SO FRUSTRATING, and this story could take me 20 minutes to tell properly, but I'll boil it down to the core essentials:
- serious weather delays 2 weeks ago meant my originating flight from PWM to EWR was delayed by six hours. Onward flights were EWR-IAH-PVR all booked in F using miles. (60K r/t).
- I was proactive and kept in touch with UA res to protect myself on later flights as the day drug on. Upon arrival in EWR, I ran to the nearest UA club to ask them to confirm everything was in order and to get my new boarding passes. Club agent tells me that the res agent screwed up by changing the res, but not completing it. She documents all of this and says that 5E (757) is still open in F but the flight is already under gate control, so I'll need to hustle to the gate. However, she was exceptional and took the time to add copious notes to the PRN and told me to make clear to the GA that I wasn't in queue for an "upgrade", but rather I was standby for F since I'd already booked into F.
- I get to gate and diplomatically chat with GA who confirms that I'm first in line and that 5E is open, but I'd need to go ahead and board and she'd come get me just before the door was closed.
- I do so and when a DIFFERENT agent boards the plane with the final manifest, the lead F/A intercepts her and they chat in the galley for 60 seconds. GA leaves the plane and the door is closed. 5 seconds later, the lead F/A walks to a fellow in an aisle seat near the front of Y and winks at him and points to seat 5E. I jump up and, again, politely explain to the F/A that seat is mine, but he isn't having any of it. He tells me to complain in IAH and ask for my miles back.
- I'm stunned to have all of this happen, but ALL THE MORE SO WHEN I SEE THE GUY MOVING TO SEAT 5E DRAGGING A ROLLABOARD WITH A "IAH CREW" bag tag! OMG -- the F/A just upgraded a pal of his without regard to my booking. In all my years at this game, I'd frankly never seen a pax booked in F denied a seat in F when it was available. (I've seen legit upgrades denied for various reasons, but never a non-upgraded ticket!)
-- **** here is the REAL KICKER. So, when I land in IAH, I pull up my res details and -- sure enough -- the details show that I had, in fact, been assigned to seat 5E! Yep, you got it. The system put me in my seat in F, but I was never told so, so I sat in coach.
Anyhoo - -that's the tale in a nutshell. Super frustrating end to a crappy day. The system simply failed me and I'm not sure where to go with all of this. I'd NEVER have paid 30K for that one way trip just to have the final IAH-PVR leg on a 737-500 (ugh) in F. What a total waste of my hard earned points.
I'd sure appreciate all of your valuable input on how I should proceed with this. I'm concerned that if I tap out an email to UA on their website, I'll get a boilerplate note back with a courtesy voucher, but that's not what I'm looking for here. This was a serious breakdown in policy that substantially affected me.
Thanks, folks, for sharing your insights and wisdom with me.
- serious weather delays 2 weeks ago meant my originating flight from PWM to EWR was delayed by six hours. Onward flights were EWR-IAH-PVR all booked in F using miles. (60K r/t).
- I was proactive and kept in touch with UA res to protect myself on later flights as the day drug on. Upon arrival in EWR, I ran to the nearest UA club to ask them to confirm everything was in order and to get my new boarding passes. Club agent tells me that the res agent screwed up by changing the res, but not completing it. She documents all of this and says that 5E (757) is still open in F but the flight is already under gate control, so I'll need to hustle to the gate. However, she was exceptional and took the time to add copious notes to the PRN and told me to make clear to the GA that I wasn't in queue for an "upgrade", but rather I was standby for F since I'd already booked into F.
- I get to gate and diplomatically chat with GA who confirms that I'm first in line and that 5E is open, but I'd need to go ahead and board and she'd come get me just before the door was closed.
- I do so and when a DIFFERENT agent boards the plane with the final manifest, the lead F/A intercepts her and they chat in the galley for 60 seconds. GA leaves the plane and the door is closed. 5 seconds later, the lead F/A walks to a fellow in an aisle seat near the front of Y and winks at him and points to seat 5E. I jump up and, again, politely explain to the F/A that seat is mine, but he isn't having any of it. He tells me to complain in IAH and ask for my miles back.
- I'm stunned to have all of this happen, but ALL THE MORE SO WHEN I SEE THE GUY MOVING TO SEAT 5E DRAGGING A ROLLABOARD WITH A "IAH CREW" bag tag! OMG -- the F/A just upgraded a pal of his without regard to my booking. In all my years at this game, I'd frankly never seen a pax booked in F denied a seat in F when it was available. (I've seen legit upgrades denied for various reasons, but never a non-upgraded ticket!)
-- **** here is the REAL KICKER. So, when I land in IAH, I pull up my res details and -- sure enough -- the details show that I had, in fact, been assigned to seat 5E! Yep, you got it. The system put me in my seat in F, but I was never told so, so I sat in coach.
Anyhoo - -that's the tale in a nutshell. Super frustrating end to a crappy day. The system simply failed me and I'm not sure where to go with all of this. I'd NEVER have paid 30K for that one way trip just to have the final IAH-PVR leg on a 737-500 (ugh) in F. What a total waste of my hard earned points.
I'd sure appreciate all of your valuable input on how I should proceed with this. I'm concerned that if I tap out an email to UA on their website, I'll get a boilerplate note back with a courtesy voucher, but that's not what I'm looking for here. This was a serious breakdown in policy that substantially affected me.
Thanks, folks, for sharing your insights and wisdom with me.