Do airlines really issue vouchers when airfares drop?
 

I recently read that if a fare drops after you've purchased your ticket(s), the airline will issue a voucher for the difference (if yu call and ask for one, of course). Is this true? Do all airlines do this? Have any of you ever done this successfully? I'm one of those people who agonizes over fares before buying a ticket, so this would be a nice bit of reassurance for me, if true. Thanks for your input!

I have done this with US Airways. I actually figured I would need to cancel my reservation and repurchase with the new lower fare. When I told the customer service agent what I was trying to do she told me she would just give me a voucher for the difference. I didn't even know that option was available so I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know if other airlines also do this though.

When my fare on Continental went down this past spring, I was told it would cost $100 to change the tickets thereby negating the $90 savings I was hoping to get. The person I spoke with went to ask a supervisor about a voucher and came back to tell me no go.

I tried after some one told me she was successful getting a voucher on Delta.

Good Luck.

Yes.This is what is known in the airline industry as a "rollover".As long as you do not make any changes and the class of service is available,most airlines will do it.The credit is either a direct cas/credit card credit or vouchers for future travel use.However,it is not an across the board rule.I have had it happen with AA,DL,AmericaWest.This BTW is just with domestic tickets.International tickets are a whole different(and more complicated) ballgame......Good Luck!!

It happened with me once on Delta. Fare went down substantially and my travel agent got me a voucher to use against future flight. I did not have to pay any fee.

Same for us with Delta. No extra cost involved, and a voucher for the difference that was good for a year.

This practice was a lot more straightforward before change fees came into the picture and those change fees have escalated, in many cases. As a previous poster pointed out, the change fee can negate the difference down to nothing pretty quickly. I have done it within the past six months on an international ticket, but I believe the situations where this applies are becoming far more limited and they are evaporating quickly. (I've recently seen international tix with $200 change fees.)

I have done this several times with Continental. They now give you a pin number with the voucher. So you can do it over the phone without going to the airport or A continental office. I guess with the e tickets you can use the pin number and if you have paper you have to go to an airport or office I had a voucher for $124.00 its is worth it to keep tracking the fares. The fare tracking features on travelocity and expedia are help full. I really depends on the airline and class of ticket purchased . Also ask if booking over the phone if they will honor and issue a refund /voucher if the price drops. I have also got vouchers from Delta

I fly Northwest most of the time, and I have gotten vouchers though them with no problems. It pays to keep an eye on the fare, especially if you're travelling during peak seasons (spring break, holidays, etc). We went to Florida over thanksgiving and wanted to book airfare before the flights were booked. I think we paid about $350 round trip, but by checking the airfare every few days, I called Northwest when it came down in price. I ended up calling them 3 or 4 times, but the net saving was about $175, which I used for a voucher to Florida the following year.

Most people aren't aware that you can do this, and it's obviously not something that the airlines want to promote.

Good luck.

Lynne

I easily got a voucher on an international flight (Costa Rica) last year. All I did was call the airline when I saw the fare drop and they flagged my record and I got a voucher for the difference when I checked in. I've used the voucher to purchase new tickets, and if the new tickets are less than the voucher worth they issue a new voucher good for still another year.

Oh yeah, and it was American airlines that did this.

I tried to get a voucher last winter with Hawaiian when fares dropped. Because I had purchased an e-mail ticket, I was told they would not give me a voucher for credit. Maybe it pays to call and purchase by phone?

It has worked for us with NW on several trips. As long as the new fare is available on the SAME flight as the original tickets and you meet all the criteria for the new fare - ie. advance purchase, they issued and mailed to me an MCO (miscellaneous credit order) for the difference. I just used the MCO on tickets to Mexico.

Apparently Continental has changed their policy. As recently as last year, you could get a voucher for even a small drop in fare. However, they said their new policy is to treat vouchers the same as reticketing. In otherwords, they will charge a $100 fee, which has the effect of making it useless, unless the fare has dropped over $100. It's a real shame.

Our fare on USAirways went down three times. Each time I called up and got a voucher for the difference. We ended up with three vouchers valuing over $200! That's a free ticket.
Also, we recently booked tickets using the vouchers and didn't have any problems.

wow..i didn't know this..that's really good info.
but what if you purchased your ticket through a third party, like orbitz? can you still get the difference back with the airline?

Northwest does give vouchers for differences in fare. A couple of stipulations though....it can't be a lower fare due to an internet only sale b/c agents can't "see" the lower rates. Also, they have recently started charging a $25 fee for issuing the vouchers so you get the difference in fare minus $25. So if the difference is less than $25, it's obviously not worth it. I've used the voucher system many times without any issues.
JaneS

On American Airlines this spring, the credited the savings to the charge card used to purchase the ticket. As prices continued to fall, they were willing to do it more than once.

Keith

Let me add (Wish we could edit posts after placing them) this was an Internation nonrefundable ticket purchased through AA's website.

Keith

An update: I just tried to get a voucher from Continental, and no go. My only option was to rebook and pay the change fees, which would have been more than the savings in ticket price. Bummer! (Has anyone succeeded in doing this with Continental recently? Did I just hit the wrong guy to talk to??)