I have had more problems with booking flights through UAL agents than you can imagine. The latest...

I have a credit from an unused flight that I had cancelled about a year ago, which I see no way to use without calling United. I looked online and found the flight that I wanted to book and put in on hold (silly me, I thought that this would save me time when I called United).

I then called United, explained that I wanted to book a flight for my husband and credit the unused ticket. I gave her the reservation number of the flight on hold and the ticket number of the prior ticket. She booked the ticket, assigned the seats and gave me the final airfare, which did not reflect the credit of the unused ticket (but did include a $15 credit). I brought this to her attention - she said she thought I wanted to use the credit for another flight - ?!?!?! - Huh?

So....she cancelled the flight and rebooked applying the credit. So I thought. Today, I looked at my American Express online. I was billed for the first ticket (which she cancelled) and billed the full amount for her second attempt - with no credit for my unused ticket.

I called United and they said there is nothing they can do since the ticket was booked over 24 hours ago. Again...huh? I have to pay twice? I can't get credit for my unused ticket?

I really dislike United's phone reservation agents. I have yet to book anything with them that turns out right the first time. I will need to call back again (and again and again) until I can get someone that can fix this mess. Last time I had a problem, I had to call over 20 times before someone had any sense.

Thanks for letting me vent.

That's very unfortunate and I hope you get it sorted. But, I'm glad you shared it with us. I am having a similar problem with Delta. I write letters to their their "customer care" and enclose documents. So far I have gotten three very different responses, explaining that I am due no credit, but none of them have even been remotely based on the facts which I provided each time I wrote; and each responses conflict with prior response(s). Is there a good US airline with roomy seats?

GianniFL: Don't know if you have the energy to do it, but you could send all three paper-ink responses with your own cover letter to the VP for Whatever (public relations, operations, customer relations, etc.) at Delta. See if someone has a "from the home office" column in their flight magazine, or you could always send it to "new" CEO Richard Anderson and assume you'll get a "sorry you didn't like what we did" letter from his admin. assistant.

Delta Air Lines, Inc.
1030 Delta Boulevard
Atlanta, GA 30320-6001

Thank you soccr, in addition to looking for a "better" airline, I am trying to decide what action might be worthwhile regarding Delta. Perhaps I will use one of your suggestions. Perhaps I'll also post it on Flyertalk.

I wish you the best - I've actually had good luck with United, and I think if you document everything really clearly (venting here is good - we all do it), and calmly, you should be able to get your situation squared away. Good luck!

If she cancelled your first ticket then United just has to issue you a refund. You are allowed to cancel a United ticket for a full refund if you do it within 24 hours of booking.

Sometimes it takes a few days for the refund to post. I'd contact Amex to fix that. If United has your e-mail address then they should have sent you a confirmation for your first ticket and another e-mail for the refund when it was cancelled.

Shortly after booking your second ticket you would have received a United flight confirmation e-mail showing your itinerary along with the price. And your e-receipt would have appeared with your itinerary in My Itineraries at united dot com. It's always a good idea to check the receipt after buying something. In this case, if you saw the error then you had 24 hours to get it fixed.

I'd call United and ask for a supervisor and explain the problem. It's too late to reissue the ticket, unless they waive the change fee. But you really want them to just refund the amount of the voucher for the unused ticket to your cc.