My daughter was flying home from overseas on United Airlines. The flight was overbooked, and the airlines offered her a voucher of $400.00USD cash to take the flight next day.

She has tried unsuccessfully to collect her cash from the UA office at the airport here; was told that she has to go to one of the UA hubs (Chicago or Denver) to collect the money.

We don't live near either of these hubs cities. Any suggestions from readers here? Has this happened to anyone else? It almost seems like UA knew that the possibility of the $400 being collected is slight. How deceitful!!

Are you sure it was a voucher for "cash"? Most times when a flight is overbooked you get "compensation" in the form of a voucher for a specified dollar amount (say $300 or $400) that can be used toward the purchase of another ticket on that particular airline.

It's been a while since I've gotten a UA bump, but as A Traveller discusses, I've gotten a voucher for future travel and used it with no problem.

Did she volunteer to take the bump or was she involuntarily bumped? I believe you're supposed to receive cash on the spot if involuntary.

This voucher looks like a ticket, and the agent wrote "cash only" for $400. So it is not a credit towards future travel.

I presume this was a domestic leg, since you are dealing in dollars, not euro. If it was a flight from the EU, I believe the payment should have been higher.

I would suggest your daughter write to the main office of United Airlines (write, not email; your daughter, not you) and enclose a copy of the voucher with an explanation of why she cannot get to their hub offices, and ask how she can negotiate the voucher.

If it is good only for future travel (which is common, and often has a time limit attached), they will certainly explain that. I would be very surprised if they did not have a procedure for negotiating the voucher (if it really is worth cash) by mail. If they give such a procedure, my only caution would be to keep a copy of the voucher and all associated paperwork, and use certified mail, return receipt requested.

Nancy,

I can't add much more to what clevelandbrown says. The procedure ole cleve describes is perfect.

I can say I have never (never, ever) received cash from United. It has always been in the form of a credit toward a future flight.

It did NOT require that I go to a hub. I had to make the reservation over the phone, not the internet, and I've simply mailed in the voucher to the address they gave me.

I'm not saying this is the case with you, but something...something just is not ringing right.

The UA Headquarters is in Illinois. I think they used to have this address on their website, but now only an e-mail is there.

United Air Lines Inc
1200 E Algonquin Rd
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

By the way, Nancy, when I said something wasn't ringing right, I hope I didn't infer that you weren't telling the story correctly. I was implying that the UA rep wasn't following their own usual procedure. Let us know how it all works out.

Aren't there instructions on the voucher?

Call United. You could try this number:
1-877-228-1327
Available 8 a.m.-7 p.m. CST Mon-Fri

Really, they are not trying to cheat your DD out of 400 bucks.