Grasshopper

Lives, Only time will tell. For my primary purposes American does not suit my needs. I fly regularly SFO to DEN and SFO to LHR. Again, I think the bigger problem is that the US Airlines business model is not feasable. Something will have to change that.

petlover

Sounds like lots of us may be in the same boat with UAL. Although we've always preferred AA with the extra legroom, we still have flown UA quite a bit as well and have over 350,000 FF miles on UA. We're going to use some of these for 2 business class tickets on Luthansa (UA partner) for Oct.1st but am concerned knowing that if UA does go under before we complete our trip, Luthansa has no obligation to honor our paper tickets since the miles came out of a UA account and Luthansa doesn't get paid until after the trip is complete! We could really be SOL.

You can no longer deposit your UA ff miles into Hilton Honors. Diners credit card is still an option, for now at least.
I'm looking into:
http://www.privilegeflyer.com/

to protect our UA miles (as well as other airline miles as well). Anyone signed up or familiar with this company?

Patty

GoTravel,
From what I understand, the provision that requires another U.S. carrier to honor tickets issued by a carrier which ceased operation expires sometime in May 2003. It's also on a 'space available' basis and the carrier honoring the ticket can charge a maximum of $25 each way.

Does anyone know if this has been extended or any plans for an extension beyond the current expiration?

BoulderCO

Petlover,

We also used United miles for tickets on Lufthansa. We are flying to Milan via Frankfurt in September. I was under the impression that once we had a paper ticket from Lufthansa that we were home free and didn't have to concern ourselves with United's fate. If what you say is true, Lufthansa may not honor the ticket if United goes out of business? I wasn't concerned about this trip before but I am now.

JackOneill

Just read an article (Monday, March 24) that said that despite the surge in the stock market last week, the airlines are still very much in trouble. Largely because no one's going anywhere (hotels are also in trouble).

Delta is going to be making some cuts. I think United's days are, indeed, limited.

Nina66

Because we used a United credit to pay for part of our tickets for May-June flights, we had to go to the airport to get them, couldn't do it over the phone. I _thought_ that we were issued paper tickets. When I called United a few days ago for something else, I found out that they were not paper tickets, but were E-tickets and that if I had wanted paper tickets, I would have had to pay $20 more for each one. I was never given that option.

When I asked the reservationist on the phone if anything happened would I be stuck because I didn't have paper tickets - something I have heard many times over the years, and she said "you've been watching Oprah, that is what she is telling everyone. and it is simply not true". Numerous travel sources, magazines, etc.. have warned against E tickets. The reservationist said that the E tickets wer actually better if we did need to use another airline.

If you don't ask, you are not told, but who can think to ask every question ... and believe me I do ask LOTS of them.

What is the real scoop on paper tickets vs E tickets?

Nina66

We are confirmed on a Business Upgrade on our return flight, and wait listed on the outbound flight. United took out the miles for both flights at the same time. When I discovered this, I called and they said that it would be easier to take the miles out before we were confirmed, but said that I could have them returned to account now, or if we do not get the upgrade. This made absolutely no sense to me as it has never happened before.

All of my talk about how much I love United .... I think this is the first time that there has been any sort of problem.

I'm thinking now that I should have those miles returned to my account just in case something happens and another airline will let me transfer my miles. I can have them taken from my account if and when we get the upgrade.

I feel as if they asked me to pay in advance for merchandise that they will or will not get for me. Just venting......

DavidDJ

Nina,

Basically the only time a having a paper ticket is an advantage over an E-ticket is if you are purchasing an unrestricted full fare ticket. In that case the paper ticket is as good as cash and will be honored by another carrier. If you have a paper ticket for discounted economy/restricted fare, chances are it will NOT be honored by another carrier. However, to be on the safe side, even if I am buying an economy ticket, I'd go with paper over electronic.

GoTravel

Basically, paper tickets and e-tickets are about the same. The economy restricted fare ticket (whether it be e or paper) is only good for the flight it is listed for unless the airline bumps you. If the airline overbooks or bumps you, they must put you on the next flight no matter what airline it is at their cost.

As far as the airline going out of business and having to honor the flight, to be on the safe side, I'd go to FAA.gov to find out.

Bill_I

Alot is being said here about UAL, because it MAY be the airline that is the closest to going out of business, but a number of the larger airlines may be close behind. The whole industry is having problems, as is the hotel & other travel related industries. Just because AA has more legroom, is not going to keep it from going into bankruptcy. It still has to cut their union & non-union costs, & maybe come up with a business plan. (UAL is made up of non-union office workers as well as the union workers in the field. Non-union employees have had their cuts made with no input like the unions have.) For those that thing UAL & other airlines should be run more like Southwest, you can't do that unless union contracts are renegotiated.

Patty

BoulderCO,
There's no guarantee that Lufthansa will honor your award ticket if UA liquidates even if you're holding paper tickets with Lufthansa flights. Did you contact Lufthansa to see if they have an official policy on this?