[Brew]

An apparent bird strike occurred on a plane that was to take me onto Narita. The plane was removed from service and another plane took me on with a significant delay. My concern was - the FAA does not require the airlines to report bird strikes. The airline, in my attempt to recover delay reimbursements, indicated an environmental factor cancelled the flight, causing your delay and this does not meet the required factor for reimbursement or penalties. The UA staff had not reported a bird strike, but still used it as an excuse to avoid multiple claims. It troubles me on two folds; one, the FAA does not require reporting and that UA can literally mask there incident.

Best regards

David Bruce