How Safe to Book on United?

[Seaside2358]

Was looking at flights. I still have plenty of time to work with until the October 24, 2005 cruise. Saw a non stop from PHL to FLL for $156.00 on United. Thought the price was pretty good but I really hesitate booking this far in advance. Any opinions, suggestions??

[bUU]

It does seem very likely that one of the six legacy carriers will go out of business next year. And United is indeed in bankruptcy. However, chances are that US Airways will be the one to go under. So while you may have a problem with United Airways, but the strongest likelihood is that you'll have to deal with not much more than normal schedule changes.

[Seaside2358]

Bicker, thanks for your reply. It is still really early. Maybe I should just hold on for awhile...

[4valeri]

I hope they don't go backrupt anytime soon....we fly with them on the 16th and back on the 29TH.....:eek: scary

[TheWog]

USAIR is in bankruptcy protection right now. They are trying to save themselves and get concessions from different unions to work to that goal. You should be fine if your trip is in December or January, but after then, who knows. I am holding my breath for my trip on USAIR in January. :eek:

[bUU]

Just keep in mind that, on the average, airfares will increase as you get closer to your departure date. Also, I've noted that (at least with US -- not sure about UA) airfares seem to have been affected (lowered, specifically) the more tenuous the airline seems to be. It makes sense, therefore, that as it becomes clearer that the airline will survive and be operating, the airfares will go back up.

[JJPNYC]

I'd say that at $156/ticket, even if both US Air & United go belly-up, the risk/reward for that ticket price is pretty low. I'd say book the United fare to lock it in and if they go belly-up before then, you're only out $156. And as others have said, that's a really great fare and most likely it will go up in the future.

 

It's a calculated gamble, but one I'd feel comfortable taking.

 

Jeff

[zurmoly]

Book it. Most of the airlines are in trouble. I booked United last April for our Feb flight to FLL. The price from Albany, NY to FLL was 265.00pp, with 1 connection. Now that flight is over 700.00pp.

[Jane110]

I agree, Book it! What a cheap fare. I'd recommend paying the extra money for a paper ticket rather than an eticket. Should United go out, you'll have an easier transfering a paper ticket to another airline than an eticket.

 

I'm assuming you're buying cruise insurance aren't you? Check with the ins. company that you'd get refunded should your flight be cancelled or they go out of biz.

 

Jane

[Seaside2358]

Most definitely will have cruise insurance..Think I'll check into this today...Thanks guys.

[bUU]

Remember, cruise insurance doesn't cover airline problems unless it specifically says it does.

[logan1_2000]

I used up my USAir miles to make sure I got some value before the airline went out of business. I took that trip in 1995, so obviously it has been a slow death. Given where I now live, United is very inconvenient for me unless I would happen to be going to one of their hubs--which I rarerly do. But once again, wanted to make sure I got SOMETHING of value--so I cashed in the United Rewards Plus miles for a pretty significant credit toward my upcoming Disney Wonder cruise.

[cali-croozer]

Remember, cruise insurance doesn't cover airline problems unless it specifically says it does.

Sorry if somebody mentioned this before, I didn't read through all the posts......some insurances list airlines that they won't cover, so look at the details before purchasing insurance.

[torbs]

I would double check the flight. It is probably listed as United but "operated by us airways." they have a code sharing agreement where they book each others flights.

[bUU]

Code-shares are especially troublesome if either airline ceases operations. Until recently, code-sharing was comparatively uncommon -- just filling in gaps in an airline's coverage. Code-sharing was not a major consideration when Vanguard went under, so we have no model with respect to how such tickets would be handled in case an airline ceases operations.

 

Now, almost every US flight is a UA code-share. I suspect that a passenger could get either reaccommodation or a refund if they're saddles with a UA code-share operated by US. If, OTOH, they're on a US code-share operated by UA, they may lose their space on the flight, and be out of luck. We just don't know because it hasn't happened yet.

[Guest cruzr44]

I have a flight booked on United for 2/15/05. It says "operated by US Airways, please check in at US Airways". Should I be worried? They have already called me once with a change in the schedule. If they call again should I just cancel?

[bUU]

In a word: Yes.

[BCLINE3155]

Have you ever looked at AirTran prices? Right now they are having Florida on sale (at least thru August, 2005) for $49.00 - $69.00 each way. There are direct flights from PHL to FLL.

[Cruzin4Life]

Just a warning! We have booked way back in August for our 22 Jan flight from Atlanta - Denver - Miami (02 Feb) with United - paper tickets. We will arrive from South Africa at 0830 and had a connection time of about 4 hours (after 19 hours!! of travelling :( ). United has just advised us that the flight we booked have been cancelled and we have been rebooked on the next available flight - this leaves us with a 7 hour wait in Atlanta for our flight to Denver. When I complained, they just refused to endorse the tickets over to Delta for a more convenient flight - said that we should not have booked that far in advance. Uhmmm, we booked when United were advertising a 3-day sale.... We will have to re-book with Delta at our own cost. We now have 36 hours of travelling to look forward to:eek: . Seems that they can change their schedule and that they do not have to accommodate passengers who have paid their airfares months ago.

 

Not going to let this get us down - we are going on a wonderful ski/cruise holiday and we are very much looking forward to it.:)

[greatam]

Cruzin4Life

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but UA and Delta have nothing to do with each other and I have never heard of a carrier sending passengers to a competing carrier (not one of their partners) because of a schedule change. They may book you on a competing carrier if the flight is completely CANCELLED, but not due to a schedule change. It has to do with all the fine print in the airline inter-line agreements.

 

Sorry for the extra delay in Atlanta, but booking early saved you considerable money, which is why we all book early. UA customer service sounds like it is as bad as most of the US carriers'. What a flip answer-"you booked too early". Bet the boss would love to hear that one.

 

Use a few of the extra saved dollars for a great dinner and drinks, or maybe a day pass to one of the airport clubs, if you don't have FF privileges. Enjoy your vacation. It sounds fantastic.

[Cruzin4Life]

Hi Greatam

Thanks for the info. United did cancel our original flight completely and rebooked us on one of their later flights. I realize that Delta and United does not have anything to do with each other, but according to my Travel Agent, they can actually "endorse" a ticket over to another airline if they wanted to and they will usually do that in a case where they cancel a flight altogether. The reason why they didn't want to do that for us, was because we booked such a great airfare - we are definately not complaining about that - it was just the extra three hours on top of our already looooong journey that made us a wee bit unhappy, but as you said, we have saved some money and we are not going to let anything spoil our holiday - just go with the flow, as we say here... and of course use the money towards spoiling ourselves somewhere else on the holiday. :) Yes, and of course the somewhat "cheeky" attitude of the United staff was not very nice, but we are still fortunate to go on this fantastic holiday, so that is realy not important anymore.

 

I just wanted to "warn" people out there that booking so far in advance, does have it's negative side and if it is important to arrive at your destination at a specific time, then rather wait until closer to the time before booking your flights.

 

Here it is almost 8 pm in the evening in the middle of summer and it is a beautiful evening. We are leaving all this in 3 weeks time to go and play in the freezing snow... and finishing it off with a nice cruise in the Caribbean - what more can you ask for..

[bUU]

Endorsing tickets over to another airline is a pretty costly action, and so airlines are pretty reluctant to do so. Generally, legacy airlines (United, American, Delta, Continental, US Airways and Northwest) do so in cases where they're varying from a current published schedule -- not when they're changing a schedule. They have agreements with each other so that they'll accept each other's endorsed tickets without paying each other a premium. Many other airlines don't have interline agreements. (Southwest mentions this quite often, on the Airline program on A&E, as the reason they won't accommodate a delayed passenger on another airline.)

 

Airline schedules are published four or five times a year, so when you book a flight more then two or three months prior, you're really booking against a planned schedule, not an official schedule.