United Airlines Cancels New Zealand air service

Traveling on the April 3rd Grand Australia and New Zealand tour. Today United Airlines cancelled my non stop flight from Auckland to San Francisco which has been confirmed since May 2016! I would advise all people to check your flights if you are traveling on United.

Comments

  • That is horrible, Randy! I hope you have a pro-active travel agent!
  • Randy H wrote:
    Traveling on the April 3rd Grand Australia and New Zealand tour. Today United Airlines cancelled my non stop flight from Auckland to San Francisco which has been confirmed since May 2016! I would advise all people to check your flights if you are traveling on United.

    Are you sure they cancelled it? Did they change the aircraft so there are less seats and you had reward tickets? Is it available a day later?

    According to the undated* article (* it could be old but they talk about fares starting 8 January 2017) at this link, United just instituted a new non-stop flight: "Our new nonstop flight from Auckland to United's San Francisco hub makes it easier to discover all that the USA has to offer."
  • edited January 2017
    Alan, I was on the new service, I found out that they are saying it is a seasonal air service now. I guess they were not filling the planes and are only going to operate certain times of the year. When I checked my flights this morning and saw no flight from AKL to SFO. They did not even send me an email. I purchased my flights directly from the airline. My economy ticket had been upgraded with miles to business class last May. Today they would only confirm economy seating connecting in Australia ( not on the Air New Zealand non stop) and any upgrade was subject to availability. Of course nothing was available for upgrade at this late date. I now am paying for a Business class ticket on American and will avoid United from now on. Very poor service!
    I just wanted to let other travelers know because if you are on United you could have a problem.
  • edited January 2017
    You have my sympathies. They should have notified you, for sure.

    Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens all too often when you book well in advance. I had a flight through JFK on Delta one time that got rescheduled so that my connection left 30 minutes before my plane from Europe arrived. Not only did they not notify me, I had to convince the phone rep that it was a problem. We ended up having to stay overnight in NYC since there were no flights home after the reschedule until the next morning.

    The airlines seem to be better lately about notifying you of changes, providing you give them an e-mail address. However, it's always a good idea to double check you flights every 30-60 days.

    My big gripe is that when you pay for economy premium upgrades, if the airlines changes your flight you have to pay again for upgrades, apply for a refund, and wait 3 weeks for the refund. Feh!
  • edited January 2017
    Wow, what a bummer! They shouldn't be able to do that, especially if you lose money on the deal. I would file a claim and see what happens.

    So far Delta has been good about changes, however, they will not send you an email until just a few weeks out. I usually book very early, at the beginning of the 330 day window! In the intervening time Delta will regularly makes minor time and flight number changes which they post to "My Delta" on their website. You can accept the change online, but must call to request a change. There are some restrictions. Luckily, I discovered this years ago- I was booking another set of flights for a new trip online and noticed there was a change to my existing flights and I hadn't gotten an email about it.

    Generally, Delta makes it easy to make changes, however in one case no option was available that would allow me to make my connecting flight. I had to change the whole itinerary. I searched and found an alternative routing that actually ended up being better (better departure, layover, and arrival times and better plane!), and though it was more expensive they switched the flights and didn't charge me extra. I guess I've been lucky so far. Needless to say, I check my flights on "My Delta," at least once a month, initially. When we get within a few months, I start checking once a week, then almost daily until we are within the time period when they start sending email alerts about changes.

  • Randy,

    I owe you a beer! Susan and I were on the flight. I'm a long time United flyer and used miles for this trip ... and I also did not get a notice.

    This is my first night on the message board -- I really appreciate your note.

    I assume by now that you have a Plan B in place. But just in case (or if there are others), the United rep I just worked with said there is a bulletin on the canceled flight, which advises the United reps to make alternate plans via a "Star Alliance Desk" ... Air NZ has agreed to support United's movement of the affected passengers.

    We are now booked on an Air NZ flight to SFO leaving 4/22, but at 7:25 pm.

    Dan
  • Thanks, Randy. Four of us traveling together on this tour booked on UA to SFO @ 1:20. None of us notified and we made our reservations with Tauck who must not have this info. Called UA, not very helpful except to say they don't have a flight leaving Auckland that day at 1:20. ANZ had rebooked me on their evening flight to SFO but I was still on a 9 am flight out of SF. Difficult connection since the ANZ flight arrives that day at 12:55 pm. Now on UA flight leaving SF at 2:50 to Houston. Since I live in Houston, I always try to fly UA. Continental was great. UA not so good. This is my 7th Tauck tour but 1st for my friends. Looking forward to meeting everyone.
  • edited January 2017
    Randy - Same thing happened to me! Thankfully I finally found a United rep who knew what she was doing...I got rerouted back to Sydney and then from Sydney to SFO and then home. I was using miles for award travel and that was the only way I could stay at the same cabin level.

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