Update, 7/7: You can now claim the 30K mileage compensation here. They posted to my account immediately.
I wrote a post here about our experience flying last week, complete with diverted Delta and Southwest flights and canceled American, JetBlue, and United flights. It has tips about what to do if you find yourself caught in a meltdown as well.
It appears that the qualification to earn this bonus are for “Passengers who had flights booked to travel for Saturday, June 24, 2023, through Friday, June 30, 2023, are eligible to receive 30,000 MileagePlus miles if they meet the following criteria: Experienced an overnight delay, OR Their flight was canceled, and they were not rebooked/chose not to travel.”
Originally posted on 7/2:
Last week was a very bad week for US airlines and the entire air traffic control system. All airlines had issues, but United took the longest to recover as they canceled and delayed the vast majority of their NYC flights, as well as many other flights, last week.
Worse yet, United CEO Scott Kirby was in Newark and instead of lending a hand or even offering moral support to their overworked and understaffed employees, he took a private jet from Teterboro to Denver to escape the mess and head into an extended holiday weekend there while his customers were stuck in Newark. After getting caught and taking a lot of flak for that, he apologized, but talk about failing to read the room.
My family got front-row seats for the meltdown as we flew into NYC for a wedding on Monday, and it took until Friday for everyone to get home. I’ll write more about that soon, but for now, I got this email from United offering 30,000 miles per passenger.
It’s a good start, but 30,000 miles isn’t what it used to be, and quite frankly, the airline should offer to cover reasonable expenses as well, like Southwest did when they melted down in December. So far airlines are blaming the weather (it was clear for days) and the FAA in order to avoid payments, though Secretary Buttigieg pointed his finger back at United. But it sure seemed like all airlines struggled mightily to and from NYC last week.
Yesterday, cancellation rates continued to fall as the airspace recovers from severe weather. United's disruptions are elevated but moving in the right direction.
FAA continues to monitor weather and smoke and is engaged closely with airlines to address potential disruptions. pic.twitter.com/xEFnDroN2E
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) June 30, 2023
Did you face flight cancellations last week? What airline were you booked on and how long did it take you to get where you needed to be?
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75 Comments On "[Claim Form Now Available] United Apologizes For Last Week’s Meltdown With 30,000 Miles, Is That Good Enough?"
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Took my daughter 5 flight attempts to get to her destination, including weather cancellation , then a phone rep mistakenly cancelling her ticket and a crew failing to show up
Was booked on United on Thursday to Venice, sat on the tarmac for six hours before pilots timed out. Thank god didn’t check luggage. There was three agents at 1:30 in the morning rebooking well over a thousand people. No luggage was coming out of baggage claim. I left the airport and waited on hold for the 1k desk and got rebooked on the Naples flight last night which was also delayed an hour. I got the 30,000 miles email last night.
Worst part is we booked our Venice hotel for Shabbos with Hyatt points so travelers insurance doesn’t cover that, so lost out on 70,000 points 🙁
I got a call back from and was advised that I could rebook another flight and claim was opened for reimbursement – will update when it happens..
We got diverted from Delta LGA- Denver to Cos as our plane couldn’t get a landing spot.
Delta offered hotels + 7.5k sky pesos.
Forget about canceling the flight.
My uncle was in the airport till the am’s to find out that no one is getting back their luggage, they’re not taking it off the plane.
So instead of having a vacation, they had to spend the week shopping some clothing…
@dan, no post on the UA91 that returned to TLV this morning?
Will they also get 30k miles? Is that enough?
Gita Voch, you was on that flight returning last week to TLV?
I had a flight from MSP to ORD Wed 6/28 at 8am that was cancelled as was the 10:30am I was rebooked on. I woke up at 6am the next day, rented a car at MSP and drove over 6 hours from to ORD because I had a 7:30pm flight to EWR. That flight was delayed and the lines for customer service in ORD were a mile long. I bought a United Club membership and in order to use the dedicated concierge to try to look at other options. The plane was coming from Nashville and was still shown estimated to take off at 8:00PM even though it was past 9:00PM and the concierge said the plane will be in ORD for a 10:15PM departure as shown in the schedule . By 10pm when the lounge was closing, the flight was delayed until 12:30am. I saw another agent as I was walking out and she put me on standby on an unscheduled 11:45 pm flight to EWR. They flew in an empty plane from Rockford IL. At the gate there were 6 pilots, along with several flight attendants (aside from the crew) waiting to get on. Once we boarded around 11PM my original flight was cancelled. Got to Newark at 2:40AM. Guess I was lucky.
Should I ask them to refund the club membership fee ?
You could have bought a one time pass. If you don’t want the membership you can certainly ask to refund it under these crazy circumstances they may do it.
They weren’t accepting day passes.
I booked a ticket got cancelled that day booked another one with a stop sat in newark airport for 6 hours with no giving reason and got cancelled after 7 hours the worst experience ever
Didn’t happen last week, this happened to me a few weeks ago, American “delayed” our flight to Mexico, overnight by 13+ hours and gave me 5000 [SIC] miles.
There is no recourse bc airlines lobby. Our lawmakers don’t care about us, they care about funds given to them by lobbyists.
They canceled our flight to South Africa last Monday night. Not only didn’t they offer us a hotel, or to pay for a taxi back to Crown Heights, or to easily rebook us…, they even told us that we can’t have our luggage till the next morning! So we had to rush back in the morning just to get our luggage!
Our travel agent finally rebooked us on a flight through Ethiopia. It was a packed, terrible flight, which included people smoking on board…
As of yet, we haven’t received any offers to compensate in any way.
I got stuck in Denver airport Monday night after they repeatedly assured all of us that since our connections were delayed we wouldn’t get stuck in Denver. I was given a cot. An airline employee took pity on me and got me on a flight the next day. No vouchers, no hotel, and so far at least no 30,000 miles. They told us it was a shortage of flight attendants.
United international flight to NY was diverted for 18 hours, and because I’m under 21, the hotel said its “illegal for me to check-in”, and I wasn’t given any alternative accommodation.
What are my rights, and how should I go about getting compensation?
In what airport?
Ewr, diverted to Boston
We were canceled on Spirit flight out of FLL due to “weather”. We rebooked out of Orlando the following morning – requiring us to drive to Orlando with a one way rental.
Still riding high on your United status horse? Fan SWA yet?
Sure, next time I need to be in NYC, I’ll book Southwest via Chicago.
Probably would’ve got there quicker!
Sure, on my Aunt’s diverted Chicago-LaGuardia flight.
Time to start looking into WheelsUp,
and blade.com/ewr says they have helicopter rides from manhattan to EWR in less than 5 minutes, starting at $185
Today: United offers 30k points to customers whose flights were cancelled.
Tomorrow: United announces massive points devaluation.
I think that went over everyone’s head ….
Our flights were canceled and was able to rebook next day with a different airline. I was on hold for over 3 hours with united in order to make sure they remove the outbound but keep the return.
However is where the DOT needs to step in, just like they did with the covid.
The rep told me that its not giving her the option to refund the outbound just cancel so I should submit the refund request online for all tickets for the outbound. Also for all baggage fees purchased online when I checked in.
This is unacceptable from United. In cases like these when flights are cancelled, baggage should be refunded immediately automatically as well as cancelled portions. Plenty of people would forget to submit online. I need to find the tike to do so myself!
Just do a chargeback. You’ll get the funds immediately and United won’t dispute it.
Was supposed to leave DEN to EWR Sunday, ended up coming home Thursday. Didn’t have my luggage for about 20 hours.
I submitted a claim with United, got my original flight and suitcase check-in fee reimbursed. Nothing for the hotel, transportation, food expenses and misc due to not having luggage.
I did have a confirmed seat, but after others in my travel plans got cancelled, the mess still ongoing and holiday weekend coming up, I decided against traveling.
Instead of canceling my ticket, I went to the airport, short-term parked, walked right up to the counter, asked to get bumped, got $2k voucher, and went home. Then canceled my flight they rebooked me on.
Disaster but silver lining for me thankfully.
Nice! Not such a terrible disaster after all..:)
I had a flight back with my 11 year old son on Monday June 26th from Newark to Fort Lauderdale at 345pm. I received a text on Sunday morning stating our flight was canceled. Called United and after 2 hours on hold, they booked us for Monday on a different flight at 1pm. 2 hours later I received a text stating our flight was canceled again. Called United and spent 4 and half hours on hold and booked a flight for 11am the next day. Got to Newark and checked in with luggage at 830am. Got a text at 10am our flight was delayed until 1pm, than another text delayed until 2pm until we actually boarded at 4pm. Started watching a movie on board while my son was watching TV shows. Flight attendants were on intercom telling us that we’re waiting for pilots. Kept getting texts that flights were delayed and at 530pm they asked us to deboard. Got a text that flight was delayed until 7pm. Took my son to leave the airport and get our luggage. 5 minutes later, got a text our flight was canceled. Went to baggage and they told us our luggage was shipped to Fort Lauderdale without us. Had to get a hotel last minute with no clothes or toiletries. Spent more days and finally booked a rental back to Florida. Only issue was only one car rental company was willing to rent us a car back to Florida. Charged us almost $1200 for the car. I drove us back in 20 hours. United sent me an email that due to ‘Our Rough Experience” we would receive 30k miles for our troubles. Do they think I care about that! I will never fly United or Newark Airport ever again! There’s a lot more to my story, but I’m exhausted.
Ouch. That is a story and rough one. Hope you see some compensation for the headache
On Monday night we went to ewr to return to lax . Our flight was scheduled for 8:30 pm we got there at 6 to find out trip was delayed to 10:20 our bags were checked in . We tried the united club though we had passed they would not let us in. Eventually we were told our flight was cancelled . We went to rebook the kinds were mikes long we were in airport without any food or water till 4 am. We got rebooked for Thursday 6:50 am out of phl we left from Lakewood at 3:39 am and on the way found out that trip was cancelled by united. We sat on the phone for another : hours rebooked ewr for 4:55 Alaska . Went to ewr the Alaska desk said united sent funds but no reservations I had an e ticket confirmation. We again stayed in airport 4 more hours ahead Ed to customer service and got rebooked for Sunday 7:30 ewr to lax everyday I called about my luggage whereabouts and waited hrs to say they have no info yet . Finally Thursday night they promised to deliver to my hom in la but didn’t do it . I found it in lax upon my return. 64 cancellations and 6 Uber and Lyft rides later we are bh home what a trauma . I’m supposed to fly united Sunday to Israel I want yo cancel my flight for now hoping they will accomodate
s/o i know got bumped after flight got delayed ord-hpn and received 1500$ voucher. pretty sweet.
I was coming from MIA to NEWARK for a Thursday evening flight through United got canceled. They emailed me the night before and said the flight is canceled with no replacement flight. I called to try to get a new flight and they had a 3 hour hold so I went to the airport to see if I can get on a flight and I had to wait on the United line for 2 hours. When it was my turn to talk to an agent she barely knew how to speak English and I asked for a manager and it took forever to get onto the next flight they would offer us. The flight they offered me was the next day and it was through American airlines to LGA! I live in Lakewood and and I had to get an Uber to get home which costed $300! At the airport they said I would be reimbursed for the Uber but I uploaded the receipt on the website refund page and so far nothing yet… they did book me a hotel for the night but they did not refund my flight. It was very frustrating to stand in line for 2 days missing out on half of my vacation. They did not send me any apology or offer like the above.
Welcome to SoFL. No one speaks English here.
Early last month I had a nightmare flight with United avenue work to Chicago where they just delayed and delayed and delayed knowing really well that the flight wasn’t going to happen. After 6 hours we finally boarded just to deplane when the crew timed out. And our flight was rescheduled to the morning. Of course not canceled because I’m sure that would invoke more compensation
Then although,Dan, you praised United for having the hotels in the app they don’t actually turn it on for a while and by the time you can get in a hotel from the app or the desk they offer to put you up in a garbage hotel 20 minutes away in seacaus … though I saw availability at the airport Marriott
This is the short version of the nightmare.
So after getting 3 hours of sleep to make it back to the airport, I finally got 10,000 miles and a $50 check out of them
they canceled tonight’s 10:55 flight EWR-TLV, when everyone was already by gate 1 hour before departure for “maintenance” with no flight staff in sight……. didn’t give back anyone’s checked luggage on time to get on other flight. complete disaster…. any tips for getting any compensation?
It was an incident in tel Aviv and had to make an emergency landing
the plane was at gate from 2pm
I was on that flight- total disaster and worst customer service in the world
Waiting for “Friends don’t let friends fly United”
If I booked a one way ticket from TLV EWR with points and used platinum card to bay taxes and flight is delayed would I have trip insurance?
United is by far the worst overall US operational airline and it isn’t close. As someone who has million miler status on all 3 us legacy airlines I absolutely would much rather stock delta and aa miles for most routes and use Turkish or various other partners if I ever need or want a united mileage ticket. Zero reason to hold any united cc or miles. Whatever better availability you get as a cc holder can be achieved transferring chase points to anyone with that availability. Just a crappy product all around now.
I flew United last week from Chicago to EWR and was canceled after a 7 hour wait in the airport. Even if you want to say that it was the weather which was the cause, there’re so many ways they could have handled the situation smarter, 1 of them being to simply and continuously notifying the passengers as to what should be expected as well as by making the proper calculation, knowing that the crew was likely to time out. I received an e-mail on Friday that they’re going to give me 30,000 points as an apology.
They’ve got to do better!
UA90 (departure @ 11pm) from EWR to Israel last night was cancelled. Well technically they it shows as delayed overnight and is scheduled to fly out today @ 10am. Interesting how UA handled the flight. They showed the flight as on time for departure the entire time, they also allowed all of us to check luggage and go through to TSA, however they did not allow us into Concourse C (gate area where flight was taking off from) they said if you are on the flight to Tel Aviv wait outside the area and then 20 minutes prior to boarding time they informed us flight was pushed off until tomorrow. Flightaware earlier in the day showed the aircraft they were using was at EWR having arrived from Spain. The incident felt like a crew issue. Question is why didn’t they inform us earlier in the day / why is it to their advantage to have us check in & then wait for the last minute to cancel? Other intersting point is the reschedule is under 12 hours, My chase Saffire card trip delay kicks in after 6 thankfully, Dan, Any Thoughts?
Do I need to reach out to get the miles or is it automatic?
We were scheduled for a flight this past Motzai Shabbos TLV to Dulles that United Cancelled. My travel agent says that Israel has a law requiring United to Pay us at least $1000 per ticket.
Below are the 3 links he sent me detailing this law. He said not to just send in a complaint , you must mention this law and then just tell them where to mail the check.
https://www.tourism-law.co.il/pdf/AviationServicesLawENG.pdf
https://media.united.com/images/Media%20Database/SDL/travel/destination/international/CSM859-IL-Notice-of-Rights-English-2016-09-REV-ADA.pdf
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/destination/international/israeli-aviation-law.html#:~:text=Israeli%20Aviation%20Services%20Law%20(IASL,regard%20to%20compensation%20and%20assistance
I’m waiting for the headline post detailing how American actually came through for the wedding, while United didn’t, and how if you would’ve canceled the American flight for the United flight, you would’ve watched the wedding on zoom.
Why? Every airline sometimes does better than others. What counts is the norm.
Flew with a small group on United to E”Y last Sunday. Got delayed about an hour and a half. The United terminal was bedlam. They even gave out cots. The lounge was a mob scene and out of beer. There were lines snaking around at every United counter.
We were planning to fly TLV-IAD-EWR on Motzei Shabbos after failing to find a viable direct TLV-EWR flight to replace out TLV-EWR Sunday flight. We found out after havdalah that our 12:20 flight was cancelled. They split our group; sending some on El Al to JFK and some El Al to EWR. At the El Al desk, we were told that we are not even in the El Al system. Mind you, it was about an hour and a half to take off. Went back to the United counter. Waited a while with a group of disgruntled United customers.We were booked with 2 free 70 lbs bags on United. That did not carry over to El Al. Had to pay big buck for overweight and an extra piece. We then got delayed waiting for the Flight UAL91 to make an emergency landing. I guess it is good that they didn’t let us on that flight… Eventually we got on the flights and made it home. None of us got 30k miles and we now have to fight for reimbursements for our separate Ubers home and extra luggage fees. Any advice? Thank you!
Email them for Israeli aviation service law compensation of 3,000 shekels per person.
Thanks. What’s the compensation for? Delay or flight change? Thank you. I’ll bl”n keep you posted.
Who do I contact to get compensation and reimbursement how do I get the miles ty
hi i had also this crazy 11 hour delay on united flight from newark to tlv sunday night
when i left the lounge to board they didnt even bother telling me its cancelled and made us walk forever to the service desk
what are they obligated to reimburse me according to israel law?
as they wrote that its “delayed”
Email United for Israeli aviation services compensation. Should be about $1,000 per passenger.
is it also when they pushed me off 11 hours as of a “delay” and didnt officially cancel?
Yes
My flight was delayed over 21 hours and then canceled. I ended up getting a different way home.
Never got the email about the miles and on the form they say I’m not eligible.
Try DMing United on Twitter.
Tried submitting but got this: “ Based on the information you gave us, you don’t qualify for this offer. If you received an email saying you’re eligible, or need help with a travel disruption, contact us.”
DW’s flight was booked through Chase portal with Sapphire Reserve points, but added her UA MP number to reservation. FLL-EWR. Was eventually rebooked same day PBI-EWR but had to Uber from Miami Beach (41st street area) to PBI. Should these flights be eligible?
I was delayed traveling with my family – not much value in having 30K miles in multiple accounts. They should offer it all to the adult passenger
Had an AA flight from Miami to jfk two weeks that was delayed 15 hours, and checked luggage was not returned. Ended up having to Uber back to an empty yeshiva dorm and spendomg the night there, making dinner from whatever scraps of freezer meat the bochurim left over. After many emails and calls AA gave me 5,000 miles. Yey!
Its a trap.
Release of Liability
By accepting these award miles you release United, the operating carrier, and their respective employees, agents and representatives from any and all liability, claims or damages resulting or arising from the matters relating to your flight, compensation thereof or any related complaint.
Can somone explain me how a craw doasnt show up? Unless there was never a craw assignd? Imagine I just dont show up to my job or my kids bus didnt show up because the “the craw timed out”
Our flight was delayed by 4 hours and united offered us free change to the next day including confirmed upgrades to first which I got thru silver status so we decided to stay another day on vacation
For a bonus we received today 30k points
Cheers
My flight was delayed about a dozen times, numerous gate and terminal changes (plural), then canceled after boarding because FAA regulations, blah, blah (and that’s only part of what happened).
I was denied the miles even though I met the criteria.
DM them on Twitter.
I don’t have Twitter. Guess I’ll have to make an account. Ugh but thanks.
DM on Twitter got me nowhere. Asked for the details so they could “look into all this.”
Came back with “contact customer service”
Fyi my flight was delayed for 9 hours with 2 separate 3 hour tarmac dealys waiting on the plane. Only to be cancelled at 1230 am (3 pm flight) and then scrambling for a hotel which was obviously not reimbursed). Definitely eligible for the 30k but claim form said otherwise.
Not sure how I’m not eligible. Anyways, Twitter did nothing.
Honestly, based on the experiences people had, 30,000 miles is nowhere NEAR enough. I find it shocking that US airlines find it totally acceptable to treat passengers like this, leading to unfathomable experiences- can you imagine what it was like for families with kids??!!- and then don’t even offer to reimburse expenses that a direct result of the multi-day delay? If there was a US equivalent to EU261, passengers would be getting tons more in reimbursement costs and payments- or, it wouldn’t have gone down like this because the airlines would have a real incentive to not let it happen so they aren’t stuck paying out big bucks.
Of course United is to blame, but some blame also falls on the US government (not specifically the current administration, but all administrations up to now who have been the same on this issue). Not only is there no law even close to EU261 (we desperately need something like this in the US badly), but even worse is that the airlines get away with making up lies about the causes of the delay, and there is no oversight. They blame it on weather when it was “clear for days”? Where is the government oversight on that so they don’t get away with blatant lies? It’s insane that they can make up anything like that and get away with it, and put passengers through hell. It’s time for the government to step up and hold the airlines accountable.
if my flight was delayed to israel for 11 hours
how can i contact united to get compensated
according to the Israeli aviation service law compensation of 1000$
where do i email?
do ineed to attach anything to get them to actually pay?
I was on United to Tel Aviv on 7/2. 5 min before our 10:05 pm boarding time they announced a TEN hour delay. The customer service was awful/ non existent. Wouldn’t allow us to retrieve luggage so couldn’t switch airlines/airports. Offered no hotel or taxi vouchers etc.
flight back in 7/9 right before landing in Newark they announced it was closed due to weather. Flew us to Boston, kept us on the plane on the runway for 2 hours, refueled and then flew to Newark. The lack of staff resulted in it taking over 1.5 hrs for the luggage to come.