be all "Sorry for the misunderstanding". , and I will be ...out of luck.

Ray: What I was told is that I need to stop by a United customer service desk and let them know we have a voucher credit for a 1 night hotel stay. At that point we will be given a choice of what is available. I am hoping for a Marriott location as I do like the 100% smoke-free facility however we find out once we get there . I am basically hoping for the best as we all know that counting on ANY company for anything anymore is often hit or miss, especially the airlines. Oh Well, I do hope that United comes through with their promise and teaches me a lesson in how not to be so cynical. ☺️

 

[RJP]

Ray: What I was told is that I need to stop by a United customer service desk and let them know we have a voucher credit for a 1 night hotel stay. At that point we will be given a choice of what is available.

Perfect - that's exactly what you want. The "regular" Marriott that is on-site at the airport is ideal, but there are several other Marriott/Courtyard/Fairfield properties all within a mile, all with shuttles. Also a Hyatt, Hilton, Radison, etc. All are smoke free, which I believe is actually the law in NJ.

 

[DiverDebbie]

Did you read my trip report part 2 ? ...with the details of our United fiasco with the dead plane 24 hour delay and connection nightmares.
We are still awaiting compensation. It will be a long battle I'm sure.
My best piece of advice.... change airlines if you can.
We will avoid flying United to Bonaire again at all costs.

 

[pa diver]

Much thanks for the heads up..............I checked our flights at the end of Jan and they had indeed been changed to the 1:00pm out of Houston. As with everyone else there was no notification and yes I am signed up for all alerts. What pissed me off even more than my flight change was the fact that they did not adjust my arrival flight into Houston!!! They still had me arriving at 7:00pm in Houston for the one o'clock flight!!!!! Unfortunately many of the other return flights are booked and I'm fighting with them now to make amends.

 

[Candiru]

Update

United must really have goofed up their schedule as they have sent me an email asking For voluntary standby on our return flight from Bonaire next weekend. I seen them do this at the airport, but never this far in advance.

 

[Winterpeg]

we were affected by this too, but managed to (i hope) get an extra day of diving out of it. We booked thru CAA so the agent notified us of the change and our various options. We were supposed to leave Winnipeg Fri am to Chicago, then Newark and then to Bonaire on the redeye, getting in Sat am. We changed it to leave Thurs right after work, i'll have to sneak out a bit early , overnight in Toronto, then Fri am to Houston and then Bonaire. This way, we should be more rested and able to dive Sat. Our travel agent says we can start a claim because of the overnight hotel in Toronto, but not sure if we'll even bother. It's a cheap hotel and we make the connections and get an extra day of diving it's all good, right?

 

[darook]

We missed our redeye connection to Bonaire supposedly due to bad weather and got rerouted through Amsterdam on KLM. I think their ground operations were just as much at fault. It was a pain but we just took it as part of the travel adventure. Note to United and other American air carriers, do not put your customers on KLM as it shows them what a real airline looks like. Free beer with your meal served by nice folks and everything pushed back exactly on time.

 

[meagicano]

According to my itinerary, I have to pay the extra baggage fees twice - once out of Halifax, once out of Newark, because I'm doing the overnight in Newark. The other option, of routing through Houston, was a bit of a disaster as I would have had two very very short connections... and seriously, I'm flying out of CANADA in WINTER. >:/

Has anyone actually been charged the double baggage fees? Is there a way to get around this? My travel agent contacted United and was basically told I'm SOL, although they did offer a lounge pass for the "inconvenience"... I understand the baggage fees = revenue and a lounge pass = no loss in revenue, but I would much rather have the baggage fees waived for the EWR-BON flight.