United Refuses To Honor 4 Mile (Hong Kong) Island Awards; At Least 1 DansDeals Forum Member Already Has Flown!

does any1 wana buy my tickets?

Dan, don’t you feel guilty encouraging your readers to file a DOT complaint? This was clearly a technical glitch. It just seems immoral to pursue any complaints over this.

@Raj:
Where did I encourage anyone to do so?
I said that it is within their rights if they so desire.

Fact of the matter is that they charged people’s credit cards for taxes and sent receipts with e-ticket numbers for 4 miles and didn’t offer any clarification for well over 24 hours.

However I’m just informing my readers of their options, not encouraging them to do so.

Dan,

Your language encourages people to complain. You say ‘It’s definitely within your rights’ and ‘These complaints are big black marks for the airlines and are your way of fighting back’

Do you think it’s moral to complain about this? Businesses make mistakes, and for you to even bring up the possibility of a DOT complaint over a legitimate mistake is disgusting.

What does this guy do for a living that he could just hop on a plane in one second and fly to Hong Kong just like that?

@Raj: You are disgusting and get of dans deals. He is allowed to tell anyone what their options are and you cant decide what is right and wrong.

I love when people like Raj pipe up and determine something to be “disgusting” as if there were some playbook that determined that the actions presented match the adjective. Typical liberal tactic.

@Raj:

so file a complaint 😉

What the hell is wrong with you Raj? If you don’t like what Dan puts on his site then don’t come here punk! Get a life and bug off leaving stupid comments like that!

@Raj: why are you bashing dan?
he has done so much good for so many people

Hey Dan can you get the representative from Uniteds email so I can file a complaint

If they can’t legally refuse to honor the tix then are they just trying to scare people into refunding the money do try wont have to honor their mistake?

@Abe:
You can always use this form:
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/Contact/customer/default.aspx

The DOT says that mistake fares must be honored or the airline will be penalized. Why exactly should I not complain in this case?

Hey,

I have not been contacted yet. Do they call you to tell you its canceled? Anyone get the call yet?

I am with Raj on this one. I like savings on deals just as much as the next guy. I just don’t believe in benefiting on the mistakes of others.

Also I am not sure why people are personally attacking the poster calling him ‘disgusting’ rather than his opinion.

The only ‘justification’ is when ‘big’ airline companies make errors in their favor/reschedule flights they don’t always do the right thing?

Dan, I think United’s legal claim out of this, is that this is not a “mistake fare”. Actually, this wasn’t a fare at all, it was a rewards redemption, and nowhere does it mention that rewards redemptions need to be honored.

Like you said, persuing this will require a lot of time and luck.

Dan,
Any hope that we get some bonus miles or something out of this?

Note the irony for the Attorneys General website “naag.org” – just saying 🙂

@Raj: Are you Kidding me????
Raj, when you book a ticket by mistake with the wrong date, is it fair that they charge you 150 change fee??????

We should all complain to DOT! when they make a mistake they should also be liable for a fee from us!!!

Raj get a life .you are disgusting

@John:

Because you are an honest and decent person.

@bochur:

Dan allows the public to post comments on here so Raj has every right to express his opinion, whether you disagree with it or not. Yes, Dan offers helpful advise but make no mistake, this site is a business for him and he makes money off of it (see all the adds on the right). This is not some non-profit website.

@Dan:

24 hrs actually seems reasonable since this happened on a Sunday. They are refunding the miles and the fees/taxes so it’s nothing out of pocket for those that signed up. I think their response is perfectly reasonable.

I haven’t been contacted yet either. Where did this statement come from?

@Chaim:

please elaborate…what makes Raj disgusting? He has an opinion and he shared it. You disagree with him, fine. What makes him disgusting?

@NL:

Yes because they have a stated policy that this is the change fee.

Since they are refunding everyone the miles and the charges, no one is out of pocket anything.

@John:

This is not a mistake fare, that’s why. They even listed the full mileage amount initially. The mistake only showed up at the end.

@NL: TO ALL: Forget what everyone is saying!!! NL has said it best, When i make an error the airlines dont accomidate me, so when they make an error they should not take it away from us!!!! Unacceptable!!!! and RAJ your on the wrong website!!! Dan thanks for all and i had an AWESOME Vegas trip thanks to you!!

@Marvin:

Raj isn’t bashing anyone. Why such venom here for anyone that has an opinion that’s different from Dan’s? These are public comment forums. I fail to understand why people take this stuff so personally. Again, Dan is no public servant passing along his ideas for our benefit. He is a businessman and this site is a profit making enterprise for him. When people come here, he makes money. Don’t forget that.

I want to thank @BC and others for defending me. I wasn’t attacking Dan personally. I just think sometimes people take this far. If we want our children to act with integrity, this is a case where I think people should stop before making a complaint with the DOT. It was clearly a technical glitch, as no reasonable person could expect an international mileage ticket to be four miles.

I think Dan could have been more responsible in his posting and not mentioned the DOT complaint. He could have just made a post saying the loophole has been closed, and that fliers were being contacted by the airline that the ticket would not be honored.

Is it immoral to pursue complaints, probably. However, as consumers we are sick and tired of the airlines taking advantage of us. This is why there is outrage here. No one should really have expected this to go through. But just as the airline takes advantage of us when we make a mistake, for example, if you fly a lot, you have no doubt at least once made a ticket the wrong month. The airlines are constantly bullying the customers into fees when we make mistakes. If you dish it, you should be able to take it.

I am also a little irritated at those who booked 42 tickets.. I mean seriously. Stop being so damn greedy.

Can’t log in to my United account. Anyone else have this problem?

Gotta love the airlines. When I make a mistake it’s $150 or $250 to make any change, when they make a mistake they cancel without giving me a thing.
Bravo to all you apologists.

I used to love read this site. But attacking someone who express his opinion is so low.
I respect people who has high moral standard.

people are calling raj disgusting because he called dan disgusting. i love how people are ok with raj calling dan disgusting but then get all up in a bunch when raj is called disgusting. quid pro quo folks!

why would the dot have a complaint form if we shouldn’t use it for cases like these where the airline send everyone confirmed tickets and then tries to weasel out of it? at least they should have offered some miles and try to play nice. and how is it disgusting for dan to let people know their options and for people to use their own judgement? are we becoming a communist country where people shouldnt be allowed to know their rights and be heard?

I dont think United owes us anything. It was a clear mistake on so many levels. Yes, it would have been a nice gesture but we are all taking it a little too extreme to assume we are deserving of anything. For every good deal, there is going to be another that goes sour. That is the nature of following all of these deal websites.

The following website “error” when checking on my HK ticket leads me to believe that the confirmed end is all too near: “We are currently updating our website and reservations systems. This will temporarily affect our ability to serve you online and over the phone.”

To all who are feeling sorry for RAJ, DONT he’s just being kind to the airline because A. He works there. B. He didnt Get a ticket cancelled on him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@sam:

There is a cost involved to the airline if you make a mistake and want to make a change. There needs to be a penalty otherwise everyone would be constantly changing dates, times, flights etc. They made a mistake (not really as it was a technical glitch and not a strategic error) and gave everyone there miles and money back. Why should they owe you anything beyond that? What cost was there to you? People always feel like they are owed something in this country.

@duh:

For the record…Raj said what Dan was doing was disgusting. Others called Raj himself disgusting. I’ll leave it to others to determine if there’s a difference.

@duh – i did not call Dan disgusting. I was describing the act of complaining to the DOT disgusting
@Ray – Trust me I don’t work for United or anyone else in the travel industry. I visit this site like you for info on great deals. But I have morals, and know that complaining about a mistake is not the right thing to do.

The entitlement some people feel here is scary.

you are twisting your words. you told dan “for you to even bring up the possibility of a DOT complaint over a legitimate mistake is disgusting” and now you claim to have said “complaining about a mistake is not the right thing to do.”

so which is it, was it disgusting for dan to give his readers the info needed should they wish to file a claim for something the dot says that they enforce (airlines not honoring a pricing error) or is disgusting for someone to actually file the claim?

Will everyone just chill, there are valid points being made here just leave the personal attacks and passion out it makes life more fun

@Raj: Ok so your upset you didn’t get in on the price mistake fare;)

@hello: No one “got in on it”. They corrected the error and credited people back their miles. Case closed. Why does anyone feel they are entitled to something here? What was anyone’s damages related to this?

@John:

bc it was clearly a mistake and you dont have to be a pig about it!

@josh: Why does these comments have to get so peronal? How am I being a pig? Honestly, explain that? I’m just questioning why people think they are entitled to anything beyond an apology and a full refund. How is that being a pig?

What about the Fairmont platinum for life with living social. They honored it. And was a huge mistake

@Raj:

how is that immoral??? airlines can and do hit you up with technicalities all the time, in order to have things go in their favor. if there is a DOT law that says airlines must honor misprint ad’s, then that’s just a technicality i the consumers favor.

@bc
As far as I know no1 had their tickets cancelled, but mine are definitely still active, just yet don’t spew junk

Every flight you go on has atleast one empty seat do if they lets on for free they’re actually no loosing anything.
And as someone said. We as the customer loose if we make a mistake. We have to pay an extra $75 to change the date of wease it wrong. Think of all the $$ united made on these mistakes. To let a few guys fly wouldnt be such a loss for them.

@TtcommentT: That seems very different to me. First, that was not a technical glitch but a wrongly worded advertisement handled by a third party (who likely had to pay up considerably to the client). Fairmont also had no obligation to honor the advertisement but did so anyway. United could have honored this agreement but obviously didn’t. That people feel entitled to some kind of “freebie” is what I take issue with. Seems like you have to prove some kind of damages to be entitled to a reward from them. Their clearly were no damages here.

I’m not going to drag myself into this, but for the record,

“Some argue that United is running afoul of a new Transportation Department regulation that bans post-purchase price increases of airline tickets unless it is a result of an increase in government-imposed taxes.

The law also states that passengers have to be provided with full disclosure of the potential price increase.

The department says that if a consumer buys a ticket and receives confirmation of the purchase either though an e-mail or on a credit card statement, “then the seller of air transportation cannot increase the price of that air transportation to that consumer, even when the fare is a ‘mistake.’ ”

Bill Mosley, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, says that the department is looking into several complaints it received about the frequent-flier tickets. He says the new rule would apply to frequent-flier tickets, “particularly when they also entail cash payments.””

Via, http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2012-07-17/United-Forget-the-cheap-ticket-to-Hong-Kong-we-goofed/56273516/1

@Dan: Dan – that rule does not pertain here. The opinion of the TSA spokesman is irrelevant here. What’s relevant is what the rule itself states and frequent-flier tickets are not referenced in the language.

@bc:
TSA spokesman, huh??
He is a DoT spokesman! I sure hope he knows their own rules that they enforce before making a statement to a national newspaper and from that article it seems they are already investigating people’s complaints in this case.
Personally I’ve done nothing as of yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be following the case closely.

@Dan:

Unless he knows more than what’s written, he’s expressing an opinion. Here’s the exact language:
Therefore, if a consumer purchases a fare and that consumer receives confirmation (such as a confirmation email and/or the purchase appears on their credit card statement or online account summary) of their purchase, then the seller of air transportation cannot increase the price of that air transportation to that consumer, even when the fare is a “mistake.”

There is no language pertaining to frequent flier mileage. Sure someone can argue that raising the miles required is the same as raising the price but just one individual’s interpretation.

Ok everyone here is the 600,000 mile Question:

If this fare is upheld as valid by the DoT, can people (following UA rules) cancel their tickets for $150 and have them reimburse the miles??

@Yehuda S: Wait, you wouldnt want that. What i meant was can changes be made, open jaws and stopovers added etc?

This is becoming slightly interesting. Im confirmed for a trip that I need to take and was surprised to even get ticketed. Now that its been more than 48 hours, I get the feeling we may be in for a nice surprise.

@bc

I’m not saying they have to honor it. I just think iit will be very nice if they do. As Fairmont did. Staying in a hotel room every year for life costs more than a person sitting in a seat on a plane. Think of it. The empty seat that ur filling doesn’t cost them that much, what ? Some food? Luggage ? All in all very little.

@dan
I have a ticket. If I called United to change it to a ticket to Israel, what would happen?

well said………………

Raj is 100% right! You who call yourself religious are not truly religious.

@TT: Much bigger variable cost in the airplane seat than the hotel. The real issue though is opportunity cost. The hotel room sells for maybe 500 a night versus 10,000 for a first class seat to Hong Kong.

@senioreditor y@senioreditor: you must be drunk buddy… What does religion have anything to do with this? Why are you mixing business and pleasure.. Once again, while this may not be grounds for a lawsuit, the airlines are not the innocent victims here. Why are people defending the airline anyway? The only thing i can think of is that there are many people here that missed the deal and can’t really cope with this fact so they are lashing out.. Let the airline fend for themselves and “let he without sin cast the first stone.”

On a side note my iPad really pisses me off… Why is it so hard to sync pictures? Why couldn’t they include normal keyboard arrows for left/right cursor movement? Why is there service so terrible?

@Yehuda S:

you will have your 4 miles returned

@Dan: Dan, you have missed a very important point. There is an award ticket redemption chart published in united.com, and the correct amount is shown when the award tickets are quoted. Since there is a fixed price structure, United has a much stronger case to defend it and not honoring that. However, I think United should honor the ones that have already started flying to avoid any travel disruption on them.

*Their service.. And the auto-populate as you can see is not always so helpful… Thank you Steve Jobs..

This whole American Rights thing is inevitably going to swallow up everyone, think about it, we all have ‘rights’ against each other… rights to take advantage of a mistake, whats the next ‘right’ going to be? A right to steal? G-d help us

@bc: I have no clue what your talking about, United never cancelled anyones tickets and as of now they are honoring all tickets booked. Will that change? maybe. Till then keep your mouth closed because you have no clue whats going on at united. Next time follow DansDeals and you could have also booked one of these tickets.

Why hasn’t UA provided a more official response?
I think its being honored. Lucky for who got ticketed.

Clubhouse Cafe is closed? In NY?

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2012-07-17/United-Forget-the-cheap-ticket-to-Hong-Kong-we-goofed/56273516/1

@John:
not on reward tickets only on purchased airfare, especially showing the correct miles but showing 4 miles total,

@kreisberg: They will say go take a hike and jump in the lake at the end of the trail……

@Matza there’s always empty seats on the plane so the actual cost for me on the plane is not much, and remember $500 x 120 years is $60,000. Fairmont gave a free room for life.

blah blah blah, america this america that. even in communist china they honor these things should have bought from them instead of united

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-07/13/content_15577414.htm

@hello: I don’t want to go to Hong Kong so I’m good. Thanks for the helpful advice about what to do with my mouth but I think I’ll make that decision on my own. Again, why the personal attacks dude?

Love the enthusiasm here for people taking advantage of a company’s technical error and then feeling so wronged by them when they decide not too. Assume you would take candy from a vending machine too if if suddenly started dispensing it. Morals people.

Business Insider gives the link for folks to complain about the tickets not be honored to the DoT.
Guess they’re disgusting as well 😀
http://www.businessinsider.com/united-screw-up-lets-customers-nab-40-tickets-to-china-and-now-it-wants-them-back-2012-7

Honest question….if you tried to withdraw $100 from an ATM and it ended up giving you $1000, would you keep the money? What’s the difference here?

Hey, when people saw this deal they just bought it quickly for a variety of reasons. They weren’t “looting”.

For most people the reasons were:

Just buy it and see how it plays out. 97% of people won’t fight United decision to not honor but if they decide to honor then United will essentially be handing a free ticket out of their own independent free will. Why not take it then?

Additionally when the news broke no one sat around to ponder the correct ethical high road because there is always a remote possibility that there was some kind of deal going on. No one really knows the airlines reason for offering a cheap fare. It is totally possible that United wanted to sprinkle a few amazing fares and by accident more then they intended got sold. Also possible that there was a sale but only for 40,000 miles instead of 140,000 and an error turned it into a 4.

Lastly, 99.9 of this ‘candy’ wasn’t ‘eaten’ yet i.e. no services have been rendered so most people have not taken a thing.

Of course an important thing to remember is the United mistake fare policy as delineated in the WSJ article. I didn’t see until now but someone who had, would look at the 4 mile fare and say “hey, wow! United said they would honor these so I guess it’s ok to grab it”.

Just my $.02 AKA One way first class ticket to Hong Kong 😉

@Yehuda: Oh and one more thing: Even if I don’t get my $70 tax fee back I’d say it was worth it for the most entertaining week in a looong time!

@bc: That’s against the law, this isn’t

@Yehuda: I don’t disagree with you. What I have a problem with is people somehow thinking they are “owed” something by United. United recognized the mistake, refunded everyone’s miles and apologized. Why should they do anything beyond that? How is anyone put out by the airline?

@hello: I don’t know if it is or isn’t? I’m asking you and others if you’d keep the money.

http://t.co/e7OcIj6B

Seems the wall street journal is all over it too…

@bc: Hell yeah I Would!! gay kak in yam!!

hello there raj

https://twitter.com/rajunarisetti

http://folks.co.in/business/2012/01/22/raju-narisetti-is-wsjs-digital-network/

does the wsj always employ managing editors who call bloggers disgusting for telling readers their rights?

perhaps gather the nerve to call wsj’s Scott McCartney disgusting while you are at it: http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2012/07/18/dot-investigates-after-united-says-it-will-kill-award-tickets-it-sold-for-4-miles/

@bc: No because you could get arrested

No, I wouldn’t call Business Insider “disgusting”. Unethical? Yeah, I think so. Some people don’t think ethics ever plays a role- the limit is simply what one can legitimately get away with no matter how low you go. I’ll pass, thanks.

@duh: That’s epic! (If true) How did you put that all together?

@Raj: HAHA RAJu exposed!!!!

What do you mean by “island” awards?

@Freddie:
Just a poor attempt at 3 mile island humor with the nucleur reference in the post…
The main tourist sections of Hong Kong are split up between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

Hey Dan,
United never contacted us and my tickets are still active online… what are your thoughts?! My ticket is for 2 weeks from now… You think I’m gonna go?.. I’m not sure who to believe anymore, since I dont see any real action from United. I’m still hoping that they will honor it. what do you say?

Am I the only one who’s sick of this “moral debate”? I want to see trip notes fromt the dude who actually made it!

one guy on the forums just got his ticket cancelled and he was suppose to leave tommorow 🙁

Dan,

If you read this comment, can you please explain why the united glitch is any different than this story here?:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/cops-man-spent-nearly-mistakenly-deposited-in-his-bank-account/article_67fd1ff3-1d5c-59b7-a1cb-33bfcb720acb.html

If the man in the above story can be prosecuted, why can’t those who took the flights to Hong Kong be prosecuted?

@To Dan: You’re obviously not such a bright guy and you don’t deserve an answer.

I sure hope all the moralists here have stock in United, because I don’t see any other logical parallel between doing something illegal and taking advantage of a price mistake with a precedent and rules that it must be honored.
#MoralIdeas=/=Objective
#Moralist=/=Right

@ely:

I have the same issue

You know this stor has gone global when it gets to yahoo.com’s feed 🙂

http://news.yahoo.com/battle-over-33-flights-hong-kong-200052930–finance.html