ArcaMax

Krupa Singampalli books a flight home from Australia, but a last-minute schedule change never reaches her inbox. When she arrives at the airport, the airlines can't find her reservation. After missing her original flight and buying new tickets out of pocket, Singampalli discovers that the business class upgrades she paid for have also vanished. Will United Airlines make this right?

Q: I booked flights from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand, going back through Cairns, Australia, for my family of four. We purchased business class upgrades using 30,000 miles and a $600 copay per passenger. The outbound trip went smoothly, but our return became a disaster. At 1 a.m. in Cairns, I checked the United app and discovered that my mother's status on the Cairns flight had changed to "waitlisted." I called United's customer service. A representative told me that the flight was "not operating" and rerouted all of us through Sydney instead.

When we arrived at Cairns Airport, Virgin Australia, which operated the first leg of our return flight, told us that only my mother had a confirmed ticket; the rest of us had nothing. I called United again. An agent said that Qantas had my ticket but couldn't explain what this meant. Qantas couldn't find any reservation without a confirmation number, which I didn't have. United then offered a three-way call with Qantas but disconnected, leaving me stranded.

While I was on the phone trying to sort this out, the flight departed without us. The next United agent claimed that we had seats on a flight from Sydney but couldn't explain how we were supposed to get there from Cairns. Qantas staff at the airport were dismissive and refused to help.

Feeling desperate to get home, I purchased four one-way tickets on Virgin Australia from Cairns to Sydney for nearly $890, plus $60 in baggage fees. When we reached Sydney, I learned that United had canceled our tickets because we didn't board the assigned Qantas flight, which never appeared in my app, email or texts. The Sydney United staff rebooked us, but our business class upgrades were gone.

United claims that they sent a schedule change notification weeks before to the email addresses on file, but I never received it. When I contacted United's customer service, a representative offered $100 travel certificates and said that the matter was closed. United refuses to refund the $1,800 in upgrade fees or reimburse the tickets that I had to buy. -- Krupa Singampalli, in Union City, California

A: When an airline makes a schedule change, it has a legal obligation to notify its passengers. United claims that it sent you an email before your flight, but a single email sent six weeks before departure isn't enough. Airlines should send multiple notifications as the departure date approaches, and they should require you to acknowledge them.

According to the Department of Transportation, when a flight is significantly changed, and a passenger doesn't accept the new itinerary, the airline must provide a refund. United rerouted you through Sydney on partner airlines without ensuring that you actually had confirmed seats. This is a massive breakdown in coordination between United and its partners.

The situation at Cairns Airport was absurd. You bought a United ticket, so United should have been responsible for getting you home. Instead, you got caught in a blame game between three airlines. You could have escalated this to a United supervisor when the first agent couldn't help. I publish the executive contact information for United on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. But you did an excellent job of documenting your case with confirmation numbers, time stamps, and the names of agents you spoke with.

After my advocacy team got involved, United refunded the $600 copays. The airline still refuses to reimburse your Virgin Australia tickets. United maintains that because it had rebooked you on a Qantas flight (that you knew nothing about), the case is closed. This is exactly the kind of runaround that drives travelers crazy. I recommend that you contact your credit card company to see if you can recover the rest of your expenses.

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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.

(c) 2026 Christopher Elliott

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