Complaint Review: United Airlines - Nationwide

Hi J G, I don't think you can sue them for that. The terms and conditions are very specific that when you purchase a ticket, you are purchasing passage from point A to point B on a certain route, at a certain fair class. The contract does not specify the specific flight number, time, or seat. You reserve a space on a certain flight, but it's not part of your contract, so if you flight is canceled, they do not legally have to give you your money back as long as they can get you from point A to Point B, because that is what you bought from them. It's more like buying a stamp to mail something, it may go through many connections, and these can be changed. When you buy a ticket, you are buying carriage from one airport to another, it is also subject to change and not guaranteed just like the postal service. But they will put forward their best effort to get you there at the time you request, but it's not guaranteed Usually they will get you where you are going and even give you free tickets or partial refunds if there is a substantial delay, but two hours? That's pretty normal. And canceling and creating new flights, that's also normal. They need to run their business and the FAA regulations over air space change a lot requiring them to cancel and change flights all the time. I do not work for any airlines, but I fly two to three times a week, so I have experienced all of this and have found explanations for everything. It's an amazing industry when you look into all the rules around it. And most of these rules are set by our government, not the airlines. Maybe that's why most congress people have private jets. Thanks, Michael

If United cancels the flight that you originally booked, and then refuses to give you a full refund because you don't agree with the terms of the replacement flight, I would sue them for the amt of the plane ticket(s). I doubt a judge would agree that they have the right to change their schedule but still hold you to a non-refundable fare.

Most airlines UAL included post their flight schedules 9 months out and you can access them on their website. This includes every flight, schedule, and flight number for the next 9 months. They do often change, but they put notes on the schedule as to what is changing and why. For example, UAL has flight 406 go from DEN to LGA every day at 4:50 pm. However, a few weeks ago they posted that they have to cut routs on this schedule due to air traffic in NY, so two flights were removed and flight 4:06 was made 2 hours earlier to fill in the gap. If you were on one of the canceled routes, and connecting, you probably got moved to an earlier flight and now have a longer layover. And you probably found another route that will not get you their faster, but there is a cast to changing the ticket. The reason this happens is when your flight got canceled, the most similar route is the one you were re-assigned to. Part of the terms of carriage is that they can change routes and equipment, however if you make a change you do have to pay. I know it don't seem fare, but the contract of carriage for most airlines is that they will get you from point A to point B within a certain timeframe, usually 24 hours. So its not that you are getting a smaller TV, you are just getting your TV 2 hours later. I also try to book only a month out so that there are less adjustments, or the warnings are already up. Booking more than 6 weeks out pretty much guarantees you will get a schedule change. Hope this helps.

I don't know how long in advance you booked your reservation but airlines are constantly cancelling flights and rescheduling them. When fuel prices are high many flights and even some destinations are cancelled. It has been my experience that the best fares are obtained about a month before a flight and I would assume that a late reservation would probably reduce schedule changes. When I used to arrange my flights six months before the date of departure I often had flight changes.