MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.
A few weeks ago my United flight from Houston to Buenos Aires was delayed 13 hours. United automatically offered me 7,500 miles or $100 United credit as compensation, but I was able to increase that offer to 17,500 miles or $200 credit with a simple email.
The Delay
I was heading from the Chicago Seminars to my winter home in Buenos Aires. I booked the award for 30,000 United miles the week before departure using secret United award space. I had intentionally scheduled an eight hour layover in Houston to catch up with a friend.
I arrived in Houston on time, left the airport, and was at a sports bar watching some NFL with my friend when I got text messages from United that my flight to Buenos Aires was delayed–the first saying there was a two hour delay to 11:59 PM and the second that there was an 11 hour delay to 9 AM.
Google also saw an overnight delay, although it took the United app 30 minutes to show the delay.
The United app said I could rebook through the app, but showed no options, so I searched for options. There weren’t many.
Flight Change?
If I got out that night on the redeye to Santiago, I could connect to an Air Canada flight and arrive in Buenos Aires a few hours before my new scheduled arrival, but it sounded like a far less pleasant itinerary.
If I flew out on a redeye to Bogota, I could spend the whole day there and fly another redeye on Avianca to Buenos Aires, getting in 12 hours later than my new scheduled arrival, but at least getting to see friends in Bogota.
I called United to see whether I could switch to the Bogota ticket.
The first agent said that my plan through Bogota couldn’t be booked, and the supervisor said it couldn’t be booked. They were both fixated on award space, which makes some sense because my original ticket was an award ticket, but not a lot of sense, since I was just as displaced as any passenger and deserved the same re-routing options.
But if they wanted to talk about award space, I found a ticket from Houston to Bogota to Lima to Buenos Aires with Saver award space, the first segment in economy and the last two in Business. They wouldn’t book that either since the last two segments were in Business Class and I had an economy ticket. I think this was silliness. United’s reimbursement rates to Avianca for those Business Class tickets has got to be quite low, and if they’d booked me that, they could have avoided compensating me later, saving money overall.
A third agent offered me the Houston to Santiago to Buenos Aires trip I didn’t want, so I declined.
No agents could offer compensation or hotel; I was told I would have to ask for compensation after travel was complete and that I’d have to go to the airport to get a hotel voucher.
Instead, my friend graciously offered me his guest room, and I went to a concert in Houston when I was supposed to be in the air, discovering a new favorite artist–J.D. McPherson.
Further Delays
In the morning, I woke up early to hit the Houston Centurion Lounge before my 9 AM departure.
I left the Centurion Lounge at 8:15. When I got to the gate, a further delay to 9:45 AM was just being announced. “Oh great! I could have spent more time in the Centurion Lounge if this had been announced even five minutes earlier,” I thought.
Drinks and a snack cart were offered before the flight because of the new delay–a delay which pushed back to 10:45 AM and then 11:10 AM as a new plane had to come from the hangar.
The Compensation
When I landed in Buenos Aires 13 hours late, I already had an email from United.
By following the link, I was offer 7,500 miles or a $100 credit toward a future United flight. I appreciated the proactive offer, but I thought they might go higher, since they wiped out a day of mine in Buenos Aires. I submitted a complaint online.
Writing complaints is an art. Stick to one or at most two issues, so the major complaint is not lost in the shuffle. I focused on the initial delay and then the delays at the gate, which I thought were communicated late and poorly.
United’s response:
A separate email showed the size of the credit to be $200.
I didn’t really want a credit because I don’t fly many paid flights on United. I’d get more value from miles. I asked whether I could have miles instead, and got this reply:
I thought that was a fair resolution–more than fair really. I got back 17,500 of the 30,000 miles I spent on the award, meaning I paid just 12,500 miles to get down to Buenos Aires. And my overnight delay really wasn’t so bad. I got extra time with my friend and discovered a new musician.
Just for research purposes, I clicked the original link in United’s proactive email to see if double dipping was possible–whether their original compensation offers were also still available. They were not. Getting compensation from an agent precludes further compensation.
Bottom Line
If a mechanical delay or other delay within the control of the airline you’re flying screws up your trip, ask for compensation. (In this case, the delay was caused by a lightning strike during the Buenos Aires to Houston flight.)
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
Nice! Thanks for including the text of what you wrote. I called in last year on an AA flight and managed to get 12,500 (each) of our flights back to the East Coast from HKG. It’s definitely an art!
On AA I had RT ord>cgd non-stop return Flt broke down TEN HOURs lost had to go to LHR then ORD 5K points they gave me ..But they did offer a free nite ,shuttle and Food BUT I wanted to go HOME !!!!
CHEERs
Caveman, I believe that you were referring to a RT ORD-CDG (paris) in your post. If the delay was on your return flight, leaving the EU you are entitled to EU 261 compensation of 600 Euros (close to $700) for the delay in addition to food, hotel and shuttle. This is true for ANY flight leaving the EU that is longer than 3,500 km and arrives 3 hours or more late to your FINAL destination (on the same ticket, i.e. if your AA flight from CDG to, say, JFK is 2hrs late making you miss a JetBlue flight to your final destination, on 2 seperate tickets, you are not entitled to compensation). Compensation is not awarded for force-majeur (weather), which does NOT include late incoming plane, technical issues, etc. There is no time limit for filing for this compensation. This law applies to ALL airlines leaving the EU, all internal EU flights (within certain distance limits and varying amounts due), and EU carriers to the EU.
This past August my son and I were on Delta FF tickets that routed us on Air France from Paris to Amsterdam, AMS to JFK on KLM and then JFK-ROC on Delta. The KLM flight was late making us miss the last flight to ROC. Delta failed to tell us about EU261, but did give hotel and transportation vouchers. I filed a EU261 complaint with Delta and received $675 each a few weeks later. Do it! The miles compensation DOES NOT excuse them from complying with EU regulations.
Carol
Thank You very much for posting I didn’t know the rules and now I do I was tired I just wanted to go Home . It was like an Episode of Seinfeld they had 3 AA people working on me all Great looking females .I told them 5X the reason U buy a Non-Stop ticket and pay more is so U go from point A to B and DON”T STOP GET IT . They kept telling me I was wrong and offered things which I didn’t want . The next week AA sent me letter telling me how great they were by putting 5K points in my account and how lucky I was SOoo they closed the Deal .
I’ll let this go BUT next time I’ll be a real nasty person and get what I should get .
THANK YOU
JEFF
There is no time limit for filing an EU261 claim so if you still have your flight information you should file the claim. EU regulations also require airlines to inform you of this right but few do. Apparently less than 1% of people entitled to a claim ever file it. It is very easy to do. You have the right to keep those extra miles AND get the EU261 compensation.
Carol
I knew something was wrong I filed a Claim with AA supervisor right then @ CDG . Them there’s FEMALEs saved the company a lot of money on they flt by knowing what they were doing . That was in May 2012 and I threw everything out and YES I’m a 1%er .
Maybe I can help someone on a Southwest Flt. ONCE I was @ MDW and Southwest canceled the flt FOG but MDW didn’t close the airport . So U can reschedule on ANY Flt. (same trip) with no price change if there is a seat available for the next 2 weeks . The deal is U can’t CANCEL which I did then I called back later to find out the real story ..I booked later no points increase .
I’ll give U another laugh my first trip (rookie) to EU was $800 per nite now like $150 . That’s why I love these Blogs .
THANK YOU,THANK YOU !!!
Jeff