United Again Updates Rules About Schedule Changes—and Hits a New Low

After a few versions of policy changes in one week, United’s existing policy on schedule modifications is that if it can’t get you to your original location within 6 hours of the initial schedule, it will reimburse your fare– but with a catch. The refund is restricted to a credit voucher helpful for a year rather than cash, and you can get money just if you do not use that voucher within a complete year. The blogosphere is speculating that declining a money refund for a full year is prohibited, however nobody has any fantastic ideas about how to avoid the issue.

United simply altered its rules on flight schedule modifications to hit a new low in a marketplace currently full of lows. Up until now, airlines carrying out schedule modifications of two hours or more typically enable you to choose a refund. But United simply altered that two-hour schedule modification limitation to a whopping 25 hours. Significance: If you buy an afternoon flight for scheduling functions, which flight gets pushed forward or back as much as a day, you’re entrusted little option.

Here it is from United.com in their own words, with our emphasis included:

“When a schedule change occurs, we try our best to provide you with choices that reduce the interruption to your itinerary. In cases where the new flight choices don’t work for you and among the following scenarios applies, we might be able to provide you a refund:

The set up departure or arrival time changes by twenty-five hours or more.

The modification causes problems with the general length of the trip, such as making the connection time too short or considerably longer than it was initially.

If we are unable to accommodate you in the same cabin as purchased –– refunded either the complete rate or the difference in fare.

If you’re not pleased with your brand-new schedule and one of the above circumstances uses, please don’t accept the itinerary in Manage Reservations. Rather, you can request a refund online.”

How well would that work for you? I understand it would not work for numerous travelers. One such traveler I know has a ticket on United in early April showing up in Newark at 5:33 pm to capture a red-eye on another line leaving at 9:40, which does not count as a “connection” on United.

The above should enable plenty of connecting time, however if United reschedules the departure to a flight getting here Newark as late as 24 hr later on, it would not reimburse the ticket.

This outrage won’t bother United’s prime business-traveler clients who generally utilize flexible tickets. Instead, it’s intended directly at average tourists on nonrefundable tickets.

Up until now, none of United’s rivals has actually said they’ll do anything similar. However (as I’ve often noted) nothing catches on faster than a bad idea in the airline industry. You can expect a wail from the customer advocates, and perhaps even from congress– however today’s DOT has shown reluctant to hear consumer issues like this one.