United has had an ongoing saga regarding it’s schedule change policy:
- On March 8th United made it so that a schedule change of 25 hours was required for a refund. Previously 2 hours was required. United also decided it was a good idea to apply this to existing tickets
- Â United then said that schedule changes of 2-25 hours would result in a travel credit
- United then said it would be determining who was eligible for a refund on a ‘case by case basis’.
- United then said that flights changed by more than 6 hours would receive a credit and flights changed by 2 – 6 hours would receive a travel credit
- United then said they would keep your money for one year before providing a refund
United has now announced that they are reverting back to the original schedule change policy and if a change of more than two hours has been made a refund will be offered. The change also applies retroactively, which is good news in this case. You can file a request for a refund here. I suspect this is all a result of the negative press United has received, the DoT complaints (and the pressure DoT has put on United and other airlines as a result of these complaints) and lawsuits filed. United is stating that customers will still need to wait up to 21 business days for a refund. The DoT has stated that airlines need to provide a refund 7 business days to provide a refund if payment was made by credit card or 20 business days if made by cash or check.
