unused ticket on United
 

I booked a non-refundable ticket for last November and ended up not going on my trip.<BR><BR>I paid $850 and got talked into an e-ticket.<BR><BR>When I cancelled, I recall the agent telling me that since it was a non-refundable e-ticket, I had a credit good for 1 year.<BR><BR>Now I'm not sure I will be able to schedule another trip by this fall.<BR><BR>Any suggestions on how to preserve what will be left of my $850 after change fees?

Go on another trip no later than November.

The credit only has to be used up by October. That doesn't mean that you must travel before October. Thus, you could buy a ticket for December travel (or any time, really) and apply the credit, as long as you ticket before the 1-year mark. <BR>

When you say you got talked into an e-ticket - I am not sure I understand what difference that makes as far as cancellations/refunds. When I have booked an e-ticket, the rules are the same as for paper tickets.<BR><BR>I wonder if you booked something and then cancelled that whether or not that would start the one-year clock all over again. Probably not, but it may be worth investigating.

You've gotten some good advice so far. Based on my experience, you better book something before the year ends or you'll lose everything. I had a voucher that not even a very good business contact at United could extend for me, even though a company I represent is a client of United.<BR>As a previous poster has said, the key thing is to book the ticket within a year.

Thanks for the replies so far...I mentioned the e-ticket thing because the agent told me if I had a purchased a paper ticket, it would not expire at all -- but what I have is an e-ticket credit. <BR>

<BR>I don't know if cancelled tickets are treated the same way as United credit certificates. With the credit certificates, you have to be _ticketed_ within one year of the date of issuance of the credit. That means that you can book any time before the end of that year for a flight to be taken in the next eleven months, as their computers only show flights for the next 331 days.<BR><BR>That gives you almost an extra year to use them. Does it work the same way with a cancelled flight credit? Check with United again for the exact amount of time you have to be re-ticketed. You may be able to stretch it out until October of 2003.<BR><BR>United just recently issued both of us $229.90 credit certificates because they lower our SF - NY tickets by that much within a few days of purchasing them. They were issued in March 2002, so I have to be ticketed by March 2003, for as far ahead as February 2004, which is when my travel must be completed. RIGHT... as if I'm going to keep them that long. They are already burning a hole in my pocket.<BR><BR>Is it possible to re-ticket a re-ticket? I know that you would be charged fees, $100 (?) for each transaction, but it may be a way to use at least part of your origial $850 investment.

Paper tickets are easier to change than Etkts(to avoid added problems you should usually if not always get paper tickets). You have gotten some advice on this but you should really just call United(or wherever you purchased you ticket from) to clarify all the rules/restrictions. <BR><BR>It may say that you have one year to use the ticket, that could either mean you have to book and fly by one year later or it may mean you have one year to book your flight and fly later. You need to call them back though to verify if you can do that because some tickets require you book and fly by one year of your original departure date. If you can't do that then you will be out your money and unfortunatly there is nothing you can do about it. Also, did you verify if there are any change fees for you to make changes to the ticket???

There will be the $100 change fee...I wonder if I can get a paper ticket and then hold on to it longer than a year...?

to the top

My husband did the exact same thing, and you know what, I don't think they ever mention it, but you can simply get credit back to your credit card!

Tom-<BR><BR>You probably won't be able to get a paper ticket, it sounds as though they already mentioned it would be an eticket. You will just have to contact the airline or company where you bought it to verify the exact time length (If you didnt book with the airline then call the agency first). <BR><BR>Actually if you can book a trip in the time frame dictated, $100 change fee is not bad for a $850 ticket. And the post below is not completly acurate about the credit card. In some cases you can contact the credit card company and stop payment but if it was not recently purchased and months have gone bye, the Credit Card company will not necesarily refund the money. If it were that easy everyone would be doing it all the time when they didnt get any results with the company they purchased with. The best thing to do is make sure your plans are definite and if not make sure prior to purchasing you are aware of the penalties you face with changes or cancellations. I speak of experience as a Travel Agent. Good luck Tom, hope it works out for you.