I made about 12 calls to United yesterday evening and finally found an ORD agent willing to do a manual booking. As expected, NZ confirmed the seat immediately and it looked like I was good to go. The flight even showed up on my reservation:
But the new taxes didn’t come up and the agent had to call the rate desk. She came back a few minutes later and said that she should not have done the manual booking and had a supervisor on hold for me.
The supervisor was rude–our conversation went like this:
SUPERVISOR: This is Mrs. XXXXX in Chicago. How can I help you?
ME: Ma’am, I need to get to London and Air New Zealand is the only Star carrier offering award seats in Business Class that day. Furthermore, the flight time is ideal, it is a non-stop flight, and I can see the flight is already confirmed on My Itineraries.
SUPERVISOR: Sorry sir. The agent broke the rules in booking that flight. Air New Zealand has not made that flight available to United.
ME: Then why was the agent able to book it for me using UA miles?
SUPERVISOR: She did not do it in the correct way. Air New Zealand will charge us the full fare for the flight because we booked it incorrectly.
ME (with a chuckle): Of course they won’t.
SUPERVISOR (angry): Oh, do you work for United accounting sir?
ME: No, but I’ve chatted with Graham Atkinson about the subject of StarNet blocking and know that Air New Zealand had gladly made award space open to all Star carriers, including United. Do you know Graham Atkinson?
SUPERVISOR: Yes, I’ve heard of him and I don’t care who you know. If he’s your buddy, why don’t you go complain to him?
ME: Ah, come on. What do you think about StarNet blocking?
SUPERVISOR: I don’t want to discuss it with you. Is there anything else I can do for you sir?
ME: Do you think it was wrong for me to try to book the NZ flight?
SUPERVISOR: You’re clearly trying to game the system by having agents do favors for you.
ME: Alright, I’ll leave the flight the flights the way they are.
SUPERVISOR: Ok. Goodbye.
The NZ flight was removed from my reservation–though I do have a screenshot and printout of the reservation with the NZ flight in it.
I called back and got another rude agent–he said “what are you trying to pull?” and read me the comments in my reservation–which said (in caps) MUST USE STARNET SYSTEM TO BOOK AIR NEW ZEALAND FLIGHTS. NO MANUAL BOOKINGS. Who knows what else it says after my 12 calls today?
So, it looks like I’m out of luck–with this reservation at least.
It seems like you have to find an agent who 1.) is willing to do a manual booking and 2.) knows hows to fix tax problems without calling another desk.
#2 may be impossible.
I am out of time–the phone calls took a big chunk from my day yesterday and I just do not have time to “fight” the system. One of these day I will get in NZ C, but I guess I’ll have to settle for other Star carriers for now.
It hurts though, to have something, then lose it…
Oh snap. I would have killed that bitch. That’s a new one, even for me.
I’m amazed at the rudeness of the supervisors. Would it have killed them to be a little more apologetic for the mistake? Or for offering subpar redemption opportunities?
(Though I can’t blame them for not wanting to discuss the ins-and-outs of StarNet blocking with you. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose…)
Geeze, Ben had always told me how it was impossible to get on this flight using UA miles. Wouldn’t it be great if we could? We can dream right?
It’s totally unacceptable the bullshit United pulls. The seat is available and we have the miles. Book the damn flight.
@Zach: We can always dream.
I am angry that the flight was confirmed then taken away and I am angry that the supervisor was extremely rude to me…but with persistence and perhaps a bit of luck, you can book any blocked flight including the elusive NZ 01 and 02.
I wish I had another five hours to keep calling–and I wish I could access my record and expunge the supervisor’s comments…
I’m hardly surprised that this happened. The UA folks just aren’t all that helpful in these situations. They made up an excuse – full fare – expecting you to back down. The fact that you ratcheted up the attack at that point, while factually accurate, doesn’t help the situation.
You can keep your SWUs. I will go with carriers that actually appreciate their frequent customers and don’t artificially impede their redemption options. That is worth way more to me over time.
@Wandering Aramean: Good point–I knew it would serve me no good to argue with her, that’s why I stopped.
Notice how I said, “leave the flights the way they are” and she said “ok.” At the time, the NZ flight was still in the reservation. Did she bind UA to honor the NZ flight if I sued them? 😀
Huh, wow. I don’t know why UA Starnet blocks this particular flight and it sucks that you had it and then lost it.
But was it actually booked properly? The booking code is “I” – is that an award reservation or a paid one?
@Mr. Bean: “I” does mean Business Class Award (XC on UA, I on all other Star carriers).
Interesting that the itin. says “No Meal Service”
@Willy; .bomb does that all the time when booking Star awards. Just another example of the greatest airline website in the sky!