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Bumped from a flight

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    Has this ever happened to anyone else? My wife & I flew United Airlines from L.A. to Dulles to connect with a flight to Buenos Aires, all paid for, not points, first & business class. We were meeting friends in Buenos Aires to take a 16 day cruise around S. America. To make what turned out to be a nightmare, short, UA sold our seats from Dulles to Buenos Aires to someone else & we were bumped off the flight. At LAX we asked for our boarding passes for the connecting flight & were told by the agent that there was an "equipment change" & we'd receive them at the United lounge at Dulles. The agent at Dulles told us the same thing adding that we were definitely on the flight. They never let us board. To make matters worse, they couldn't connect us on time to meet with the ship. We missed the cruise that was one year in the planning . If UA had been honest at LAX we may have found another flight route & this wouldn't have happened. We still feel ill when we look back at the worst traveling experience we've ever had. Not that they'd care but we'll never fly "The Friendly Skies" of United again.

    Thanks from: The Rover
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    Sorry to hear your story. Was the flight to Buenos Aires fully booked? I wonder why they bumped two paying business class passengers instead of somebody in coach...

    The one thing you could have done differently, that might have made a difference: check in online 24 hours before the flight (UA sends out email reminders to do this). Either you would have gotten boarding passes for both flights at that time ... or gotten a hint that there was a problem in the making.

    Thanks from: The Rover
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    United informed us that by law they can overbook and gave us a pamphlet stating that. We did tell them we'd sit anywhere on the plane. We never got an email from United about boarding passes. With international flight, I didn't think that was possible.

    Thanks from: The Rover
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    A check-list of things to do when booking flights that will be of some protection if you overbook.

    (1) Get seat assignments when you make your reservations. If you have a seat, you're less likely to be bumped than otherwise.

    (2) Join the airline's frequent flyer program and enter your member number in the reservation. They are less likely to bump you.

    (3) Check in online 24 hours before your flight. Even if you didn't get an email from United inviting you to do so (which you should have done if you booked on the UA website and provided your email address) ... you can go to their website, click on the "Itineraries and Check-in" link, enter your reservation number, check in, and get seat assignments (if you haven't already done so in #1 above).

    (4) Get to the airport early.

    Did you do all of the above? If not, that's possibly why you ended up at the top of the "bump list" when they ended up overbooked.

    Thanks from: The Rover
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    Thank you so much for your input. We've traveled on business and for pleasure for over 30 years. We go by all the rules of travel and the bottom line, in this case, was United screwed up. Still I do appreciate your comments.

    Thanks from: The Rover
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    United Airlines is absolutely horrible! Twice, I have had travel arrangements ruined due to United. First, a flight from Denver to Rome via Munich in late 2007. My flight was cancelled in Denver due to a mechanical problem. United switched my flight from Denver to Dulles, Dulles to Paris, Paris to Rome. Upon arrival in Dulles that evening United again informed me that my flight was cancelled due to a mechanical problem. They then had me board a flight to JFK where they had booked me on an Air France flight from JFK to Paris and then Paris to Rome. The following segments had gone as schedule but upon arrival in Rome I found that my luggage was lost. I boarded a cruise ship the next day and did not receive my luggage until two weeks later in Casablanca. The second experience with United was again on a flight from Denver to Dulles and Dulles to Doha connecting through to Dubai again, to meet a cruise ship. My flight from Denver to Dulles was delayed nearly an hour and I ended up missing the connecting flight in DC. When I arrived in DC United told me that they had rescheduled me on a flight the next evening to Qatar. The next evening when I arrived I was bumped from the flight due to overbooking. I ended up having to book a flight to JFK myself and rebook a flight on Emirates just to get to Dubai in time to catch the ship. It was horrible and United would not even agree to honor the remainder of the flight for a future travel date. Both of these trips were booked in First Class, something that United does not really recognize.

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    Marty - what happened to you and your wife was simply inexcusable. United Airlines was totally wrong in doing what they did and, after that, how they handled the situation.

    I heartily concur with all of David O's suggestions, as given above in this discussion. In addition, I'd suggest one more thing. Whenever my wife and I are going on a cruise or traveling with an organized group tour, we like to get to the city where the cruise or tour begins a few days early. Doing this helps us get over any jet lag that might result from getting there, helps us relax a bit, allows us to spend some time on our own in the city, and also gives us a day or so to make other travel arrangements if something unexpected happens, such as what happened to you. (We do the same thing after reaching the end destination of the cruise or tour, just to relax and enjoy the city before returning home.) If you have the time to add some days on each end of the trip, it makes it so much easier to deal with unforeseen events.

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    c.phipps..I feel your pain!!! Thanks for keeping this going. Travelers should
    know how really uncaring United it.

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    The Rover...trust me, from now on, we too will leave the day before to get to the cruise ship. The funny part is we where getting to Buenos Aires 8 hours before the cruise departed and were trying to figure out what to do with all that extra time never imagining it would never happen. Thanks for your input.

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