AAFrequentFlyer: Well you are actually disputing what I'm saying. Maybe you call it something else and not a voucher, but Continental sent me 3 pieces of paper with the value of each ticket on each paper (mine, my husband and my son). All 3 had a record number on them and when we finally decided where in the Caribbean we wanted to go, I purchased our 3 tickets online with Continental and when it was time to pay I used the record numbers on my vouchers. Period. Nothing else to it.
I'm sure it varies for each airline. That's why I clearly stated you should always check with the airline you're flying with.

All right. I still have the receipts from Continental. It's called an electronic travel certificate.They were the same value of the original tickets. We had ONE year to use it from DATE OF ISSUE. There was pin code on it. When I was ready to purchase my next ticket I had to use the pin code to get the value of the credit. The $100 change fee per ticket was put on my credit card when I called Continental to CANCEL our trip. It was NOT taken from the ticket value. Same difference any way.
Again, every airline has its own rule.

caribtraveler, did you have e-tickets for the "first" travel? I plan on calling Continental about this myself.

They told me to mail documents when they became available and they'd waive the fee. They also told me travel was not limited to original destination (I expected it to be).

Thanks for the replies, I haven't been online all day.

I don't use a travel agent, so I couldn't really ask their advice, but I'm thinking theweasel has a very good point, if there is a hurricane in the fall, then the airport will be up and running in February, even though my hotel may be gone and I won't want to vacation there.

I think I'll have to see how much insurance is to see if it's worth buying the tickets now ($409 total from NY to Cancun), or risk waiting until after Hurricane season to purchase.

I'm not a good long-term planner, I really hate to plan a trip more than 6 months out.

esm: Yes they were e-tickets. I spoke to a customer sevice rep when we had to cancel our trip. She said she could book something else right away for us. We didn't know where we wanted to go so that's why she issued us the travel certificates. They came in the mail very quickly. When I rebooked, I was able to do it online with no problem to a totally different destination.
This all happened at the end of '04 and we had till the end of '05 to use the vouchers.
You should definitely call them as you never know when rules change.
Wow, $200 per ticket for a change fee now?! Hope they definitely waive the fee for you. I've actually had good luck with Continental about cancelling change fees when we've had good reasons (on 2 occasions). Good luck.

ems: Another important thing you need to know about the Continental vouchers (if the rules haven't changed). Let's say your current ticket costs $480. They'll issue you the voucher for that amount. Now when you finally use it, if the flight you book is $300, you will LOSE the remaining $180. Continental will not issue you another voucher with the balance.
For us it was not a problem because our next flight happened to be more expensive than the first one.
But so you know.

Thanks for the replies caribtraveler. I'll call them right away.

Our tickets were over $900 each so I'll make sure to ask about all their rules.

With apologies to nina; didn't mean to take over your thread. Too much going on and all I managed to do about the trip was to call around to cancel.

No worries, we can all learn something from eachother!

Nina: yes sorry! and good luck with whatever you decide. I have 2 trips booked to the Caribbean this summer and I'm hoping for a less intense hurricane season than the last 2 years! We're chancing it (no travel insurance).

esm: If you don't think your next flight will be that much ($900), see if Continental will split the $900 into 2 vouchers per person. One for $500, and a second for $400. I believe they can do that. I'm sure you'll take 2 trips within one year and you hopefully won't lose much money, if any. If you can, please let us know the outcome. I'd love to know if things have changed with Continental.

I just got off the phone. Continental will allow travel anywhere (original passengers only) and if the new ticket costs less than the original, a credit voucher will be issued.

I was told to make sure to book and purchase by original purchase date. They said they've made a note of the reason and I can provide documentation at the airport for fee-waiver.

This was a timely post for me and it was fortunate that I checked here.

Good luck nina. Thanks again caribtraveler. I'll ask about breaking the vouchers when the time comes.

carbitraveler and esm -

Let me clarify something about CO vouchers. Both of you are correct, but there's a distinction. Say you decide to cancel your current $900 ticket (and pay the $100 or whatever change fee). You can either:

1) get a $900 voucher issued. You can only use it once - meaning if you then use it to buy a $500 ticket, you lose the remaining $400 of value;

2) book the $500 ticket immediately, and then you can have them issue you a $400 voucher.

So, if you're certain about a future trip, you should do 2) and get that booked and have the remaining value issued on a voucher.

esm: It sounds good for you. Thanks for the update!

rkkwan: Thanks for the distinction. It absolutely makes sense.