United Continues To Screw Blogger's Parents Out Of $3000
It's been a series of dips and valleys for Mahesh in his battle with United, and the latest is another disappointment.
The latest rep agreed to refund Mahesh's parents money for the unused part of the tickets from Singapore to Sri Lanka. Mahesh will have to send in the unused tickets. The rep could not say how much the refund would be, another department determines that amount. This only a portion of the amount owed to Mahesh's parents
The rep said that in any event the tickets were expired and nothing could be done. Mahesh's parents didn't know this and were allowed to pass through two transfers without incident... Essentially, United's ticketing system made two errors and one is being used to cover up the other.
Furthermore, the rep told Mahesh, "the regular price they charge for a ticket from Omaha to Singapore is $962.60 and that by charging my parents only $500 per person service fee, they have actually saved us some $462 per person!"
Yesterday we were contacted by a reporter from SmartMoney interested in Mahesh's story. Perhaps more press coverage is on the way. — BEN POPKEN
Much Nothing About Ado [United Airlines takes advantage of helpless elderly couple, extorting nearly $3000]
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Comments:
So the initial tickets they started the trip with were expired? I'm not very familiar with how all this works....did they buy it, and not use it in time? How do tickets expire?
Yeah, that's my question too. An expired ticket? Does that mean they were flying after the ticketed date? Something is not right with this story...
Someone recently posted a United story at LJ community; I'm trying to encourage her to write in. The Gist: United Flight Crew walked off because of FAA regulations and she couldn't get a hotel voucher nor meal tickets.
What the hell. I thought United executives were in touch and promised to make it right? How is this still being dragged on by lower level reps?
JANUARY 04 - United Airlines Flub Costs Parents $3000, Refunds Only $600
JANUARY 08 - United Agrees To Right $3000 Wrong
JANUARY 10 - United Still Wants To Screw Parents Bilked For $3000
JANUARY 22 - United Wants To Make Good To Parents Bilked For $3000
JANUARY 25 - United Continues To Screw Blogger's Parents Out Of $3000
I think given this comedy (tragedy?) of errors it is even more ominous that the UAL's Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer was involved at some point, yet the problem continues. What the hell -- even he couldn't fix this?
Its 3000 dollars. I am sorry but that should be peanuts to this company... JUST SEND THEM AN EFFING CHECK... the bad press has already killed WAY more then that amount in people who no longer are willing to fly that sham of an airlines...
AirTransAT all the way now...
I just got a right good fucking from United by canceling a flight.
I didn't want a refund, and I was happy to pay any and all 'fees' associated with my desire to rebook my return flight from a different city.
No dice, said United (via Orbitz.) You can use the value of the ticket (less $130 in 'service charges') anytime in the coming year, provided you buy a seat with the EXACT same routing as the flight you don't want now.
Needless to say, these 'rules' were never disclosed in any clear or direct fashion. They're not even consistent with United's practice from a few weeks prior...
Never again. Never. At least not when it's my money.
I'm the last person to suggest litigation as a solution to things like this, but there's a point in time when you stop negotiating and start suing.
Mahesh's parents need to file a suit in small claims court - that'll get United's attention.
I too am trying to figure out how the tickets became expired. From the info I gathered so far, the only way the tickets could become expired is because of the reason she mentioned about being extended beyond the grace period by a month. But this should have been the responsibility of UAL to check and tell me that it cannot be extended for that long because their grace period is only 3 months. What if somebody had to undergo open heart surgery? Do they still get 3 months or UAL collect the money? This is a lousy business rule that nobody else in the industry is allowed to get away with.
I told you so. Don't count your airlines before they go bankrupt.