WARNING -- Check your eTicket!

[lovesmurfs]

OMG!!! I booked our December airfare July 1 using United's website -- received a confirmation email and everything. I've been quite pleased to see that since then, the fares have increased about 30% for the same tickets.

Having a case of Disney-induced OCD, I went online to double check my flight today, and found that THE TICKETS HAD NEVER BEEN ISSUED!! I'm faxing the email Travel Booking Confirmation that I received (July 1) to Customer Service, so it's easily rectified NOW, but what if I had waited until the day before to confirm???

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I don't really understand your post. Are you saying that your tickets were never really purchased? Or that you didn't get actual paper tickets?

If the former, then you will have to buy tickets at the new price. If the later, you never should have received paper tickets in the first place.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I received a confirmation from the airline that my tickets were purchased (I use electronic tickets). My credit card was charged for the tickets in July.

However, something went wrong on the airline's end and they never completed the ticketing process. I was told by United yesterday that the tickets weren't issued, even though I have an email from them saying they were issued. The website was treating my ticket confirmation number as a held reservation only -- not a true reservation or ticket -- and, obviously, the time for the held reservation had passed.

I'm faxing over the email confirmation today to United and they are issuing the tickets, but it could really have been a big mess later on. I've never heard of this happening before. United is honoring the price quote from July. I just need to make sure that they don't double charge my credit card.

 

[bavaria]

While I have had this happen myself, it is actually pretty rare. Typically there is a problem with issuing the ticket, even though the flight was booked and paid for. (In my case usually due to an international address and/or credit card)

While this may be good advice, frankly I think that the incidence of this occuring to travellers on this site is quite low; this post may actually only serve to scare people unnecessarily.

United sends out two emails - one when the ticket is 'purchased' as a 'booking on hold'; the other when ticketed. You can go to the 'my itineries' section on United.com to confrim that your ticket is actually 'ticketed'.

 

[NotUrsula]

Even though THIS problem is a rare one, lots of other things are not so rare, especially flight time changes and/or vacated seat assignments. You should always double-check your flight details online (or call) within 48 hours of departure to make sure that you don't have any surprises.

 

[HolliePoppins]

While I have had this happen myself, it is actually pretty rare. Typically there is a problem with issuing the ticket, even though the flight was booked and paid for. (In my case usually due to an international address and/or credit card)

While this may be good advice, frankly I think that the incidence of this occuring to travellers on this site is quite low; this post may actually only serve to scare people unnecessarily.

United sends out two emails - one when the ticket is 'purchased' as a 'booking on hold'; the other when ticketed. You can go to the 'my itineries' section on United.com to confrim that your ticket is actually 'ticketed'.

I dont think this post will scare people unnecessarily. The poster just wanted to let people know this could happen to save other people the headache they are going through.

To the poster: Thanks for giving everyone the heads up, to make sure and check everthing to avoid a possibly ruined trip. Hope you have a great trip.