Thank You United

[Coral]

I got the call as well. Very irritating situation. :mad: I guess it's because they are no longer operating TED. They have not given me a viable alternative and said to call back in a few days as they are still trying to work out the details. In the meantime I have booked a flight on SW and will probably just have them credit my miles back. On the upside, I can now check 2 bags at no cost.

 

While this coincides with the elimination of Ted, it also has to do with United with out Ted. I always fly UAL to FLL and those flights (in addition to Ted) have been canceled.

 

I think the frustrating thing for those of us in the midwest is that United is the main airline for us. I know others are also affected. We only have 2 airlines at my airport with United with the most flights.

[Coral]

You mean they change schedule, but would not give you option to cancel the award booking and re-deposit your miles back to account without fee?

 

How much time is the schedule changed?

 

It was a bump ticket (free). They moved up the time an hour which is outside the cruise line recommendations for flights. They will not re-issue the free ticket. They will only allow me to change dates when I fly to LGA between now and May (when the tickets were issued.). Though, under the original ticket info, I had until this December to book the ticket. I had hoped I would get my free ticket back. I was speaking with someone in Manilla and was not getting anywhere so I was hoping to get ahold of someone else this week.

[EviesCruisin]

Actually, I'm very excited to try JetBlue! =) And I paid $20 for the extra legroom which should be like Economy Plus but cooler... because you get a TV! :) Thanks for sharing.

 

You should be happier with JetBlue since they are an upgrade from United. Nice free personal video screens in each seat.

[nho9504]

That's crazy! :eek: I wonder when the airlines are going to realize their planes are empty because of these skyrocketing prices? It's way out of control IMO and has got to come down to reality. At $1,000 per person (x 4 of us), we can't afford to fly to FLL anymore. :eek: The air costs more than the cruise!

 

The reality is there would be fewer and fewer seats available because of capacity cut. Airlines bread and butter is not the leisure travellers. They can park their planes in Arizona desert instead of flying.

 

Eventually the airlines would find an equilibrium which the fare charged would allow the airline cover the costs, plus make a little bit profit. You do realize airlines do not exist for public charity, dont you? They have been bleeding for a long time after a brief period they returned to black almost 2 years ago, after the long struggle post 9-11. The current oil price simply would not allow the airlines to go on flying without cutting capacity AND raise fare to a REALISTIC level. The skyrocketing prices are due to the skyrocketing oil prices which I am sure you feel it, too, when you fill up the tank of your car.

[nho9504]

It was a bump ticket (free). They moved up the time an hour which is outside the cruise line recommendations for flights. They will not re-issue the free ticket. They will only allow me to change dates when I fly to LGA between now and May (when the tickets were issued.). Though, under the original ticket info, I had until this December to book the ticket. I had hoped I would get my free ticket back. I was speaking with someone in Manilla and was not getting anywhere so I was hoping to get ahold of someone else this week.

 

Let me understand your scenario:

 

You already made a reservation and ticketed against the free travel voucher that you got (due to VDB). Correct?

 

On another note, I dont remember UAL has mainline services at FLL or MIA - it is always by TED.

 

In this case, the travel would be from the award seat inventory, and most likely be governed by award travel rules. The Manila agent could be right but you can always try the Call Back tactic and see if you can get lucky and get a US-based agent instead. The best UA agents would be the Hawaii call center, but I do not know if that center is still in operation as there was rumors early last year that Hawaii center would be shut down.

 

Getting an agent in Manila is 10 times better than getting one based in India, trust me.

 

On the other note, I dont remember UA has mainline services to FLL or MIA - it is always by TED.

[Coral]

Let me understand your scenario:

 

You already made a reservation and ticketed against the free travel voucher that you got (due to VDB). Correct?

 

On another note, I dont remember UAL has mainline services at FLL or MIA - it is always by TED.

 

On the other note, I dont remember UA has mainline services to FLL or MIA - it is always by TED.

 

United did fly to FLL. Only once did I fly Ted and that was Denver to FLL. All of my flights from ORD to FLL were United (proper).

 

I will try to call United back this weekend but my guess is that they are swamped with this other situation. I ticketed the flight in May - I thought the free ticket would be hard to get (like FF miles). Apparently it is not. A coworker often had free tickets with NW and he struggled to use them.

 

I just read that United had 4 daily flights leaving FLL and 1 from West Palm Beach. I am not sure how many Ted had.

[BalconyLover]

No, we still have flights booked using our United Mileage Plus miles. We have United flight numbers and everything, it's just that the flights are now operated by US Airways. They booked these new flights for me, but told me if I wanted to cancel them and have my miles reinstated, they will still do that too, for no charge. That's when I went to kayak.com to see if anyone will still fly non-stop from Denver to FLL, and no one does. So I guess we'll keep those flights (and wait for further changes).

 

As a side note...I took a cruise out of Seattle last October. I purchased Delta tickets but all my flights were on Alaska Air. Interestingly, Alaska Air's price for the same flights was twice what I paid through Delta.

 

 

Pescado - hi! Lauri your "neighbor" from Nebraska! Did you check Frontier? When we sailed on the Valor (out of Miami) we flew from DIA into and out of FLL - as we had a friend there we wanted to see. Haven't checked with Frontier lately tho....just an idea for you.

[choochella]

Just an FYI for everyone flying into Pittsburgh. USAirways used to be the major carrier and had a hub in Pittsburgh. They have since moved their hub to Charlotte and are now canceling a lot of flights out of Pittsburgh.

 

So, any flights from the west coast MAY change. If you're lucky, it may go to Charlotte instead of Pittsburgh. That would be great for anyone flying in January. We have a lot of canceled flights due to the weather here.

 

But, I think there is going to be cuts across the board. I booked non-stop both ways to FLL from Pittsburgh on AirTrans just last week. I just received word that AirTrans canceled the non-stop going down. We now have a connection in Atlanta. Still non-stop coming home, but that might change as well.

 

As far as I can see, don't count on keeping any flights if you book way in advance.

[Colo Cruiser]

This reminded me of why I don't fly United and never will. :eek:

 

I don't see them around much longer. ;)

[nho9504]

United did fly to FLL. Only once did I fly Ted and that was Denver to FLL. All of my flights from ORD to FLL were United (proper).

 

I will try to call United back this weekend but my guess is that they are swamped with this other situation. I ticketed the flight in May - I thought the free ticket would be hard to get (like FF miles). Apparently it is not. A coworker often had free tickets with NW and he struggled to use them.

 

I just read that United had 4 daily flights leaving FLL and 1 from West Palm Beach. I am not sure how many Ted had.

 

In 2007 our trip on UA F, ORD to LAX, then NZ Biz to AKL/CHC, we had to fly TED to ORD on both outbound and inbound - it sucked big time because despite we held the F booking on the mainline from ORD to LAX, we could not use E+ on TED because we dont have status on UA. We are sitting at the back on TED. I read that even paying F passengers are not allowed to sit in E+ if they dont hold status at Mileage Plus.

 

From what I understand, the only way for us who live in South Florida who travel on UA Business / F tickets, is to fly US to IAD then change to UA from there, because US is also member of Star Alliance. Otherwise, we are STUCK with TED, even flying to ORD and back. I believe the flights you cited are all TED flights.

 

Good luck for getting your free ticket back, though my suspicion is it would need the agent jump thru some hoops.

 

On a second thought, since CO now is going to join Star Alliance - you may be able to switch to a UA codeshare but CO flight much later in the year when they clear the regulation hurdle. If your ticket allows date change down the road, this can be an option.

 

You cannot compare NW to UA. Each FF program is NOT created equal. AA being the best, having the best availability for over 10% seat available for redemption, UA is not too far behind. The Skyteam members, NW, DL & CO are much below for their redemption ratio. Generalization in this case put you in a worse position than you could have been. One more thing, AA / UA / CO tend to open their inventory for award redemption getting to departure time, while NW and DL do not. However, NW has the so-called Rule-Breaker, that you can use DOUBLE the miles to redeem seats, and guess what, you can always find availability. It is the Saver that is always MIA.

[cruiserjanet]

When did they cancel the direct flights from LAX to Ft. Lauderdale. I'm thinking of changing my United flight from the midwest to American but not if they might cancel those flights too.

 

About two months ago. When I heard the news, I checked our flight and, sure enough, it had been changed. Now, instead of getting into Ft. Lauderdale at 3:30, we will be getting there at 5:30. Not really a big deal, but we might not be able to have dinner with our friends now unless they can meet the next day. As long as we get there the day we want, then I will be fine.

[dyanalee]

That's crazy! :eek: I wonder when the airlines are going to realize their planes are empty because of these skyrocketing prices? It's way out of control IMO and has got to come down to reality. At $1,000 per person (x 4 of us), we can't afford to fly to FLL anymore. :eek: The air costs more than the cruise!

 

That is just criminal that they can get away with charging $1000 per person to fly to Florida. Our next cruise is going to be from Los Angeles and return to Los Angeles. This is bull paying so much airfare. And I hate not knowing if we are going to show up at the airport only to find that our flight has been canceled. That really doesn't give us enough time to drive to San Francisco. If we had known United was going to cancel flights right and left we would have planned to drive up the day before. As it is, I booked a 7 am flight so we would be there in plenty of time.

[Colo Cruiser]

That is just criminal that they can get away with charging $1000 per person to fly to Florida. Our next cruise is going to be from Los Angeles and return to Los Angeles. This is bull paying so much airfare. And I hate not knowing if we are going to show up at the airport only to find that our flight has been canceled. That really doesn't give us enough time to drive to San Francisco. If we had known United was going to cancel flights right and left we would have planned to drive up the day before. As it is, I booked a 7 am flight so we would be there in plenty of time.

 

 

 

Even though it would be a brutal one I say it might be time for some road trips. :rolleyes:

[Amtrack Springfield]

Thanks to Christinelee for starting this post. They canceled our flight from FLL to ORD on 11/19/8. I never heard anything from my TA about the changes. I called United this morning and we are going out of Miami now. We booked our flights in April for this cruise. Thanks again!!

[dyanalee]

Even though it would be a brutal one I say it might be time for some road trips. :rolleyes:

 

Yes, it would be a long trip, but what else can we do at this short date?

[EviesCruisin]

I actually looked into renting a car to drive from FLL to Washington, DC. Due to the fact it would be one-way it would have been $400! (We're doing a transatlantic from Venice - FLL, so won't be leaving from FLL).

 

Anyways, looks like there are still plenty of airlines still servicing. A lot of these legacy airlines should figure out that good customer service goes a long way.

 

And I'd bet $5 that nho9504 was a fellow Economics major. :) If I'm right, the word equilibrium was a dead give-away ;)

[baron45]

I actually looked into renting a car to drive from FLL to Washington, DC. Due to the fact it would be one-way it would have been $400! (We're doing a transatlantic from Venice - FLL, so won't be leaving from FLL).

 

Anyways, looks like there are still plenty of airlines still servicing. A lot of these legacy airlines should figure out that good customer service goes a long way.

 

And I'd bet $5 that nho9504 was a fellow Economics major. :) If I'm right, the word equilibrium was a dead give-away ;)

 

 

How about MR = MC?

[jajohnson]

Just thinking (dangerous I know)

 

If worldwide airlines were having this problem (fuel costs), I would understand better, but when it appears that only US airlines are having major issues (except Soutwest) it makes me think that perhaps their business models were basically wrong and they are trying to put the onus (pain) on the consumer. It may be better to let them go out of business (even with the pain) and then then let the marketplace find equilibrium. This gets rid of the high pay executives that made the wrong decisions and ended up getting paid regardless.

 

I agree that the air industry needs to price their flights competitively and still make money. I forsee (in my failure free crystal ball) where air travel will again become a luxury where today it is trying to be a low cost commodity. I also see cruise travel becoming less of a mass market venue. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

Free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PescadoAmarillo]

Pescado - hi! Lauri your "neighbor" from Nebraska! Did you check Frontier? When we sailed on the Valor (out of Miami) we flew from DIA into and out of FLL - as we had a friend there we wanted to see. Haven't checked with Frontier lately tho....just an idea for you.

Hi Lauri, thanks for the recommendation, but Frontier has discontinued flights to FLL altogether, at least at that time of year. It was big news locally yesterday or the day before that Frontier was dropping a lot of flights, most/all of which originate at DEN. We're going to live with the new United/USAir flights, which will most likely get changed again. I don't envy you your 4 hour drive to the airport. We live about 45 minutes away, and even that makes a 6:45am flight a bit rough, especially in January. Thank goodness we already have our travel insurance lined up for this one.

 

I agree with others that things will not be able to continue like this, and any potential changes will raise airfares significantly. I don't see the value of the US$ recovering for a long time, and that is simply compounding the effect of high oil prices. And if we find it painful, just imagine the cruise ships' crews who are paid in $US and converting them to their local currency. How would we like it if our pay had dropped 40% in the past few years?

[Coral]

And if we find it painful, just imagine the cruise ships' crews who are paid in $US and converting them to their local currency. How would we like it if our pay had dropped 40% in the past few years?

 

Good point. And even the minimal tip increase can't even begin to cover that. I forgot about that.

[ccrain]

Got the call last night on both upcoming cruises. Flight to FLL cancelled, flight from FLL cancelled. (Booked with FF miles.)

 

On the phone to United, switched to MIA, almost the same itin, no hassles, no problems for both flights.

 

So I won't scream too much until United dumps MIA..

[ExDean]

Just for clarification ... there is a difference between a "direct" flight and a "non-stop" flight. Direct, in airlline jargon, is a flight that makes a stop enroute - same plane, same flight # but it is not non-stop.

 

Happy cruising however you can get to your port.

[goaliedad30]

... I wonder when the airlines are going to realize their planes are empty because of these skyrocketing prices? It's way out of control IMO and has got to come down to reality...

 

Have you flown lately?? I fly 150,000 miles a year for business, and the flights are NOT empty - they're packed to the gills. Every carrier is cutting capacity, retiring inefficient planes, and raising fares.

 

I don't get the "way out of control" thing either. Fuel is the highest variable cost item for every air carrier (Lease costs / debt service on planes is actually the highest fixed cost). With fuel costs soaring, airlines who don't cut capacity, eliminate unprofitable routes, and fly full will go out of business.

 

I don't LIKE the new fares. Not one bit. But there are some pretty basic economics going on here. Surging demand for petroleum products in China and India, in particular, is creating worldwide pressure on prices.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes, it would be a long trip, but what else can we do at this short date?

 

 

Talking about future cruises. :)