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Sucked into the flight voucher vortex: one survivor’s story

November 5, 2007

It takes just a few seconds for an airline to suck the money from your credit card account. But when it comes to a refund, air carriers are considerably slower, and they almost always prefer to issue vouchers. With good reason. Airline funny money comes with all kinds of terms and conditions that often make it impossible to use — meaning that in the end, the company gets to keep your cash.

If you think that’s an overly negative characterization of the airline industry’s business practice, let me introduce you to Becky Granger. She’s a United Airlines frequent flier, and her account of trying to redeem airline scrip is not that unusual:

I noticed that a flight dropped $101 in price after I purchased it. I called United to see if I could get a refund and the agent cheerfully informed me that I couldn’t get a refund but I could get a flight credit to use on a future flight. This sounded great, so I agreed.

A few days passed, and I received a paper voucher in the mail, so I thought, great, I’m good to go.

Well, as soon as I tried to use that voucher, I realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. First, there is no place to enter the voucher number when booking online, so I called them to book over the phone. They told me that they saw the credit had been issued but as it was issued on paper, they couldn’t help me over the phone. I would have to go to the airport and talk to an agent there who could physically see the voucher.

Oh and by the way, it costs $20 to book a ticket at the airport. And no, we don’t issue these refunds in any way other than paper.

Am I the only one who sees some flaws in this logic?

After this conversation, I was feeling pretty grumpy, but since I had a trip coming up, I thought I would try to use the voucher at the airport to book the upcoming flight. I took my voucher to the airport and went to a customer service counter on the concourse. I learned the hard way that they don’t do future ticketing, and I would have to go back outside security to a ticketing agent. Well, I didn’t have time for that so I figured I would try on the return leg.

When it came time to fly back home, I left plenty of time and got to the airport early, and it was a good thing because I waited 45 minutes in line before I was able to talk to a ticketing agent. Once I got up there, the agent took the voucher, looked up the flights I wanted, and quoted me a price that was over $200 more than the Web site had said. I questioned this and the agent said “Well, lots of things are cheaper on the Internet.”

At this point, I was about ready to spit and left in disgust.

So thanks, United, for taking care of your loyal customers. Just tell me up front that I’m not getting my money back and let’s be done with it. Don’t send me all over creation trying to follow rules that do not make sense. And for goodness sake, don’t insult my intelligence by telling me that lots of things are cheaper on the Internet!

Let me be the first to say this is not just a United problem. I have similar cases at US Airways and Delta Air Lines. The airlines have designed a system that is basically intended to keep their customers’ money. That’s just wrong.

If you’re going to offer a refund, credit the passenger’s account immediately. Don’t make them wait “two to three billing cycles” for the money.

If airlines insist on issuing vouchers, the funny money shouldn’t expire and it needs to be redeemable online.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

8 comments

  • Jason

    United’s vouchers are terrible, I couldn’t agree more. However, they can be used in the following way:

    Step 1. Make an online reservation, holding the itinerary without paying.
    Step 2. Call them and tell them the confirmation number and that you would like to pay for it with a voucher.
    Step 3. Tell them you do not live near an airport and you wish to mail the voucher.
    Step 4. Confirm that they will hold your reservation for 10 days (not the usual 48 hours), make a copy of the voucher, and mail it in to the address they give you.

    This information is NOT contained in the voucher, and I have every sympathy for Becky, as I have been through almost as much before I discovered this method.

    Good Luck!,

    Jason
    Denver, CO

  • Art Isenberg

    Another reason for flying Southwest. If you find the flight you booked cheaper after you’ve booked it, you can rebook it, on line, without an agent, and the credit being returned to you goes to your SW account and can be used for future purchase within one year from the original booking date. No hassle.

  • http://msn Cliff Woodrick

    Hi – When Jet Blue was late taking off because of a almost flat tire found on the preflight check, we were issued a $50.00 voucher that stayed with my Jet Blue account. The next flight cost to my surprised had a $50.00 deduction. I forgot about this but was told that Jet Blue does this automatically for it’s registered customers.

    Have a wonderful day – Cliff

  • Karen

    I recently took a direct — but not nonstop — flight from Las Vegas to Orlando (stopped in Atlanta). After all of the Atlanta passengers disembarked there, we were informed that the plane was not continuing to Orlando and we had to get off. To make a long story short, we were rescheduled for the following day and ended up spending the night at the Atlanta airport (there was another flight to Orlando that they were supposed to put us on, but our plane was late and the other flight left without us). Some passengers got hotel rooms, but most of us didn’t (they were “all gone”) and we were basically told “tough luck.” No explanation was given for the canceled flight, and it wasn’t weather or anything obvious. When I complained, I was given a $40 voucher for a future Delta flight (the “value of the room I should have received”). The voucher is basically worthless because it has to be used at the airport. You can’t apply the credit to flights placed online. You can book the flight with a phone rep (not the cheapest method, either) and then go to the airport before the 24-hour hold is released, but it’s never convenient to do that (drive many miles through heavy traffic to the airport, stand in line for an hour, pay parking, etc.) I doubt that the voucher will ever be used and I will avoid Delta in the future because of this.

  • http://www.writingtravel.com Lanora Mueller

    Like Becky Granger, I was chagrined when I realized I’d have to pay a ticketing fee to cash in a flight voucher I’d received for giving up my seat on a sold-out flight.

    Unlike Becky, however, I was able to limit my inconvenience to the $10 charge incurred when I used the voucher at American Airline’s counter.

    Yes, it still chafes my butt raw to have to pay to redeem something given as free.

    But there’s no need to make a special trip to the airport just to play airfare roulette at the airline’s ticket counter. Of course, if you have the time and patience, you can always make a reservation by phone and mail in the voucher. Or you can book online, if you then call the airline and tell an agent you’ll be mailing a voucher.

    Otherwise, here’s the best strategy, one that shouldn’t cause too much distress to most frequent fliers. You’ll have to think ahead, of course, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to redeem your voucher during your next trip.

    Just go online as usual to book the ticket you plan to pay for using your voucher. For most discounted fares, American Airlines holds your reservation until midnight of the next day, but in some cases, your ticket is held without payment until 30 minutes before flight time.

    In my case, I was in Orange County on the second leg of a round-trip that had originated there, and I had decided to use my voucher on a one-way return to O’Hare, my home airport.

    I booked the ticket online to guarantee its price. Arriving at John Wayne Airport at the normal preflight check-in time, I simply waited a few minutes at the AA ticket counter, and, along with my ID, presented the voucher to the agent.

    After processing the ticket sale (there was a small balance that went on my credit card), the agent issued the ticket, printed my boarding pass, and checked in my bags. The whole ordeal took perhaps 10 minutes more than usual.

    Of course, YMMV.

    I have elite status on American, so I can use the First Class ticketing position at most airports. (Note that some airports may be limiting that privilege to First Class and Executive Platinum passengers, so as a lowly Platinum, I might have had a longer wait had I tried to use the voucher at O’Hare.)

    Alternately, if you’re a member of an airline-sponsored lounge such as the Admirals Club, agents in most lounges can help you with future flight ticketing.

    When I spoke with an AA customer service representative by phone, she assured me there are plans to make these vouchers redeemable online. In the meantime, if you’re offered a bump or a fare adjustment, you might want to ask for $10 more (or $20, apparently, if you fly United) to cover the cost of redeeming the paper credit.

  • http://writingtravel.com Lanora Mueller

    Correction: American Airlines charges $15 for airport or phone ticket purchases.

  • http://flight-vouchers.com darrin

    I’ve been doing some research on this, some of the airlines are pretty tight about their vouchers and have other policies that depreciate the value of the voucher. One of the main policies that wind up costing the consumer is that you cannot use the flight voucher for booking over the internet. As a result they charge you $10-15 to book with a live agent.

    Northwest airlines is said to have the best voucher program, they’re more like gift certificates.

  • Jeff

    Jason,

    Thanks for the process for United. It worked like a charm. Your instructions saved me a lot of time. Now if only United could provide those instructions to their customers. What a concept!

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