“The results were nothing short of remarkable”

@ Joe Farrell – Wow. I think the Christmas Fairy missed your house this year. The change WAS for health reasons. Perhaps you missed the part about multiple sclerosis.

It is true that the passenger chose her own flight – but she chose it because nothing else was available, and in this case, United stepped up and helped her get a much better flight. Good for them!!

And what a kind son to try to help his mother do this.

@Thalassa – no – just the facts ma’am. Why should this woman get an exception when someone else does not? While it is very nice that United, seeing its loads at this point and acknowledging the likelihood of having an open seat, made an exception to their rules – but the fact remains that it was an exception,

Who CARES there were no other flights? I am lifetime platinum on American and am 50 years old and guess what? I have NEVER gotten them to release extra free or upgrade seats to me because I asked. Guess I am not old enough yet to invoke the elderly or fixed income excuse. The flights on the DAY she wanted to travel excepted nonstops – everyone knew this going into this.

As I said, its nice that UAL made the exception, and its natural that her son made the attempt to have her day be a little bit shorter, but what it does is simply reinforce the airlines arbitrary and capricious attitude toward denying people legitimate exceptions to policy because of this one – honestly – why not just pay the stupid change fee?

Wow Joe…I’m with Thalassa. You expecting coal in your stocking or something? Not enjoying the holiday season? Perhaps a nice big shot of brandy in your eggnog would soften you up a little…maybe a prozac or two…

The whole point was that the change WAS being made for health reasons. Apparently you don’t know any elderly people…I can think of no other reason for someone to have zero empathy for the needs of the aged. The fact is that older people DO have issues that younger able-bodied people don’t…and basic travel can be extremely hard on them. I can tell you that there is no way my 74-yr-old mother (who recently had hip surgery) could handle a 12-hour plane trip, including a connection, without help. And this woman was traveling alone.

Her son was not being a whiner — he was searching for a solution so his mother would be able to make her trip. Neither he nor Christopher ever said that United did anything WRONG. Yes, she’d already booked her trip…but it was one that would have been extremely difficult for her to take. All he was looking for was a way to make his elderly, ill (MS is a serious illness) mother more comfortable and safe on her trip. Is that so awful? He certainly has every right to seek that option, including writing letters to contacts up the chain. United, of course, had the every right to say no…but instead they did the morally RIGHT thing, by saying yes. Their yes bought them a happy customer…and, obviously, some really good press. Trust me that this article is worth way more to them than the waived $150 fee.

Kudos to United! As for you, Joe…I have a couple phone numbers of good therapists who might help you with that depression problem…

I am in complete disagreement with Joe. Perhaps he is unaware that airlines like United try to book passengers using “free” travel onto flights where the likelihood is greatest that these passengers will not be occupying seats which otherwise would probably be sold to paying passengers. At the present time, I am holding reservations (paid with upgrading using coupons) including my return from Europe to Honolulu via Atlanta on Delta. Despite being a platinum frequent flyer on Delta, they are refusing to allow me to take the one non-stop from Atlanta to Honolulu (which leaves at a very civilized hour of the morning), but would only book me onto a flight with a stopover in Salt Lake City, lengthening my travel time by nearly 3 hours, and requiring a very early departure from Atlanta. I can only wish Delta were as understanding as United appears to be.

Why not, I’ll chime in also. Not to speak for Joe, but what I understand him to be saying is that she should have paid the change fee to change her flight like everyone else would have had to. Why should she get special consideration for something she booked and wanted to change at a later date? Period. He isn’t bashing anyone (well maybe the son a little); the woman entered into a contract with United to fly her on a certain route for a price and if she wanted to change that routing it would/should cost her to do so. She probably could have made a direct flight initially but maybe didn’t have enough miles or maybe at the time there wasn’t a direct flight. It’s great that United went above and beyond for a customer, but it doesn’t happen in all cases, which is, I believe, the point Joe is trying to make. Where does United draw the line? As for all the criticism of Joe, maybe some of you should look in the mirror (and don’t move into that glass house – could be very bad)! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all!

Yeah, I’m with Joe. She knew when she made the reservation that a 12-hour flight would be too much for her. So, I’m curious why she went ahead and bought the ticket. It’s great that United was accomodating, but this isn’t a case where I’d expect them to help me out because I didn’t weigh all the factors before buying the ticket.

I think the naysayers need to read the article again more carefully. The reason why she wanted a direct flight was because she has MS and the direct flight would be easier on her. That’s a perfectly valid request.

Is she asking for a special accomodation. Yes. Absolutely. Personally, I think that if someone has a disease, it is appropriate for business to make a special accomodation for that person.

@Joe

You state that this makes it harder for people with valid reasons to get an exception. What exactly would be a better, more valid reason than illness.

I think that United made a smart decision/the right call. So often we say “if someone at that airline had just been thinking, they could have done something nice and avoided all the bad publicity” that they’ve gotten for whatever hare-brained stunt they’ve done now. United has garnered itself the goodwill of its customer, her son, and everyone they tell (including readers on this site).

I do understand Joe’s point that the airline is acting in a seemingly arbitrary fashion, but I liken the story to someone ordering a meal in a restaurant. The mother ordered X (because that was the only dish available at the time), received it but didn’t like it. The son asks the waiter to take it back and provide something new without charge. The waiter says no, and justifiably so. It isn’t the restaurant’s fault that mom doesn’t like her lunch. So the son decides to give it one more try and politely asks the chef, who says “of course I’ll make your mom happy” and gives her a new dish. The restaurant is not always going to be able to do this, or the chef may not always be in the mood to be accomodating. But this one-time special kindness is especially appropriate at this time of year.

Had the son thrown a fit, demanded the change, dragged Chris into helping him, etc. then I could understand calling him a whiner. Here, he simply asked for a favor and it was granted.

@Anna

I assume that you are aware many establishments already recognize that senior citizens have special needs and accomodate accordingly. Senior meals, discount Tuesday, senior discount cards.

Do we begrude the senior who pays $5.00 at the movies when I, a hale and hearty man, pays $10. I certainly wouldn’t.

@Carver -she was ill when she made the reservation =- why is it special now? What changed? Thats is the only point I was making. MS is not an illness diagnosed at 70. It is a chronic illness – and progressive – normally diagnosed in one’s 40′s.

I have the facts., FREE ticket. Nonstop return not available – only free connection offered was a looooong layover. she said OK. wanted the free ticket- like lots of elderly. Son realized it was a long layover – and decided to ‘help’ mom. No judgment there – they managed to get what they wanted.

For crying out loud -= she knew when she hit confirm it was a 12 hour trip – unless she was not paying attention – and then whose fault is it? Was it really a 12 hour trip, or s 9 hour trip with the east bound time change? 9 hours means about a 3 hour layer in ORD – not necessarily a bad idea at Chicago or Denver in winter.

Its got zippo to do with Christmas spirit or coal or prozac in my egg nog. You want the change, pay the money. Simple as that.

I’m just stunned at the number of people who don’t seem to recognize that our senior citizens have special needs…and who seem to begrudge them some extra kindness and consideration due to these needs.

Methinks we found where Grinch lives…and it’s right here on this blog!

I wonder if you will all feel the same when you get to that stage…and find yourself unable to do all the things you used to be able to do, and needing special accommodations. Of course I hope you all DO get there someday. And I pray that when you do, the people you ask for help will feel the way United did about accommodating the elderly, and not the way YOU do.

But then, there is this thing called karma…….

@Carvere

No, I don’t begrudge discounts for seniors/children/disabled persons etc. Not at all. But I want these discounts to be equal for all seniors/children/disabled persons, and for the companies that advertise them to honour them promptly where they are due.

In this particular case, Mr. Wadhwa’s mother booked airline tickets with a $150 change fee well-knowing that she would be physically unfit for the trip she was booking. I think it was nice of United to waive the fee, but I don’t think they are in any way required to do so. There has been no mention of the change fee being hidden in the fine print, nor of Mr. Wadhwa’s mother not being fully capable of planning, organising and booking her own trip (although perhaps Mr. Wadhwa should offer his mother some assistance in the future). It is the expectation of a “discount/special rule/free something for a sob story” that I have an issue with.

@Carver (same as Carvere?)
“What exactly would be a better, more valid reason than illness.”
Acute illness not known at the time of booking.

There is a massive difference between booking a refundable ski trip in January today, breaking your leg tomorrow and asking for a refund vs. breaking your leg today, booking a non-refundable ski trip tomorrow and still ask for a refund. I would classify the latter scenario as plain stupid, yet I continue to be amazed by the whining from people who do exactly that.

@Joe Farrell said, “I am lifetime platinum on American and am 50 years old and guess what? I have NEVER gotten them to release extra free or upgrade seats to me because I asked.”

There may be a very good reason why American has never released an extra free or upgrade seat to you just because you asked…do you ask for the freebies with the same attitude that colors your original post? If so, there’s your reason!

That having been said, I agree with Joe’s point, however I must concede it is a purely theoretical one. If such accommodations relied on a logical mathematical formula that analyzed the data and determined whether an infusion of charity would provide a tangible utility to said company’s bottom line, then Joe’s argument would be sound.

But in the real world, such interactions are conducted between people — and those people have emotions, good days, bad days, tolerance, intolerance, etc. — and therefore there’s always an unquantifiable variable in play that will bias the end result, whether or not it’s logical or based on internal guidelines for such requests.

In other words, good for Raj Wadhwa getting this itinerary change for free! But don’t count on lightning striking twice, even when it’s warranted.

@Emily – you’re exactly right! Charging $150.00 for 90 seconds of work on a computer is ludicrous.

@Anna
I understand your point, and agree that’s what the airlines are thinking. But I still assert that airlines would see more business if they improved their customer service to the point where consumers ENJOY flying. If the product is more in demand because it’s a better product, customers will pay more, and the airlines will increase profits.

Imposing $150 fees for 90 seconds of typing on a computer keyboard is not one way to achieve that. The airline industry seems to believe that continually making their product worse is the key to increasing their business. At least for me, that hasn’t worked because I no longer fly 5-7 times per year. So while the airlines may make $150 off my initial booking mistake, they’ve lost out on $5,000 of revenue.

@Eric – I guess your opinion of me is fixed in stone – all I said is that there was ZERO reason for this particular passenger not to pay the change fee.

Nothing was different from when they booked; there was no acute illness, no one had died, they did not get stuck in traffic on the way to the airport, the aunt had not passed away in the meantime – the facts remain:
a) – the pax booked a ticket with a long layover
b) – that pax had a chronic illness which was progressive;
c) – the pax knew at the time booking it would be a long day flying home
d) – free ticket? Yes ‘ here is the quote: ‘This year she booked early [b]using miles [/b] but was only able to get a connecting flight back to Chicago, extending her travel time from 4 hours to almost 12= ‘using miles’ strongly implies a FREE TICKET;
e) there was a change fee – clearly disclosed on EVERY single free ticket I have ever used and clearly disclosed here as well;
f) it is not relevant that ‘it is insane to charge $150 for 90 seconds work on a computer’ because, thems the rules. End of story;
g) the change was SOLELY for the comfort of the passenger. Again, end of story, pay the fee.

and you know what Eric, I rarely speak with anyone at AA – 95% of the upgrades and interactions are done automatically. Calling the platinum desk to ask them to open up another seat simply is not done – since it never works. Now, if I am booking F class revenue upgrade tickets to Hawaii – and they have 2 upgrade seats available, then I will call and ask if they will complementary upgrade me – and then use the 2 upgrade seats for my family -= thats about the only time I ever ask. And usually is it granted – so I guess I am not that evil a person to deal with.

I am sure when I am elderly I’ll try to milk every situation I can, but its not really in my nature. If you have a program, great, if not, or if it required groveling and begging and making an example of my saggy, elderly self, I’d probably choose to pay the $150 . . .

@Joe Farrell – So you’re just upset that some random person got a fee waived for no reason other than the stars aligned? Sheesh! I congratulate them for beating the screwed-up system! If other, more-deserving passengers didn’t receive the same courtesy from the airlines, that’s their own fault for (i) not asking or (ii) not being persistent. Or the stars just didn’t align for them for whatever reason.

BTW, I’m not sure why you assert that asking the Platinum Desk for an upgrade is never done “since it never works” – just last month I did this and was given one – over Thanksgiving, no less! I’m only 40 and in good health, which should make it *more* difficult to achieve with your logic, but I had no problem.

Simplistically put, one just has to be willing to ask, and then ask nicely. Reading Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” will open up worlds of opportunities for anyone who has trouble doing this.

Holy cow, there are some seriously bitter and unhappy people on this board. Do you treat everyone you deal with so nicely? Perhaps glare at that old woman getting her senior-citizen’s discount at the restaurant? How about the military discount at the dry cleaners?

I can understand the argument that United didn’t have to do what they did. They didn’t. But there wasn’t anything saying that the son couldn’t try to help out his mother. Good son, and you bash him?

I’ve been reading through this with amusement, figuring (probably like most people out there) that it’s nice that the extra non-stop mileage seat was opened up so that the passenger could switch plans and it was nice that the fee was waived, but that it was likely (as EricR so nicely put it) due to the alignment of the stars, not something anyone should expect regularly. And although I disagreed with his tone, I thought Joe Farrell really was making the latter point, but coupled with the idea that United went overboard in accommodating the passenger.

Then I read his bit about how if he were booking F class tickets, and they had upgrade seats available, he’d ask for a “complimentary” upgrade. As they say, WTF? You’re begrudging a woman United waiving her change fee, but you’re willing to ask them to waive your upgrade fees? I realize you’re a Platinum/Carbonite/Diamond FF member and so maybe you feel that people below that status should be grateful that the cattle car they’re herded into these days actually goes to the place you paid for and not some work camp, but really, I don’t think United’s being nice to an older lady with a progressive debilitating disease, even if she knew she had it when she booked the tickets, is going to erode the benefits you already get from your exalted status.

People ask businesses with whom they’re dealing for special things all the time. As long as they don’t expect it out of a sense of entitlement, I don’t begrudge the business making a decision to accommodate someone, even for free.

The people that disagree with this situation aren’t anti-senior/disabled whatnot, we are saying it doesn’t make business sense.

And, since most of the airlines have taken government bailouts in recent years, and since most of us here are frequent business travelers, we have a vested interest in seeing airlines that have a good business model.

@Eric and others – the $150 change fee is not charged for the 90 seconds of work it takes to initiate the change. It is the hedge the airlines make that because you were holding onto a seat and now, since you want to change flights, that seat has a better chance of going unfilled/unpaid.

So, like Chris always says, if you want to stop seeing fees from airlines, then you better learn to figure out that a significant quantity of airline tickets are sold for a loss of profit. If you don’t want to pay fees, then buy the full or one of the refundable economy fares that better reflect the true cost of flying your butt from point A to point B. Otherwise, it is a gamble. If everything works in your favour, then you have purchased a ticket that (at least if you look historically) is at least 30% less than what it should cost. If everything does not go well with your reservation gamble, then you need to reimburse the airline for that loss of profit that you just caused.

Here’s a good example from another walk of life. Let’s say you go to a big box store and purchase the last Wii on the shelf before Christmas. You hold onto it, and, for whatever reasons, your plans change, and you decide you don’t want the Wii. Chances are, when you return the Wii to the store, the store is going to charge you a “restocking” fee running somewhere between 10 and 30 percent of the product’s value. Do you really think it costs $30 for an employee to walk the Wii back to the shelf (ie, the “90 seconds of work”). No, you are reimbursing the store for their loss of profit opportunity. The store had a much better chance of selling that Wii before Christmas than it does after Christmas (unless it is marked down). Just like the airlines had a much better chance of selling your seat prior to two weeks before the flight than they do the day before the flight.

So, if you don’t like fees, then prepare to pay the fair market value of an airline ticket every time you fly. Then we also won’t have to deal with government bailouts, baggage charges, drink charges, and probably crew strikes due to cost cutting measures.

Wow, a holiday feel good story devolves into a bitter, technicality filled rant by a few people. As an American Platinum person myself, I had to laugh at a certain person’s inability to have the Platinum desk help him out. I wonder why…

Everyone step back from the baggage claim!

A bit late to this, but isn’t it a bit of a stretch to (a) refer to United’s decision as not making “business sense” (to you), or (b) comparing airline tickets to actual, physical things?

If it really didn’t make business sense, then no airline would ever make exceptions at any time whatsoever. Clearly airlines have become stricter about making exceptions, but they do make them. Which means that sometimes it is considered to be good business sense, at least to them. Even if it is “just this once”.

And comparing airline tickets to a Wii? That’s pretty apples to oranges. An airline ticket is a service, not a product. One of the advantages of purchasing a physical item is that if I don’t want it any more, I can sell it to my brother or to a stranger for a price that the market will bear (sometimes even at a profit). That way I can completely avoid restocking fees. Can’t do that with the type of ticket being discussed here – if I don’t want that particular ticket anymore, I’ve either completely lost the money/points or have to pay an additional fee. Limits options somewhat more. Making the analogy somewhat weaker than perhaps suggested.

And I do have a nice Christmas story. Went to a beautiful, boutique hotel in the south of France for 2 days during a Christmas trip last year as newlyweds. We paid for a standard room, but on each night we were upgraded to a suite with gorgeous views of the Mediterranean. Seems this hotel had the policy that, if a better room went unfilled by a certain time (we figured it was 7 pm), they automatically upgraded guests to fill them up. The hotel has a very small number of rooms (under 20), so it was probably easier for this to be handled then at a larger property. We had never stayed there before, so it wasn’t done due to loyalty – mostly just a way for them to build customers.