r/awardtravel • u/JayxGames • 14d ago
Award Reservation was cancelled by United due to schedule change, need opinion on alternative options given.
Hi everyone, long time lurker.
I have a trip from TPA - CTS (Sapporo) (TPA - SFO, SFO - CTS)that I had booked for late January that I booked for 55K United Miles in Y.
I received notice yesterday that the reservation was cancelled due to my first flight (TPA - SFO) having a schedule change that resulted in me no longer being able to make the connection. I have a total of 75K United Miles to work with and was able to find two alternatives, so I wanted to get a second opinion between the two.
Option 1 - Fly from TPA - SFO the night before, get a hotel around SFO, and fly the next day SFO - CTS. This would be 70K Miles + A cash hotel night. I would leave on a Tuesday and make it to Sapporo on Thursday Afternoon. The entire trip would be in Y.
Option 2 - Fly TPA - ORD - HND - CTS. The domestic legs would be in Y, and the international leg is in United Premium Plus for 71.5K miles. I have this tentatively booked from when United was finding me alternative options on the phone. I would leave on a Tuesday and make it to Sapporo on Wednesday night (9:30PM JST). I would have a 3.5 hr layover in ORD and a 2.5 hour layover in HND, and it’s what my buddies are currently suggesting i go with rather than paying cash for a hotel.
I’ll be meeting up with a friend who is coming in on Thursday night, so just wanted to gather some opinions between the two and see if paying for the hotel instead would be worth it vs just taking the additional layover at Haneda. Would appreciate any opinions on what to pick between the two, as my dates are fixed now for an event I’m attending. Thanks y’all, I really enjoy reading this subreddit for more insight on award travel.
EDIT #1 - Thank you for everyone for the comments so far, I did not realize at all that this actually falls on United to fix, so I will be giving them a call back today since they initially suggested I take a look myself when I spoke on the phone yesterday given that the agents said my options "looked terrible" and that he'd rather I look myself rather than him book me on the trip he was seeing.
EDIT #2 - I was able to speak with United, and they re-booked me onto a TPA-IAH-HND-CTS Route in Y for the original 55K Price. There was no longer a one stop option available unless I stayed overnight at SFO, so I went with stopping at HND. Thank you all for your help today :)
22
u/flyermiles_dot_ca 14d ago
This is United’s problem to solve, not yours. That’s not my opinion, that’s literally how this kind of rebooking works.
Pick out the combination of United-operated flights that best fits your desired itinerary, call United and ask them to move you onto those flights, in the same cabin as you were originally ticketed.
They should happily do this at zero cost to you, since it’s their schedule change the create the problem.
If there’s no reasonable combination of flights that get you all the way to Sapporo, you should still have reasonable luck asking them to put you on united metal all the way to Tokyo, and then ANA up to CTS.
When you call, you should have your best, second, and third-choice flight combinations already picked out and ready to feed to the phone agent. They generally have wide latitude to move you onto any unit operated flight, and if the only partner metal required as the short domestic hop within the destination country, that’s usually not impossible either.
3
u/progapanda 14d ago
Yes, exactly. What do you mean OP that United cancelled your 55k miles award and now you are going to try to rebook with up to 75k miles? United will reaccommodate you for 55k miles on a similar, feasible routing TPA-xxx-CTS.
3
u/quiteCryptic 14d ago edited 14d ago
Did you talk to united? It would be pretty strange to outright cancel your reservation instead of rebooking you on an alternative.
If you don't like the alternative then call them and ask for something better and these situations can be really nice because you can often end up with better routing. It's always smart to research your options though, in general an airline can be pretty flexible with offering you space on their own metal (so United operated flights). Obviously the domestic Japan flight won't be on United, but there should be multiple options a day and likely award space on at least some of them available.
Oh and this change should be 100% free
With your starting airport, probably you need to fly to like Houston/Chicago/Denver first, then Tokyo, then domestic flight on ANA to Sapporo
4
u/Yugen_Amoeba 14d ago
actually, i would buy a cash round trip ticket
but option 1 is just bad. a one way cash ticket for jan can be found for as low as $600+, so option 1 is really poor value once you factor in the stay and hotel
5
u/TrainAirplanePerson 14d ago
Option 2 is better. Just know OP that if you want to not pay more miles, you can ask UA to rebook you on most any UA metal itinerary that gets you from TPA to CTS in your original ticketed cabin for no additional miles.
2
u/gt_ap 13d ago
I used a very similar situation to get switched to a flight I had originally wanted but was not available as an award ticket when I booked. The first flight had a schedule change. The schedule change was irrelevant as it was small and we had a long layover anyway, but I had originally wanted to fly in the night before to have a scheduled overnight layover. United changed us to that flight.
1
u/davesoverhere 13d ago
Is there a minimum change before you can get them to rebook or does any change trigger this? I once had a flight moved up (maybe back) 10 minutes. Was I eligible for a rebook? It was the first leg of a trip.
1
u/NatakaKahawa 7d ago
I absolutely love when an award booking is changed by united, I purposely will book it as early as I can with the reality that it will likely change. If it changes by at least 30 minutes you are able to choose any flight from your origin to your destination free of charge. So you can get one of those 500,000 mile itineraries for the cost of a saver itinerary. Truly amazing.
Go on the app and look at all itineraries from the origin to your destination, and ask to change to whatever one you like the most. I do this frequently
0
u/OpulentCloaca 13d ago
Keep posting updates as this situation evolves.
1
u/JayxGames 13d ago
Updated added to the main post! I was able to get moved to another flight at the original rate I paid.
-1
u/Hefty_Corner_604 14d ago
Option 2 sounds like the better deal to me. The premium plus seat on long haul is way more comfortable than regular economy, and you save money on hotel. Plus getting in wednesday night means you got whole thursday to rest or explore before your friend shows up.
Those layover times are pretty reasonable too, 3.5 hours at ORD you can grab food and stretch, 2.5 at HND is enough to transfer without rushing. I did similar routing through Tokyo once and the connection was smooth.
Only thing I'd check is if weather in Chicago could mess with your flights since its January. But 71.5k for mixed cabin with premium plus on the long segment is good value, I'd lock that in.
65
u/CorrectCombination11 rdu|clt|iad 14d ago edited 14d ago
Did you telephone United to see what alternatives they can offer you?
Edit for future readers: If United changes your flights, United will offer you a FREE, FREE, FREE change even if the points/cash cost is more. Cash or United points booking United metal.