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Home » United Airlines » Don’t Mail VDB Vouchers to United for Ticketing
United Airlines

Don’t Mail VDB Vouchers to United for Ticketing

Matthew March 3, 2011 11 Comments

I type this as I wait on hold, now entering the second hour of Rhapsody in Blue, as United tries to ticket a reservation that should have been issued weeks ago.

Some background: when you take a domestic bump on United, you receive a booklet of four paper $100 travel certificates that can be used for travel on any United flight. Mike was bumped off a flight a few weeks ago and offered to give me his vouchers, knowing that I have a trip to Tokyo coming up. Vouchers are fully transferable as long as they are not bartered or sold. I accepted his offer and placed the itinerary on hold.

United allows paper travel certs to be redeemed either by mail through their Detroit ticketing office or at an airport ticket counter. For logistical reasons, it seemed more convenient at the time for Mike to mail in the vouchers. That was a huge mistake.

When you ticket a reservation by mail, UA essentially places it in a deep hold, locking in the fare and confirming the reservation, but not ticketing until the vouchers are received. It has now literally been nearly four weeks since Mike sent the vouchers in and I am still waiting on the ticket.

But I have been in contact with UA! A couple weeks ago, I noticed on my itineraries page that some of the segments had dropped off the reservation. A call to UA revealed no answers, but the missing segments were restored. Same thing happened last week and again the missing flights were restored. It probably had something to do with the one Continental flight on the reservation–I wasn’t sure whether a CO-operated, UA codeshare flight could be added to the itinerary, but the agent I spoke with on the phone said it would not be a problem and even noted on the reservation that a VDB (Type B) travel cert would be sent in.

Turns out, that agent was wrong (though I have never had any trouble ticketing a codeshare flight using these type of travel credits at airport ticket counters) and CO flights–and all codeshares–are excluded. But because of the notation already on my reservation, UA agreed to honor the vouchers.

Then I received a call from United stating that because the vouchers were not in my name, I needed to fax in copies of ID for both Mike and me. Done. Another call from UA a couple days later. The fax wasn’t clear. Ok, faxes resent.

Still no ticketing, though. This morning, I called UA reservations and happened to catch a reservations agent in Michigan right down the hall from the office that was going to ticket my reservation. She put me on hold and came back ten minutes later saying everyone was in a meeting, but not to worry: the reservation would be issued in an hour.

But it wasn’t. I called back this evening and got a rather gruff agent in Chicago. She did identify herself by first and last name, which is usually a good sign, so I talked to her. She placed me on hold for about 30 minutes (after taking eight minutes to read all the comments in my reservation!), then came back and quoted me a fare nearly three times higher than what I had reserved.

I balked. After providing her my original fare and then providing the fare basis, she put me on my hold. 25 more minutes and counting…I’m still on hold.

She’s back. Nope–they can’t "find" the fare and "fares aren’t guaranteed" anyways. Best they can do is about 40% more than my original fare. I’ve just asked to speak with a supervisor and am on hold again.

Success! They found the original fare buried deep in my record and have stated they will honor it. The ticket is being sent over for processing and should be issued by the end of the day. But I am not celebrating until I have a ticket number.

Another two hours of my life I will never get back. Next time you get a voucher, be sure to redeem it at the airport. And to make your life easier, stick to all UA metal.

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About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120 countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying international relations, American government, and later obtaining a law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House. His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles. Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the direction and coordination of company travel.

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11 Comments

  1. Gene Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 3:33 am

    “Beyond my pain threshold”! 😉

  2. Darren Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 3:58 am

    Ridiculous runaround you received, and really makes me miss having native access to Apollo. Your reservation history has EVERYTHING in it, and although it doesn’t read cleanly in a logical fashion, it’s all there. They were probably avoiding the process to decipher it correctly, which can be time consuming. Anyway… hope you get your 016 ticket numbers soon!

    And yes… moral of the story, always airport ticket those things!

  3. Marcus Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    I’m in the middle of my own mini saga with mailed in vouchers. Been about 4 weeks also and the stupid thing isn’t ticketed yet.

    The problem is that sometimes it is just very inconvenient to get to the airport, particularly given the timeframe they give you. When you live in New York getting to the airport (any of them) isn’t a particular joy and it is hard to justify wasting the better part of a day to save $$$ with vouchers when you can just mail them in.

  4. Matthew Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    @Marcus: I agree, the airport is not always fun. Sometimes it’s nice just to send in. If done properly, the vouchers would be issued in three days. Four weeks is simply inexscusable.

  5. Gene Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    @Darren — How does one gain “native access” to Apollo? I assume it is expensive and requires a travel agent number. Can a travel agent pull up bookings made on UA.com? I would love to see what these records look like!

  6. Darren Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    @Gene: I used to work for United, so completely miss my access there. It’s good knowing exactly what’s in a reservation and having a bit of “power” with that knowledge when I need to call an agent out on something. Also had it at travel wholesalers I worked for, although just the travel agency version. Not sure how to get it without being a T/A, with the exception of the access KVS gives you to Worldspan, etc.

  7. Darren Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    @Gene: And no, travel agents can’t see UA-originated bookings, only their own. What kills me most of all was the fact I worked in IM and used to clear PA/PB waitlists! ARGH the irony now that I’m a 1K on the other side.

  8. Matthew Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    The ticket has been issued!

  9. Gene Reply
    March 3, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    @Darren — I need to become friends with a UA reservations agent.

    @Matthew — Congrats!

  10. Jamie Reply
    March 5, 2011 at 4:57 am

    If you go to the airport to surrender the voucher under someone else’s name, doesn’t that person need to show up as well? That’s what I was told by UA agent before.

  11. Matthew Reply
    March 5, 2011 at 10:37 am

    @Jamie: That’s the rule, but rarely enforced IME.

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