How long does it take United to re-credit award tickets? Weeks!

by MilesFromBlighty 9 Comments

Well the answer appears to be up to 6 weeks, unless you are desperate to use them now!

a screenshot of a travel application

Background

I had two award tickets LHR-HNL and return which I booked several months ago. When the recent UK to US fare sale came along I booked a revenue ticket with Air New Zealand and cancelled the award tickets.

Now, three weeks late I am still waiting for the miles to be recredited. Speaking with United this morning they tell me that I may have to wait for a further 4 weeks as ‘Mileage Plus are snowed under’.

In the ‘old’ days, before the United/Continental merger, re-credits were instant with United.

Comments

  1. They were instant with Continental, too, just to get that straight…

  4. Odd that it’s taking yours so long. Recently I canceled four award tickets in three separate transactions and all four posted within days. Same occurred with two award tickets I canceled about two months ago.

  5. I bought and then canceled United tickets, which then took over 1 month to credit back to my credit card.

  6. I notice the same issue with re-crediting of upgrade miles and elite upgrades when an upgrade doesn’t clear. I guess I’ve been lucky though – I have been able to get a Mileage Plus rep to re-credit them over the phone, but I did wait several weeks before I called.

  7. I can only say that the new United was horrible when it came to redepositing miles, and taxes, (when I cancelled an award less than 24 hours after booking). Without telling me when I had to call to get my miles and taxes refunded, the CSR that I spoke with (4 weeks after cancelling the ticket), charged me a redeposit fee of $150. Even after disputing the charge with AMEX, which turned out to be a FAIL and multiple phone calls to United to get this straightened out, including one phone call of over FOUR hours, it still took three more weeks before the $150 was refunded to my credit card.

  8. I had some recredited very quickly. I am about to cancel a flight, will see.

  9. @D – I think it may be different if you have to pay the fee as they must have a process which collects that from you. My refunds are free; just lengthy.

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