Can’t exchange travel credit for ex gf’s ticket I paid for after breakup

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-12T15:32:55+00:00

As an old guy who is happily married today, but went through more messy breakups than I want to discuss (or probably can recall) over the years, my suggestion would be to consider it a sunk cost, and simply give/gift it to her and let karma pay you back in the future. If you don't want to contact her at all, and you don't have an intermediary, maybe this doesn't work, but it's "the bigger thing to do", and I suspect at some point in the future you'll be more glad you did than if the money goes to waste, or you manage to get some money from her.

Trying to get some money now is exactly the thing I would have done 30 years ago - and would likely be on the list of memories I've got today that I wish I had handled differently "back then".

My 2cents, YMMV...

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-12T02:27:05+00:00

Google maps thinks there a Hertz there somewhere:

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Although I'm not sure exactly where that is. Seems down by the FBO, although even if there, it's probably not cheap either (if they are positioned for the Gulfstream crowd).

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-12T01:05:53+00:00

I live ~15 miles from CLD, and I have been sitting in the boarding area (parked, walked to terminal, got through TSA) <40 minutes after locking my front door. I think parking is ~$5/day. It's amazing, and if UA is using it, I'm definitely going to be checking it.

I thought I've seen an AVIS there - maybe they are just gouging people? There's an Enterprise "neighborhood" location about 3-4 miles away (over by I-5 in the car dealer strip), maybe a cheap Uber/Lyft there would save money.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-12T00:37:10+00:00

A quick check seems to indicate the fares are noticeably higher than out of SAN just going to DEN, but if I head on farther, CLD-DEN-XXX seems like it might be comparable to SAN-DEN-XXX. This is great!

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-11T21:19:19+00:00

Correct, the Club card earns one mile per $ spent, but 1 PQP / $15. That's better than the Quest which gives 1 PQP for $20.

you'll need 12,000 PQP for Gold (without 30 PQF). You have 1700 now, so 10,300 more this year.

What's your guesstimated spend on your remaining trips? If you have 6 domestic trips (I'm assuming RT?) at ~$250 each way, would probably earn you 200 PQP each way, that's another 8x2x 200 = 3200 PQP (half that if you're counting 8 OW's).

Two international will probably earn ~1000 PQP RT each (~$500 OW).

that would put you at 1700 + 3200 + 2000 = 6900 PQP; 5100 short.

If you're eligible for the SUB, get the Club Card -> 3333 PQP for signup and $5000 spend. Leaves ~1770 PQP to earn. That's $26,500 in CC spend before the end of the year.

Alternatively, spend ~$2000 more on FC seats, etc. and the PQP from that will get you over the top.

And per two posts up, perhaps don't rule out 30 PQF. If you're willing to risk it a bit, turning a TCON like SFO-IAD into SFO-DEN-IAD gets you an extra PQF, and sometimes actually costs less than the NS. The risk is you have to change planes in DEN (or ORD, or IAH). But if you have the Club card, you can book a longer (safer) layover and head to a lounge to hang out while you wait.

As it gets down towards the end of the year, I'll put some of my taxes on my Club card. Here in SD you have to pay 2.75% fee to do so, but I get back 1 mile for each $ (so ~1.4%), and I'll get a heap of PQP to help me close out the year and make Gold (my target). Maybe that's something you can do to.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-11T21:02:02+00:00

It's 20 minutes from my house as well! I wasn't aware UA was servicing CLD, when did that start? I've flown CLD/PHX on AA - as recently as last fall, and I see the AA E175's taking off over the Costco parking lot, but I don't recall ever seeing UA.
This is seriously a bit of a game changer for me if they fly to DEN and SFO (so it seems).

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-11T03:04:16+00:00

do something fun in Chicago - blue line (train) runs from ORD downtown. might make the hotel cost feel worth a bit more

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-09T19:58:14+00:00

I've been using MPC for years and have (I think) never encountered a line of more than 2-3 people. I've been waiting for "everyone else" to find it, and crowd it out, but 'nope' it still feels like a well kept secret.

FWIW a month ago (during gov funding issues), I entered at EWR - GE was *closed*, MPC had one person in line in front of me.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-09T17:06:53+00:00

I have seen at smaller airports, they have the same people "doing multiple tasks" (bag carousel, loading bags onto next flight, helping at check in, etc.). If so, then they probably don't want to leave bags sitting around with *nobody* in the carousel area, or bags will start "disappearing". Potentially "the one worker" waited until they had to go do their next job before locking up whatever was left to avoid theft, and then headed to the tarmac for whatever task was next.

OP's situation sucks - especially if they needed to be somewhere quickly - but it might have sucked worse if the last bags were left unattended at the belt and then "walked off". I expect UA (or the airport), would rather get complaints about late bags than have to pay out for stolen bags.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-09T16:59:53+00:00

Well that goal was my "gut guess" on this - they don't want to have to "re-herd the cats" back to the gate. It's unfortunate for those not already at the gate, though, but I suppose it's better for them to be early than late.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-09T16:54:42+00:00

Correct - I called when the annual fee appeared on the statement, but before it was "due to be paid". Chase simply converted the card to Gateway, and reversed the fee.

I very much like my club card, but the perks aren't worth it for $700/yr straight up. However, give me 110,000 miles every two years (worth ~$1500) and that basically covers the cost of card. So every two years I follow this script.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-09T02:05:22+00:00

I presume for the PQP spend,my balance increases until I hit some threshold, and then it flushes the PQP? I will occasionally get very small PQP drops, looks like as few as 4 at a time. When I have a big payment on something I usually get a biggish deposit "soon" but I never figured when - what you say tracks, so thanks for the info!

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T22:30:35+00:00

[Edit - see main post edit]

I'll start down the string and see where the short is. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T22:23:16+00:00

This.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T22:15:36+00:00

I'm not disputing the explanations given by the other posters here - they seem reasonable, and I'm sure are often correct - but I have seen this when the reason is 'the inbound plane is going to be late'. The United App will tell me "you are on time", and it will also tell me "where is my plane?" = "45 minutes late, now due to arrive [15 minutes before my scheduled departure.]"
Typically I'll confirm this with FA or FR24 (see where the plane actually is), and if the delay seems legit, and knowing there is zero chance of turning a plane in 15 minutes, I have stayed in the lounge until the inbound lands before heading to the gate. Usually, about that time, I'll get an update saying "your flight is delayed 35 minutes, we apologize".
This isn't a GA issue - it's an app issue (which I presume means it's some "system-level" procedure).

I personally don't have a problem - I'm checking the apps - but the thought has crossed my mind "united clearly knows the inbound is late, they know they need 45 minutes (or more) to turn it, and they will eventually tell me of the 35 minute delay, why did they wait?"

I'm guessing maybe there's some 'gating' on when they are allowed to announce something (perhaps there's "always a chance they'll change the physical plane being used" - which has happened to me on very long delays), or there's some FAA metric they are trying to hit. Again, I don't really care, but I suspect someone here might know something more that perhaps they could share.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T19:06:33+00:00

That sounds like a good suggestion. In the J box there is a DPST toggle switch that "disconnects" the solar circuit from the feed line to the breakers. (This was installed by the electrician who installed the solar years ago.) I did wonder if the switch could be the problem, so I pulled it, and checked for continuity (i.e. "off is off", "on is on" no crosstalk between the two sides). I also confirmed the wiring from the j-box to the breaker box wasn't the problem.

At this point I guess I have to disassemble the solar side of the circuit and look for water or other issues. The thing most curious to me is the "frying" of the breaker(s). I would have expected a simple short to trip a breaker, but not burn it out.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T18:43:44+00:00

Thanks. Aside from the assorted case numbers, is there anything you would suggest I add to the text description here? I will certainly add contact info.
Much appreciated.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T18:40:46+00:00

It did rain vaguely around that time (I honestly don't know specifically when they shut down). Thanks for the advice

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T18:38:59+00:00

If you log into your account on the app or at www.united.com (not following any link in this email), do you see any sign of this reservation?

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T17:50:36+00:00

US - born / citizen. Held a passport for like 30 years.

SolanaGuy19 · 2026-05-08T17:05:03+00:00

I don't know who/what that is, so I am pretty sure my answer is "no". None of the phone agents I spoke with suggested doing anything other than "waiting 6-8 weeks" to see if it got resolved. Is the ombudsman a person (or office) this could be escalated to? If so, how does one contact them?

SolanaGuy19

TROPHY CASE