mattnliz

We honeymoon last spring in Italy. On our departure out of Rome there was disruption to our flight due to the volcano eruption in Iceland so we volunteered to be bumped. We each received 3 United vouchers worth $200 each. We're now trying to book another European trip using those vouchers and seem to be having difficulty. We'd like to fly out of Austin, TX into Ljubljana, Slovenia and then from Dubrovnik, Croatia back to Austin. Apparently the vouchers can only be used for United flights, not Continental or Star Alliance. We've been reading that there may be a loophole in using these vouchers and wonder if anyone has done this: 1) purchased a refundable United Airlines flight using the voucher 2) called united and used the value of the new ticket toward the itinerary you really want (so long as there is at least one United Airlines coded flight in the new itinerary). If anyone has any suggestions as to how we should go about using these vouchers to make our European trip come true please let us know. This is our first time using vouchers.

Thank you in advance!

mztery

1) make sure the vouchers don't expire before you use them

2) if continental flies where you are going call them and see if you can use the vouchers. They are good on some flights AFAIK.
3) I wouldn't risk what you are suggesting but everyone is different.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

As mztery pointed out, check the expiration date on the vouchers. Such things usually have an expiration date of a year, and the volcano mess was just about a year ago at this time. That would be my first concern.

mrwunrfl

Where did you read about the loophole?

I <i>think</i> that the rules are that use of a voucher has to be on UA/UX and it has to be a roundtrip and it might have to be booked online.

Once you use the voucher when buying a ticket the voucher is used. Your scheme to buy a refundable UA ticket and then use it to get the ticket you want would probably result in the loss of the voucher.

Let us know how it turns out.

mattnliz

mztery & Jeff_Costa_Rica - Our vouchers expire on the 7th of May.

mrwunrfl - We read about this loophole on another forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ntinental.html

You're correct, a voucher can only be used on UA/UX flights although to use a voucher we have to book over the phone according to UA's website.

We understand that once we use the voucher it is used but our idea is that if we use it to purchase a fully refundable ticket then we could change the itinerary without any service charges and we could get the continental flights we really wanted since UA does not fly into Ljubljana or out of Dubrovnik. We just wanted to know if anyone has actually done this before.

We appreciate everyone's input!

Lance71

Hi,

I wanted to share this. The link doesn't pertain exactly to your situation, persay, but it may give some ideas...
http://www.petergreenberg.com/2010/0...t-flier-miles/

Also, Peter Greenberg mentions in one of his books that miles and vouchers are a pain in the you-know-what to redeem. A miles/voucher seat on flight 777 to Vegas may not be available, but revenue seats are.

The general jist of his story was that he tried to redeem miles to Hawaii (?) for a trip in May and was told NO seats were available. The only seat available to redeem his miles was a flight in September. So he booked it.
He hung up and called the airline back three more times, and found revenue seats available in May, so he purchased 14 seats total (later cancelling them, but he now knew there were REVENUE seats available).
In May, he showed up at the airport with his September ticket, and stated that he wanted to take his trip earlier. There were seats on the flight, so he was allowed to fly.
Once the plane takes off, the empty seats are revenue that the airline will never recover. If they let him fly today, then his seat in September can be sold instead.

That's the basic explanation of his experience. The point he made was that once he had a confirmed seat, it was esentially easier to redeem those miles for the time he originally wanted. The caveat is to talk to the right person at the ticket counter.
My description of his experience is lacking in the details, I know. The easiest way I can think to explain it is that it's like boarding standby on a different day.

mztery

if you read the entire Flyertalk thread

you will also read that you run the risk f LOSING the value of the voucher, that the only amount you would get to use is any $$ ABOVE the value of the voucher.

mztery

plus is it BOOK BY or TRAVEL BY may 7?

mrwunrfl

I read the ft thread and saw the claims that you referred to. I also saw the post by danmiller3 and it is too bad he didn't get a reply. That UA agents said he would lose the value of the voucher. That sounds right to me because he would be re-ticketing. He called his voucher a "type B" voucher and the earlier post said that type B vouchers are ones that have $ amounts. But he may have one of the customer service vouchers that they give out for some service issue (like no water in the lavs). But I THINK that VDBs are different and more like a credit voucher than a disount coupon. But I am just guessig.

I think I saw on that thread that you would need to have at least one UA leg on the ticket.

Go ahead and post your question on ft.

Have you checked to see if you can buy your itin from United? I assume it can be done with UA and LH or one of the other *A partners. Before you buy that refundable ticket to somewhere you really need to check to see (if you haven't already) what fare they offer. Then compare that price to purchasing it elsewhere. I would not be surprised if you said that the UA-purchased ticket was more than $200 higher than from elsewhere.

I will have to read that Greenberg story. There are better easier away to check on revenue inventory than by buying tix.

mrwunrfl

Oh, that link was just advice to be flexible. The book story sounds interesting. But instead of calling to get revenue tix he could have just asked if there were award seats available and if so would be able to change his reservation and probably not be charged a fee if only the dates of travel changed. What mattered was not exactly that he had confirmed seats. What mattered was that he had a ticket.

qwovadis

vouchers are usually pretty scammers

requiring more expensive flights on just the one carrier.

Got one last year due to flying delays and flying

up to the Artic Circle and around the volcano last year.

Not helpful had to book best price independently.

Sort of like companion tickets seems like they would save

but they rarely do.

CPaines

Greetings --
Just this evening, I was booking my flight. I had a United voucher for $125.00, and was told, "In order to use that voucher, it will cost you $150.00."
So be wary of their offers.
C-