A few weeks ago we shared an option to get to the Seychelles with Qatar Airways in business class. Since our 2009 trip to the Seychelles we’ve always wanted to go back. So when we found availability on Qatar Airways we got a little bit excited.
We found the availability on United’s website and booked the flight in business class but something went wrong in the process.
Email From United Shows Reservation
We instantly received an email that the reservation was booked through United’s website, but that we just needed to wait for an e-ticket receipt. But we were “assured” our reservation was confirmed as United suggested. We were hopeful that United would confirm the reservation as stated in the original booking.
Reservation Shows
When we noticed the miles were not taken out of the account, it was obvious something went wrong. A week later, this is what we see when we pull up the reservation.
A goose egg, no ticket, not even a segment! What if we had booked a week in advance and didn’t check the reservation?
No other emails were received from United, no phone call, just nothing. Like Kunu, once suggested, United just did less, in fact they did nothing. Just an email stating that we can “rest assured” that our reservation will remain confirmed and there was no need to contact them unless we were flying within 24 hours.
Bottom Line
Something is obviously wrong with the United website’s ability to book Qatar Airways flights in business class. No miles have been taken out of the account and no reservation appears to have been ticketed. Just an email assuring us that we still have a flight confirmed. Lesson is learned here, if you think you’ve booked Qatar Airways availability through United’s website, call them. It looks like Qatar Airways availability to Seychelles using United miles just may be phantom availability after all.
Kevin reports that when booking Qatar Airways on United’s site they have proactively booked him on another carrier without notifying him in advance. This is due to the Qatar Airways flight not being available to book, even on United’s secondary system.
I booked flights home on {the United} web site on Qatar from BKK to DOH to IAH. Told web site to go ahead and book and purchase. It purchased the trip but on its own it changed the flights to BKK to FRA (TG) to IAH (LH) without indicating the change until the final itinerary showed up.Â
Interesting question here. Will the original reservation be honored? Is United communicating to the other carrier, Qatar Airways? And the big question is what else is going wrong and not broadly in the public domain?
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The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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Booked a Business class award to Maldives on Qatar with UA miles. Confirmed, ticketed and miles deducted. Called Qatar to and they confimed the flights as ticketed and privided their PNR
It’s not just Quatar. I had a milageplus awards flight with Asiana that was fully confirmed then just disappeared! Apparently some issue with the software that UA brought over from Continental. No communication from UA. It is not helpful to be traveling and find that part of the travel schedule no longer exists. It is a pretty bad state when can”t trust an airline when they say you have a confirmed seat.
Although not a lawyer, I would have thought that you had a binding contract with United – and their original message is simply confirmation of their agreement to that binding contract.