VFF redemption for UA

[Ignoramus]

I have a VFF rewards booking for a United flight with a connection in SFO on a single ticket.

There has since been a schedule change for the connecting flight, making the connection time only 35 minutes which is not feasible.

I’ve contacted VFF about this, and they have advised that they cannot do anything about this, as there is currently no reward seats available for my travel date.

I’ve also called United, and they were more willing to make changes in accordance with their schedule change policy, however they are unable to since the booking has been made with Virgin Australia.

Has anyone had any experience with this situation and advise how it should be handled? Have called VFF on three separate occasions and have been told the same thing. All they could offer is cancel and rebook.

 

[knagelli]

I had a similar issue in the past with one of the itineraries booked with Qatar Airways however the ticket was sold by Virgin Australia.

Technically , Virgin Australia needs to co-ordinate with the other airline and arrange for an alternate option as they sold the ticket to you thought it is not on VA metal.

 

[elanshin]

I have a VFF rewards booking for a United flight with a connection in SFO on a single ticket.

There has since been a schedule change for the connecting flight, making the connection time only 35 minutes which is not feasible.

I’ve contacted VFF about this, and they have advised that they cannot do anything about this, as there is currently no reward seats available for my travel date.

I’ve also called United, and they were more willing to make changes in accordance with their schedule change policy, however they are unable to since the booking has been made with Virgin Australia.

Has anyone had any experience with this situation and advise how it should be handled? Have called VFF on three separate occasions and have been told the same thing. All they could offer is cancel and rebook.

As i understand with this kind of thing, you need to hit someone that can actually put in a request to UA on behalf of you (from VA) and UA would usually approve it assuming new flight has space.

Getting someone that can do that is usually the hard part with most call centres.

 

[Ignoramus]

Thanks for the replies.

Suspected it may be the case of having to call multiple times until reaching someone who is capable of resolving the issue.

In such scenarios, would the it be the operating airline flight schedule change policy that applies? United’s policy is generous in that it allows change up to 24 hours from the original date, so looking to take opportunity to fly out a day earlier if possible.

 

[nthd_nthd]

Thanks for the replies.

Suspected it may be the case of having to call multiple times until reaching someone who is capable of resolving the issue.

In such scenarios, would the it be the operating airline flight schedule change policy that applies? United’s policy is generous in that it allows change up to 24 hours from the original date, so looking to take opportunity to fly out a day earlier if possible.

Please do share your experience with this occasion.

 

[GDale]

Give this a try (but it's not guaranteed, as it requires a skilled AND caring United agent):

(1) Call United, explain the involuntary change and illegal connection, ask them to rebook you onto confirmed/space positive alternate flights, but tell them not to worry about reissuing the ticket (as they won't be able to do that part). If they refuse, gently push back and tell them that you'll co-ordinate with the issuing airline directly for ticketing once the new flights are added to the reservation.

(2) If you manage to get this far, check immediately that you can see the new flights on the United website. Don't worry about any "ticket not issued" warnings, and don't try to change anything on the booking at this point.

(3) Call Velocity immediately and advise them that you've had an involuntary schedule change, that your new flight details are in the reservation, and you'd like to have the updated flights confirmed and ticketed. Don't explain that you've already spoken to United, as this just confuses things.

If the above seems too hard and your flights are still some time away, leave the reservation alone for a few weeks to see if the airline systems pick up on the anomaly and rebook you automatically - it's surprising how sometimes the system takes a fair bit of time to realise something doesn't work.

The Velocity program has its positives, but managing schedule changes is not one of them unfortunately.

 

[antycbr]

I wish you luck. Since the demise of onshore teams for Velocity getting someone who can actually understand what you are trying to do, rather than what their script says, will be a challenge. Time for VA to have an escalation email like Qantas.

 

[justinbrett]

I lived this dream last year with QR, it was no better.

Award reticketing on partner airlines

There’s plenty of posts on the QF forum about QR schedule changes, and that resulting in tickets not being reissued and ultimately cancelled. I’m now in the exact same situation on the VA side (flying SIN-DOH-AUH). Long haul leg was rescheduled requiring a new flight to AUH. Other than now...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Although IIRC (I didn't seem to update the thread above), it was QR that changed my booking, not VA. Ended up electing for overnight in DOH.