How do I use a free ticket voucher?
I never really thought I would have to ask that question. Ordering airline tickets online is just like ordering food at my favorite restaraunt. It’s easy. I assumed that using a free ticket voucher would be as easy as any online purchase from Travelocity, Expedia, or Orbitz. I was wrong. Apparently money motivates the airlines to make online purchasing extremely easy. A free flight takes the cooperation of several agencies including the Post Office.
From United.com:
The first step in redeeming a free (United Airlines) ticket voucher is to call 1-800-UNITED1 to make a reservation.
There are two ways to have the ticket issued:
Mail the free ticket voucher to the address provided by the United representative over the phone. Please allow at least 14 business days for processing. Please note that the free ticket voucher must still be valid for United to issue the tickets.
OR
Bring the free ticket voucher to an Airport Ticket Counter to have the ticket issued. While making your reservation, remember to check with the United representative over the phone for your airport ticket counter’s hours of operation.
That’s right. I had to either mail the voucher or drive to the nearest airport with a United terminal. (Portland is almost 2 hours away and Eugene is 45 minutes.) I missed the convenience of an internet flight purchase. There’s something to be said about the simplicity of entering in my credit card and having an email confirmation sent to my e-mail. I decided to mail the voucher using Priority Mail from the Post Office.
The free ticket voucher process at United needs to be upgraded. The customer service representative gave me instructions that were eerily low tech: “Write the departure flight number, name of passenger, and confirmation number on the voucher.” The back of the voucher contained advertisements for United. I wrote down my information in between paragraph breaks…
I kept thinking to myself, what the heck are all those numbers on the voucher for?
Tags: efficiency, simplicity, Thoughts/Reflections
Thanks you eric. Your blog is the only information on the internet about this process. Thank God. Have a good one.
My pleasure Dennis. United Airlines should give me free flights for providing this information
Their site is incredibly difficult to navigate. It was almost impossible to find information on the United Airlines ticket voucher system.
Cheers.
Eric,
I share your frustration with United as I am also trying to apply a discount travel certificate to an itinerary. I will have to go to the airport (fortunately only 25 minutes away). The problem is that most airlines don’t value their customer’s time nor convenience. I presume the only reason why UA would make their customers either mail in the voucher or go to the airport would be to limit fraudulent use. They don’t understand that this won’t eliminate potential fraud and this policy will alienate customers. This policy implies that their customer’s time is not worth much. Because of policies like this and their hubs like IAD, ORD, and SFO (which are all crowded and poorly designed airports), I avoid flying UA on domestic flights. I try to fly only on Southwest domestcially because there are no poorly-thought out policies like this one and generally there are no problems or obfuscastion of problems. Why can’t the management or Chief Information Officer at United order the addition of a new online feature which would allow customers to apply one of the various codes (on the certificate) on an “e-itinerary”? Southwest does this for redemptions, why can’t United? Perhaps it is because United is mismanaged and content that 1)they avoided liquidation, and 2)profit margins have rebounded and jet fuel has declined somewhat recently. In the end, I thank my government for bailing out airlines like United in the past and allowing their inefficient systems and poor customer service to continue. Ah, the far-sightedness of government.
James
I am also having problems redeeming a travel certificate that United Airlines gave me. Here is the letter that I have posted on complaints.com and untied.com. I have sent United Airlines a letter with the actual information and a copy of the certificate.
RE: Travel Certificate
Dear United Airlines Representative:
I am writing in regards to an unusable travel certificate and poor customer service. I received a $50 travel certificate from United Airlines for a previous flight. I was not able to redeem my certificate when I made a reservation online today.
United Airlines offered me this certificate as an incentive to exchange my seat on a previous flight. It was a misleading offer, since the certificate is unusable. There are no restrictions regarding online booking on the certificate. The certificate has not expired.
I am planning to ask my attorney if there are consumer protection laws regarding misleading offers.
The Document Number of the certificate is xxxxxxx. My Mileage Plus number is xxxxx.. I am a former United Premier member.
I spoke to several United reservations representatives, but they were not helpful. They had very heavy accents, and they spoke very fast. Even though I work with people from many different countries, including India, I had trouble understanding the United reservations representatives. In addition, the connection was full of static and delays, even though I was calling from my office land line phone.
When I asked to speak to a manager, the representative refused. When I asked for the customer service mailing address, I was told that there was not one.
In summary, I would like to have this United Airlines own up to their offers. I would like to have the $50 from the certificate applied to my flight. I have booked flight xxxx on xxx to xxx (xxx). My confirmation number is xxxx.
Thank you.
Eric
I was searching for how to use MY free ticket voucher - it seems I got one the same month you wrote this blog. You are absolutely right, guys - it is a nightmare to use - and I suspect that is INTENTIONAL. They overbooked - you say OK, their problem is solved.
It’s along the lines of “Sure, baby - I love you. I’ll marry you. Let’s go up to your apartment right now though…”
Despicable.
What is even more messed up is those people that live in Hawaii! I received my free annual companion ticket for being a United Mileage Plus Visa Platinum cardholder and the terms on the voucher is now only within the 48 contiguous states! WTF is up with that! I was able to redeem my voucher last year for me and my girlfriend to fly to Vegas from Hawaii this year.
hey,
thanks for the information. i received that free ticket voucher as well and was wondering how to redeem it. i was also wondering if i can redeem my voucher to buy a ticket for my grandma. it doesn’t look like i’ll get a chance to use it myself. is it possible? i am trying to contact UA’s representatives. but their service really is terrible. i have wasted 2 hours and could not get to a representative.
Sean - That’s just dirty that they exclude Hawaii like that. Very messed up!
Prayag - I’m not sure if you can transfer your voucher “credit” to another person. United Airlines needs to do a better job with customer service. I get a lot of visits to this post because a lot of people are searching for information on ticket vouchers at United.
oh just great ! I was also searching the United web page for info into giving my “free ticket voucher” to my daughter to use. After reading all the comments I feel that this may be a royal pain in the *#!. Why can’t anything be easy ?
The United ticketing system makes it nearly impossible to redeem a free flight. After learning the hard way that the on-line method is useless. I spent hours calling different numbers, being transferred, put on hold for 15 to 20 minutes at a time only to be disconnected. Once I finally got to what I was thought to be the correct person who insisted on me spelling my very common name several times “slowly and one letter at a time” only to be put on hold again and then told he could not help me.
If customer service was dollars United would be bankrupt……oh that’s they they are bankrupt!
United has disgusted me again. I volunteered my seat on a flight a couple months ago for a free 48-state voucher. It took me more than 30 minutes on the phone to redeem the damn thing and I would up on a horrible red-eye flight because they won’t give up seats on just any flight (similar to the scam they pull with ’saver’ vs ’standard’ mileage plus awards.
It’s just plain sickening that a volunteer can’t get on any flight. My plan now is to burn what frequent flyer miles I have left and be done with this half baked airline.
Hey United Airlines,
Please note all of the comments that this post has generated. You have a serious customer service problem. It needs to be addressed.
UGHHH! I just spend 45 minutes on the phone, twice today, only to get 1) told I had to go to the airport tomorrow to get a ticket and 2) get disconnected. Their CR reps spoke almost no English, and refused to transfer me to their manager.
hey,
thanks for the info - their own website was USELESS! (the irony is that the travel certficate was meant to be an “apology” for poor customer service (luggage nighmare), and all it’s done is make me more & more annoyed at them.
i almost don’t want to use it though because it means having to fly & deal with them again!
~ just another disgruntled UA customer trying to use a travel cretificate.
I share your pain. I received a free voucher along with my 3 daughters after we were bumped (not voluntairily!) from a flight we were taking to leave on a Spring break Hawaiian cruise that evening. We ended up missing the ship and having to put up with a complicated series of taxi rides to hotels, getting up at dawn and being flown to our ship the next day - try that with three teenagers! Now I am trying to use the vouchers to get tickets for two of my girls and yes, it is impossible online or on the phone with India. I’m afraid my only alternative will be to go to the airport tomorrow and raise *%#*. By the way, the voucher says the booking must be in Economy W, V or Q class which is also impossible to find on the website, and these are the first seats they sell out. Thanks, UA, for your stellar (NOT!) customer service.
Thank you, Eric, for having this blog - it is the only information on the internet about these vouchers.
I would also like to add my frustrations. I recently tried to use a voucher that was in my uncles name. After going thru the long process described above to book the ticket, I chose to mail the voucher in. Apparently (though not stated anywhere) the only way for you to make a reservation in another name from what is on the voucher is for the person who’s name is on the voucher to physically bring the voucher in to a ticketing counter at the airport, and sign the voucher over and make the reservation. His generosity in wanting to give me a ticket he wasn’t going to use ended up being a long drawn out process that was hardly worth the effort.
Perhaps you can save me from calling India. My voucher says ticket by …(one year later). When must I fly by?
@Curt - Great question. I honestly have no idea when you’ll have to use your voucher. I would contact United for more information. And…I’ve never confirmed that the call centers for United customer support are in India. I think that came from some of the other commenters…
The popularity of this post via Google searches for all things related to United Airlines and ticket vouchers really sheds light on the fact that United needs to boost their customer service information on this topic.
Okay here I go with the phone again, I was hoping if I waited until Monday I wouldn’t get India! looks like after reading your blog that will not be the case!
Boy I hope some represenative from UA is reading this… and I have two I need to use! wish me luck, looks like I’ll need it!
I am a frequent web stats checker and I have not seen any incoming IP’s from United Airlines
To clarify, neither I nor any of the other commenters on this post can confirm that United’s call center is in India. I’ve detected a not-so-subtle anti-India(n) sentiment within the comments and I want to point out that the issue is not with India or Indian call center employees. The issue is that United as a corporation is not providing its call center employees with enough information to positively serve its customers. It’s the process that is the problem, not the people on the phone.
How ironic that the United travel certificate is to make amends for the inconvenience caused, by giving us another inconvenient tangle. I can only assume that this United travel voucher process is designed to dissuade its use. As with several of the people above, I too asked to see a manager and then my call was dropped. As it is, I’m sending my $100 travel certificate in the mail today. This for an eight hour delay, three of which were on the tarmac. What has happened to the airlines travelers bill of rights?
you can use the voucher for someone else - you just have to go to the airport to do it. In fact, if you live within, say, 200 hours of an airport, its probably worth just going. Honestly, after trying to do it on the phone a few times, its impossible. The person at the counter can do it - and its really a breeze. I hope this helps. Also, another option, instead of getting a free flight, is to get a $$$ voucher - its either $200 or $400 - my guess, its $200. It is easier to use (still not online), but its also not worth as much…
I hope all this helps.
It won’t make anybody any happier, but after a 3 hour experience with the call center in India (confirmed by United Express employee) I went to the ticket counter for United Express in Eugene Oregon and was pretty much told tough luck. Redeeming the voucher might be impossible but I am going to try one more time and if I have to make the half day trip to PDX to talk to a United (not United Express) agent I will. The United Express agent told me to keep saying “AGent” when the auto attendent answers then try asking for a US based rep.
FYI,
If you have a voucher, you will need to 1) make a reservation (I suggest skipping to agent and telling them exactly what you want. Skip the computer voice.). 2) write your confirmation number on the ticket, and 3) mail it to UA, PO Box 6057, Dearborn MI, 48121 … WITHIN 24 HOURS.
I didn’t do it soon enough (I didn’t bother to write down the conf number the first time, and they didn’t send it via email, despite my specific request.) and they told me that they would hold the reservation for me, but I need to go talk to the airport.
What a pain.
D
Jared, did you have to bring the other person with you to the airport? Do they have to book the ticket? Thanks, Ashley
Someday, if we are lucky, United Airlines executives will Google information on United Airlines Ticket Vouchers and find this post and all of its commentary on the atrocious nature of the ticket voucher process at United.
Someday…I hope…
Like Ashley, I’m desperate to know if the person who is going to be the recipient of the transferred voucher/ticket needs to be at the airport. I have a friend who is willing to selll me the voucher to ticket my college son’s trip home for thanksgiving. But it’ll do no good if my son has to be at the airport at that time. If he were here, I wouldn’t need to buy the voucher/ticket. Help!!
I’m looking to do a credit card transfer to my UA Mileage Plus Visa and they will send me a companion ticket certificate that is not airline specific. It tells me to go to www.companionticketinfo.com for information. Has anyone ever done this successfully? Thanks for any help.
After a half hour or so searching for a representative over that Phone number you gave me, I found that the best way to reach one is to go into reservations and
MAKE BABY NOISES
until the machine gets so fed up with hearing you but not understanding you, it sends you to a representative. It takes about 4 or 5 repetitions of “Sorry, I didn’t understand you then, either” before they do it, but its easy.
Hope this helps someone.
Hi Eric,
I just went through the process–RIDICULOUS!!! They always make it sound oh so appealing and since I had time to wait around because they overbooked (surprise, surprise), I took them up on the offer to fly for free. Being a grad student = being poor, so it seemed like a great deal. Right. It’s very obvious that they don’t really want you use your voucher. Also, I loved it when the agent said I could either “surrender” my voucher to the nearest aiport or mail it to them. Since I don’t have a car, no surrendering for me, I’ll have to mail it instead. And why the last name? It’s PRINTED ON THE VOUCHER.
Viva efficiency!
Magda
Magda - I wonder if the accountants at United Airlines sit and talk gleefully about how much money United Airlines is saving each year due to the intentional ridiculousness of their ticket voucher system…
I have just spent two hours speaking to 6 different people at United, and am completely frustrated. They say they never received my vouchers in Dearborn, and unless I have a mail receipt, they can’t help me. So if you have vouchers, MAKE SURE YOU SEND THEM CERTIFIED MAIL — RETRUN RECEIPT.
Good luck!
It’s a pain in the ass to get the free ticket!! First time, 45 min. on the phone, then they couldn’t find the reservation when I went to the airport. Another 30 min.on the phone the 2nd time. Now I have to go to the airport again to redeem it. Thank God for Southwest.
If you want to get straight to an agent when you call United Reservations, just keep pressing 0.
great blog!
The ticket is assignable to another person,they do not need to be with you but you need the persons name “as it appears on identification” and YOU need to go to the ticket counter to have the ticket assigned…. when I asked if a new voucher would be issued or if you needed the flight specifics for ticketing at that time, the agent I was talking to did not know!! I can only hope the mechanics take more pride……
Wow, I wish I’d read this BEFORE I made my reservations. I got a free ticket voucher after being bumped earlier this summer. So I decided, hey, me and my husband can go home for Thanksgiving this year. One free ticket, it’ll only cost 1/2 as much as normal. After being on the phone forever trying to understand the guy that barely spoke English, I ended up paying for one ticket and having the other put on hold until they receive the mailed in voucher. So, it’s been 6 days now and I’ve called almost every day and they still haven’t received the voucher. I’ve already paid for one ticket and am very worried about what will happen if they say they don’t get the voucher. It would totally defeat the purpose to fly home for Thanksgiving and leave my husband here. And the reps refuse to tell me what will happen if they say they never get the voucher. I’m glad I had the presence of mind to make a copy of it before mailing it, but now I’m wishing I’d sent it certified mail. With the experience I’ve had so far, I’m guessing a copy of the voucher won’t do me much good anyway. Getting a little nervous here after reading all the other comments…
Well, I just went through the process of redeeming a voucher as well. Just a note : I read some time ago that when stuck in the revolving door of automated operator messages, hit 0, then #, then 0. I’d say 90% of the time, this gets me to a live person, or at least the option to speak to one.
I agree that the voucher rules must be created to dissuade their use. I’m not sure whether United realizes that those that give up their seats will probably not repeat this gesture if the voucher process is such an ordeal. And if the voucher is to serve as an apology, it rings hollow when the aggrieved discover all the rules and restrictions related to the voucher’s use.
I am booking 5 months in advance. The airline has 8 flights scattered throughout the day from Phoenix to Chicago the weekday I need to fly. And the only options provided me (based on the W V Q booking restrictions) are a 5:30 am departure and a 5:45 pm departure (arriving Chicago about midnight). Not exactly rolling out the red carpet for me.
And the strict 24 hour mailing rule of the voucher - what’s with that? Why not give an option to fax in the certificate, or type in the doc. number online, or at least give more leeway in the time frame for mailing?
I appreciate the flight, but I feel I deserve better.
I hope I don’t have to have the people that gave me the vouchers with me. My mother and father in law were bumped from a flight and got to my place 6 hours after they were supposed to. They pretty much bumped the poor foreigners on that flight. They went back overseas (where they live) and gave the vouchers to my husband and me to use. So I cannot get them from Asia to come to the ticket counter to transfer the voucher! I’ve never flown United before, but by what everybody says I may not want to.
If anybody else has experiences with transferred vouchers, please share!
Ok, y’all, have a look at what I’ve experienced last night. I got a voucher (not the free flight one), and decided to use that for my holiday trip. Started to call UA at around 9p.m., and it took me about 90 minutes to finally work things out (not quite yet, because I will have to mail the voucher to their Discount Certificate center in Dearborn, Michigan.
First, I was connected to a service rep who told me that I have to pay $15 for handling the ticket through her (it was $5 in the past). I didn’t want to pay that just because I am using a voucher — without that, I would just book online, correct? Then I got transfered to a service rep with heavy accent in the web support department. OK, was told again that I have to book my ticket through a reservation desk agent if I want to use the voucher. Transfered back to the reservation desk, then the call was dropped.
Called in again, a service rep told me that basically I have two options to redeem the voucher: 1). the owner of the voucher has to go the nearest airport with United counter to get the ticket for whoever the owner wants; 2). mail in the voucher and within 14 days, they’ll book me the ticket for me. This guy also said, “there is no other options” and if I did not choose either of the above, “how do we know that you physically own the voucher”. I was like “what the heck ?!#$.
I then began to educate him that I do physically have the voucher, and I redeemed voucher before. In addition, there is no way that I waste my precious time trying to redeem a voucher that I don’t have and they can always figure it out. I have better ways spending my time.
He agreed to hold my reservation online, gave me an address to send the voucher, and wait till they received it before I pay the remaining balance and purchase the ticket.
I’ve just mailed the voucher to them and will see how it goes.
With technology advances, I don’t think it is a big deal to put some features on their website to allow travelers to redeem their voucher. I’ve no clue why United wasted the resources by sending out the paper vouchers and it wasted travelers’ time when they try to redeem it. It just does not make much sense to me. Maybe it’s a cash cow for United because they’ll charge you $15/ticket when you try to redeem a voucher? If it is a high value voucher, we may take the pain to go through all this, but how about the $25 voucher? You pay them $15, say on the phone a hours for a $10 value??
Arthur, hope you sent the voucher to them certified mail…
Luckily for me, I got notice that they’d received mine 10 days after I’d sent it to them, so it all worked out in the end. But I about had a panic attack in the mean time because I was calling every day and nobody could speak English or tell me anything. I think they want to make it as hard as possible to use these so they can book the seats to someone that’s paying for their ticket. Like it’s our fault they overbook and bump us, then bribe us with impossible to use vouchers!
We’ll see what they say, but I have had nothing but a hassle with United…
To Whom It May Concern:
On November 4, 2007, United overbooked my flight from Columbus, OH to Washington, Dulles. I was bumped and put onto the next flight and given a free ticket voucher. I appreciate the gesture for inconveniencing me; however, that should resolve the problem, not create more inconvenience, which is what your policy does.
Let me preface the situation with stating that I was told by the United representative when my free voucher was issued that I must obtain my ticket at the airport. She did not state that I must make the reservation on the phone and then obtain the ticket physically at the airport, but simply take care of everything at the airport. I made the arduous trip to the airport and they directed me to your phone service, which is nothing more than an automated hassle, unless you magically know or take an educated guess that if you say “agent,” you will be directed to a human.
I left the airport and was not able to take the time to arrange this trip until today. My flight that I am required to take is to Phoenix on November 30, eleven days from now. I understand you have a fourteen day policy and the situational necessity of having one, but exceptions should exist. When I called, they informed me no exemptions could be made because United has done so in the past to a fault. This, of course, was a supervisor, whom I requested to speak to because your first representative sounded as if English was not their first language, and they were unable to handle my issue without resorting to repetition of what was on the screen. At this moment, my flight that I am required to take has around thirty empty seats for each leg. The list price is around $480; however, I purchased the flight on priceline.com for $250. Am I really supposed to believe that you cannot use my free seat voucher for a relatively empty plane that is so desperate to sell tickets, your company is willing to accept $230 less than the list price, simply because it is eleven days in advance as opposed to fourteen?
If your business practice is to be inflexible and inconvenience your customers, I do not believe you would still be in business. I would urge you to reconsider your policy because of situations like mine because as someone who is asked to travel for business, I know what my recommendation for future carriers to my employer would not be. Also, I would advise you to view:
http://ericstoller.com/blog/2006/10/16/free-united-airlines-ticket-voucher/
This site is a blog highlighting the process, with a number of comments from customers who were either confused or disgruntled with your policy.
I just booked a flight over Xmas break with a free voucher. The flight was going for $500 on united.com. Yeah, I have to go to the airport, but I’d say its worth it. An hour out of my day driving to the airport is better than shelling out big bucks for xmas travel. The customer service rep I had was pleasant and spoke english very well. Not a bad gig. Kudos United…You are the Best, and don’t let these lazy MoFo’s bring you down. People need to blog the good and bad.
Hi Stu. I would mention that your experience is definitely not the norm as I read through the comments on this post. 42 comments over a period of a year and most reflect negative experiences with United Airlines and their ticket voucher system.
Add me to the list of disgruntled — and now ex — United customers. I will never fly the airline again.
I fell into the same trap as did so many others: I volunteered my seat on a flight in return for a free ticket voucher. I was certainly not informed of the restrictions that make it almost impossible to exercise the voucher, and downright impossible to get a reasonable flight.
I had the same difficulty as your other correspondents understanding the United agents I spoke to. (I called twice.) Although they were very polite, I couldn’t quite get a handle on what they were saying. I tried to make a reservation for a flight from Portland, OR to New York, NY, three months from now, I was told, “Sorry, that flight is not available.” I was offered a single flight with two plane changes, a NY arrival time of 11:50 PM, and a departure from NY at 6 AM. Same story when I offered alternate dates. There were no options — at least as far as I could determine; the agents spoke with such a thick accent and so speedily it was hard to tell.
Imagine: An airline with dozens and dozens of flights to New York, and only one that accommodates a voucher, let alone the hurdles one must jump, not to mention that all of this must be done via phone with no internet alternative. In the 21st century, yet!
I plan to write United’s president, Richard J. Ferris, and the Better Business Bureau. These restrictions were never explained to me, and they are nowhere to be found on the voucher. In fact, the only way Iearned of the procedure to book a flight using the voucher was on this blog. (I wonder how you managed to find the information on United’s website; I couldn’t.)
After having so much difficulty over the phone, I finally asked the agent if I could go to the airport with my voucher, and make my reservations there. At least I could speak to someone face to face and have any options clearly explained to me. The agent I spoke to assured me that I could. But now I’m so leery of anything United tells me, that I wonder if you have any experience redeeming a voucher and making flight reservations at the airport?
I know my letter to Mr. Ferris and the BBB will have no impact, but I’m going to write anyway. I only wish we could all band together to let everyone know how dreadful United has become. If Mr. Ferris had to endure the hardship, inconvenience, and disregard that we all have, I’m certain he would join us.
What the heck - so far my experience has been positive. I called United ticketing - they offered to transfer my voucher - I said no, was impressed I could transfer it. I then asked for tickets and got some for 14 days from now. Will drop of the voucher today it is right by where I am driving. Tickets were at good times and were for what I wanted - all is good.
Hi Eric,
do you know the specific mailing address to send the ticket voucher to? I thought I’d try to be more informative than “World Headquarters, Box 6100, Chicago, IL”
Hmm. Tried redeeming vouchers today — things went smoothly until I was told that that the United Flights I was booking for were, in fact, US Air flights.
Perfectly possible, given the world of codeshares, but the customer rep wasn’t able to tell me which flights >werenecessary
Thanks for all the info! It made reserving a ticket very smooth. To be fair to United, I had no problems getting my ticket. It took about 10 minutes on the phone, and I was able to specify the exact flight that I wanted. It’s a pain that I have to go to the airport to pick it up now, but at least I saved a big chunk of change.
That was fast…. the reservation went pretty smooth. I`m not a big fan of United either but this time they exceded my expectations.
I seem to be in the minority here, but I had a relative easy time redeeming my Type B United Free Travel Voucher. I had two of these that were expiring this April and booked both of them/transferred today to my brother-in-law and his wife today. Today is 21 Jan and they will be traveling 7 Feb. Got the flights and times I requested. I called the United Reservation Number and reserved the flights in their names by the automated system. The only trouble I had was when it came time to pay for the ticket, the automated system just kept asking me for a credit card number no matter what I said. Tryed the baby talk like mentioned earlier in this blog to no avail. The machine kept telling me in did not understand my CC #. Finally pressed 0 a couple times and got a voice. Like mentioned earlier, it was a voice in broken english, but none the less, a helpful voice who helped me through the process of changing the free ticket voucher into my relatives names and giving me a confirmation number. The reservation was good until the following night and he explained to me that I would have to go to my local Airport, about 30 miles away, and sign over my tickets, to complete the reservation. Drove over today, the lady at the counter was very receptive and had obviously done a transaction like this before. Within 5 minutes, I had signed over my Free Ticket Vouchers, and had an itinerary in hand for my relatives travels who are E-ticketed. The lady even appologized on behalf of the airline figuring I had gotten the tickets for having a bad experience, but I explained I volutarily was bumped. I would not hesitate to take a free voucher in the future!
So far, I have no idea what it will be like to use my vouchers, because I’ve been waiting since December 29 to receive them. I was told 10-14 business days, max. No luck with United; the process sure doesn’t cultivate good feelings towards their business. Absolutely no reason other than financial for them to discourage customers from using their vouchers.
Ditto to most of the comments above. When you speak to india, it like talking to someone
underwater, everything has to be repeated several times, and you still don’t
understand them.
i have a $25. voucher so my ticket has to be purchased over the phone, for which they are
going to charge me $15.
UNITED AIRLINES needs to read these commements.
Beware the United voucher. My husband got a $250 voucher for being bumped from an over booked flight on United. We tried our best to use it, and I actually booked a companion seat on United so we could take a trip. So I will be out $100 dollars for canceling my flight with united and the other 128$ in credit because I will never fly United again.
Yes, United’s call center is in India. No doubt. They were rude, hung up on us, called my husband “Ma’am” , didn’t know what they were doing, put us on hold every 2 minutes - hoping we would give up and hang up. This went on for 4 calls totaling 4 hours. Worst customer service ever. I am not racist , nor against Indians. I am against poor customer service.
You should go to the airport to book the voucher, should you be brave enough to try. They obviously lost the voucher we mailed to Dearborn. This is deliberate on United’s part to keep you from using your voucher. In fact - you even flying their airline creates a great inconvenience for them. They need to change their motto to “United - are you STILL here?”
On the flip side, we called Frontier airlines, quickly booked 2 tickets using our frequent flier miles. We messed up and couldn’t book the seat assignments, so we called Frontier’s call center. We got an American who quickly straightened out our tickets and went above and beyond to make us satisfied. The whole process took 15 minutes. Frontier gets my business from here on out.
Good luck and God speed with your vouchers.
I have not had the same negative experiences with the voucher that most of the posters have had. I was given 1 and I purchased 1 on eBay. I did extensive research online and with UAL before hand. I understood all the rules. In one instance….I booked my reservation online at UA.com and put a 24hour hold on it. The seller (eBay) went to their local UA ticket counter/office and redeemed the voucher and emailed me the eticket. This was all arranged in advance so no surprises. In the other instance, the give of the voucher mailed the voucher to UAL at the address given by UAL. The reservation was made in my name and the confirmation info was sent back to the original voucher holder. (That is a pain, but I knew that in advance.) Then, sent to me.
I guess patience and knowing what to expect were the keys for me. I would do it again.
My experience was positive but odd. My girlfriend and I missed our flight by 5 minutes, so they rebooked us and gave us 4 free vouchers because they could not rebook us from the same city and rebooked us from an airport 90 minutes away (which worked well as from the other airport flight was direct and we saved some time even with the drive). When I used one of the vouchers last year, I did not know if I could use the web, so tried, found a trip using the right codes, reserved it and then looked for a place to enter the voucher. No such animal, called customer service, they could not find any flights for me, when I said I had an itinerary reserved on the web, rep asked for the itinerary number, found it, and gave it to me, mailed the voucher in and got the ticket. The interesting thing is that the rep could not see all the flights that I could see online. Lesson: reserve it online, get the itinerary/reservation number (make sure all the classes fall within W,V, or Q classes), then call and ask to apply the voucher to the reservation.
Still no vouchers.
I’m seeing a lot of negative comments here, and I’m not quite sure why …
I got a type B travel voucher, and was told to do everything online and well before my flight. So, when I’m trying to book reservations online I couldn’t figure out how to enter my voucher number in. Since I had no idea what to do, I clicked on their prominent ‘customer service’ link at the top of the page, and typed in free ticket voucher (exactly what it says on my voucher). I was redirected to a page that gave explicit instructions on what to do and how to obtain the voucher.
So, I called their automated reservation number … since I’d already looked up flights online I knew exactly what I wanted. I went through the automated process, and on the payment section kept making confused noises and asking for help until it told me to say ‘agent’. That was the only bad part … really it should always be listed as a prominent option on these phone trees - how to talk with a human.
Anyways, my call was transferred to an Indian call center. The man answering me had an accent, but thats fine - it was completely understandable (some people would probably call it a heavy accent, but really … its not too hard to get past these accents). He set up my reservations on the exact flights I wanted (exact times and exact dates) and told me to head to my nearest airport to confirm it and such because there wasn’t enough time to do a mail-in. I said, OK, thats fine. He offered to refer me to a rental car service if I needed it (which I didn’t), which I thought was nice.
Overall I will have to spend 1-2 hours going to the airport and back … and I will save hundreds of dollars. So unless you make about $200/hour (I certainly don’t) its a good use of time.
Do I wish I could have done it all online? Sure I do. Is what I’ve read about their policy of writing down all of the redundant information on the back of the ticket silly? Sure it is. But I am more than willing to jump through a few hoops to (effectively) get hundreds of dollars.
I should mention that the entire process (getting my voucher from the obviously hectic and frantic gate agent to calling in to redeem it) was much easier than I would have been led to believe from the posts here. A little bit of planning ahead of time and making sure to read everything on the voucher (it specifically lists things like that you have to make reservations 14+ days in advance) pretty much ensures that the process is quick and relatively painless. Booking a month in advance, for instance, gives you enough time to mail it in and receive your ticket if you are too far from your airport to go. 2 weeks and two days are so in advance is all you need if you live within driving distance of your airport.
Brian - you are obviously an insider. If you had a positive experience, why in the world would you go looking for a blog such as this? Do you think we’re stupid?
For your information, I have spent countless hours on the phone to no avail. Yes, I insisted the Indian give me the voucher NUMBERS; however, NONE of the physical (you know, PAPER), vouchers have yet to arrive on my doorstep.
So, regardless of how easy you may think it is to USE the vouchers, they are UNUSABLE if they are not provided.
Go vote for Hillary, gomer.
Agree that John sounds like an insider. However, I followed the advice on this blog, and my experience wasn’t too bad. I also checked this United page: http://tinyurl.com/2meh2m
The Indian dude on the phone made my reservations (10 weeks before flying, so there were seats). And I went to the airport the next day, got the tickets issued…haven’t actually flown yet, but so far so good.
Maybe they’ve been reading this blog?
The interesting thing about this post is that I feel like it is a community within a community. This single post continues to generate a lot of interest/comments. I would love to think that United Airlines is following this post…any UA employees out there who want to comment on the ticket voucher process?
I will say they dont make this easy, but I can address a few of the comments here.
1. Look for the Class that your voucher is allowed to be used on. Go to United.com (this site is slow) and look for the dates you want to travel. My guess is their lowest cost flight should normally come up with one of the codes allowed.
2. To see the codes you have to select the flights, but once you do the flight class is right there.
3. Call Uniteds automated system and book it. This is a little tedious, but unless you want to hold for some 15 minutes it is better. Just use the exact time and dates of the flights you found.
4. Save your itenerary, it is one of the voice prompts. This will give you a reservation number (actually letters)
5. Call united on and give them the itinerary and say you want to book it with your voucher. Or if you live close, just go to the ticket counter.
6. FYI - you can go to the counter and do this whole process in about 10 minutes too.
Good luck. I have used vouchers the last three summers running so I know it is possible, but it does take some patience. I always use mine for the most expensive trip I am going to take and book like 3 months in advance.
Should have checked this blog out first, spent two hours on the phone and eventually talking to someone who didn’t speak very good English, having him repeat things over and over! United customer phone service stinks!
The main issue seems to be that United’s process stinks and they are not equipping their agents with information/tools/processes that they can then use to assist a customer in making a ticket voucher transaction.
My wife reserved a flight to Chicago for July last week, she was told that she should mail the voucher to Dearborn or take it to the airport. I took it to the airport on Tuesday and found a sign that said “NO TICKETING BETWEEN 11 AND 2PM”. The agent told us (there were 4 people trying to get tickets) that they had to check in passengers first, but there were no passengers checking in and all the supervisors were in a SAFETY MEETING. I think they were just trying to stay SAFE and away from very angry customers. After waiting one hour for the agents to check in the “lines” of passengers, one agent decided to start earning his money and took care of us. The worst part was that when it was my turn the agent told me that because I had taken the voucher to the airport instead of mailing it in that the fare was 22.00 more. I took the voucher and left and now the ticket will cost us 4.00 more for the hour that I had to pay for parking.
After United cancelled my flight last summer, causing me to miss my international connection in LA and therefore miss my grandmothers funeral the following day in New Zealand, I was borderline homicidal. The whole experience (which is too long to describe) was the absolute most stressful thing that has ever happened to me and what did I get out of it? Two SEPERATE vouchers. One for $125 and one for $200. Today I attempted to redeem these vouchers for one ticket. Nope! Can’t use more than one voucher for one flight, even though a)that’s how they were issued to me b) it was one flight that got cancelled and c) I don’t believe United has any flights from Seattle to anywhere that are priced for $200 let alone $125. Okay, fine. So after calling and making the weird automated phone reservation, having it held, getting the confirmation number and then saying “agent”, I was patched through to India where I talked to someone very slowly and for a very long time, finally receiving the address in Dearborn and being told to get my voucher in the mail tomorrow. I am pissed that I have to pay the difference instead of being able to use the other voucher because I pretty much swore that I would never give another penny to such a terrible, evil airline, but apparently I love punishment. Judging by the majority of other comments, my story probably won’t end here, but I have my fingers crossed.
I will say this: Last summer when I was dealing with customer service and again today, I found them to be incredibly kind and patient, even when I start to freak out. That’s part of the frustration! How can I scream at someone being nice to me? It’s the airline’s policies, the bigger system, that’s totally screwed up, not the specific agents (in my experience).
I’m about to begin the process to try and use my vouchers. Question: My vouchers say “Ticket by July 17 2008.”
Does anyone know if I can fly after July 17 as long as I book my ticket before that date?
Mary Ann - Yes you have to purchase the tickets by July 17th, but they can be for up to one year in advance.
Also if you are able i would look up the flights on the internet, then call the 800 automated service to create a booking and finally go to the ticket counter and use the vouchers there. This will save you a tremendous amount of hassle and the ticket agent will have very little work to do, so they are happy too.
Experienced excellent customer service experience with this issue at United!
I did mention this blog first
And I went directly to the airport - even managed to book a companion ticket (normal fare) along with free/redeemed one…
Thanks to the blog and thanks to United!
Dear bloggers,
Maybe someone has that Dearborn address handy? I just went through the same ordeal - redeeming the voucher that served as the ‘apology’ for their earlier mistakes, and although the Indian guy said it 4 times, I couldn’t make it out.
Please help with the POB #!
Thank you
Reply From a post (above) from Darius August 30, 2007 | 1:26 pm
FYI,
If you have a voucher, you will need to 1) make a reservation (I suggest skipping to agent and telling them exactly what you want. Skip the computer voice.). 2) write your confirmation number on the ticket, and 3) mail it to UA, PO Box 6057, Dearborn MI, 48121 … WITHIN 24 HOURS.
I didn’t do it soon enough (I didn’t bother to write down the conf number the first time, and they didn’t send it via email, despite my specific request.) and they told me that they would hold the reservation for me, but I need to go talk to the airport.
What a pain.
D
I have used these vouchers a few times, and each time have learned a little better how to use them. My advice:
1) Do not fly United. It is a terrible airline with the worst customer service in the industry.
2) If you, like me, live in a town serviced only by United, then you will likely get bumped off your flight periodically. If you then consent to taking a voucher, remind yourself right there that this is going to be a hassle, but if you play by their rules and don’t give up, eventually you may be able to use it.
3) When you know when you want to fly, call 800 UNITED1 after 1:00 am EST. They are less busy at this time, so it will only take about an hour to get your flight worked out. Go through the first few stages of talking to the computer voice and then push 0 or say Agent. (If you skip the first few stages, it will be harder to get to a real person.) Once you get a person, try to make friends. This is especially important if s/he does not speak very good English. They will speak slower if they are more comfortable, and they might do some of the things for you that they say they can’t, if they like you and you make their day better than the last person who screamed at them through the phone and made them miss their lunch break. They are just as annoyed that United didn’t give them the relevant information as you are.
4) WRITE DOWN your confirmation number right on your voucher. Without that, you are lost.
5) Once your flight is booked, they will reserve it for 24 hours. You can call back within that same time span and get them to give you another 24 hours, but this will, again, take about an hour on the phone. You have to get to an airport within the time they reserved. I do not recommend sending it by mail, as they often lose it, perhaps to dissuade people from trying this in the first place.
7) At the airport, immediately thank the person who is helping you, and let them know that you are relieved that someone will finally help you with this difficult procedure. This will allow you to complain that United handles things badly, without blaming them personally. Definitely complain, though. You should be able to get your tickets within a few minutes.
8) Calculate the total time you spent on the phone, plus going to the airport, plus any other time you spent on this. Multiply time spent by your hourly wage and add that figure to the other expenses (parking, gas, etc.) to get the actual cost to you of redeeming this voucher. If this cost is lower than the cost of the flight, take yourself out to a nice dinner to congratulate yourself for success in this ridiculous process.
This is a very informative thread.
Would anyone happen to know how to book two tickets for both me and my husband using the same voucher? If the voucher is under my name, and the voucher value is greater than the cost of one ticket.
I havent used a dollar value voucher for some time, but when I did last, about 4 years ago, they applied the value of the voucher to my entire purchase and I paid the remainder by credit card. Not sure if this is still the way they they handle it, but I am pretty sure that if the voucher has a dollar value they must treat this like currency. When I use a dollar value voucher on Delta they actually wrote me a new voucher for the difference between the ticket I purchased and the value of the voucher.
I am sitting on a free round trip voucher that is to expire in July. I want to use it and have tried several times to speak to a United rep over the phone. All I receive are computers with no option to “Speak to a Human Being” Since I travel frequently, I’ll wait until my next flight to speak to a person. But like the rest of the world, I think I too will switch airlines. If the govt is gonna bail you out why worry about your quality? Just look at Chrysler, even Mercedes couldn’t deal with their incompetencies.
I’ve read through most of these comments. I can confirm that the call center is in India… actually, 2 of them are in India, but there is one in the US, as well. I used to work on the United Airlines helpdesk. I took calls from United employees, provided tech support, and often dispatched for a technician to go on site. The phone systems crashing in one of the call centers in India was a HUGE problem, because a majority of the calls go to India. Very few actually make it to the call center in the US.
That being said, I have had so many unpleasant experiences with United, I have vowed never to fly United again. After a nightmare in January of 2007, I was given a $100, but I don’t know really if it was the same as what you guys get, because I was able to use it online. I used it to book my fiance (now husband) a flight, and it went through okay, but he ended up not taking the flight. We didn’t try to cancel it, because we both hate United.
However, now his mom has decided to buy him a ticket to fly to California (From Tulsa, OK) for a family event. It was very generous of her, but I should have known she’d choose United. I just had this feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, and my instincts were right on the money.
His mother had problems with the site. It is horrible to navigate, and I do know there are a lot of issues with it (The United.com desk was on the same floor.) Anyway, as she booked it, the site locked up. I was on United.com at the same time as her, and I was receiving numerous error messages. So, when she received the confirmation email, she was relieved that it went through despite the locking up. I looked at the email she forwarded, and it was the wrong return flight. It had him getting home HOURS after we needed him to get home. I requested firmly that he ask her to try to get it fixed, because neither of us have it in the budget to pay their $100 change fee, and we felt it was not fair to be expected to pay it, since it was the fault of their glitchy site.
A few days later, she casually mentioned that she tried to call and couldn’t ever get through to a real person. The voice recognition unit on their system is just horrible, let me tell you. You probably mostly know that, though.
I decided to take matters into my own hands and I sent an email. I’m much better at writing things out than trying to verbally communicate. I can be pretty creative when I’m angry.
The response from Bhuma was basically a ’sorry for your inconvenience, but we can’t waive the $100 fee.’ I, of course, didn’t let it go. I asked that she forward my message to a supervisor or manager because I wished to discuss this with a superior representative. I kept emailing her back. She offered a $100 travel certificate, to which I responded that I despise United and a travel certificate won’t do me any good because I’d only fly United if it was a choice between that or be stranded. I also asked her if it was customary for them to refuse to escalate issues to superiors if requested. She responded offering a $175 travel certificate. I thought about it and figured if I got the travel certificate like the $100 I had gotten before and used for my husband, perhaps I could find a return flight for around that amount and just book a totally separate flight.
I responded making it clear that I was still very upset, but if that was the best they could do, I guess I’d take it, and asked her to send me the information. I expected to receive the code via email as I had before. I got no response for several days. Finally, I got a reply from “ELITE” customer service. He stated the usual “I’m sorry to learn of your disappointment” crap they do in every email and said that Bhuma had offered me the $175, and that was all they could do. He said to contact him once I had changed the flight and he would send me the certificate. I replied and told him that apparently I am not typing clear enough, because I had told Bhuma repeatedly in several emails that we cannot change the ticket because our budget is extremely tight right now. I told him I found it highly unethical of United to only accept responsibility for THEIR problem if I was willing to fork out the $100 change fee, which essentially meant she was only offering me $75.
After a few more days, he responded and stated that, again, he was sorry for my disappointment. He said as a one time exception, they will issue a check in my husband’s name for $100. I am to make the change on the ticket, then email him again and he will mail the check after I have done so. Of course, now I look at flights and it is only 30 days before he returns from California, so all of the flights are a fortune now! I responded and told him that it was nice that they finally seem to be more flexible about it, but that I was not sure it would help now. I told him that back when I first contacted Bhuma, the flights were relatively the same cost as they were when the flight was booked, but now they are significantly more expensive, so if I have to come up with the fare difference on my own, it doesn’t really help.
That last response was just today, so we’ll see what happens. United is a nightmare. I hope to God we are never in this situation again. Next time his mother offers to pay for the ticket, my response will be emphatically NO THANK YOU! We would rather try to come up with the cost ourselves to book a flight on a different airline than deal with a flight with United, even if it is paid for by someone else. Even if the flight were free! This really goes to show me that even if it’s free, it’s never ‘FREE’! The stress and trouble just isn’t worth it!
DOWN WITH UNITED! BOO!! HISS!
Now, that was just for drama, but I’m sure several of you agree. And by the way, if you are one of the people who has posted saying your experience was easy, smooth or (laughing as I say this) PLEASANT, you are a fortunate soul and you should get down right now on your knees and thank whatever deity you worship that you have not had a typical experience with United Customer Service, then you should turn around and buy a lottery ticket and hope you didn’t use up all your luck on flying United.
I just tried to contact a rep to get info on the free voucher I have as well.
The way I got a hold of a human being, was by answering every question the recorded human being asked by responding over and over again with:
VOUCHER VOUCHER VOUCHER
I had to do this repeatedly for aboout 5 minutes, but eventually it got me to a human.
It was kind of fun, actually.
But then I have too much time on my hands these days.
Thanks for the info.
It was very helpful.
Pleasure
Thanks so much for all the great information here. I found a booking online that worked for my free ticket voucher terms (no code share, class W, V, or Q only) and had that handy when I called United. The customer service rep had a very heavy accent and apparently a very bad cold. She literally kept sneezing into the phone about every 10 seconds. She also spoke so fast that I constantly had to ask her to repeat herself.
If I hadn’t had the flight numbers and times already, there is no way she could have helped me. I had to give the information to her about 8 times, and kept getting scripted responses like “I’m not seeing that flight.” or “I’m sorry, I can’t book you on a code share.” I kept repeating my flight numbers and times until, magically, she finally got them straight and gave me a confirmation code.
About 30 minutes and quite a bit of frustration - sadly, it seems like I got off fairly easy compared to some on this site! It is shocking to me that United would make it this hard to redeem a free voucher, since most people who are trying to use them have already just had a bad customer service experience with United from being bumped, etc. They are really ticking people off!
Hope they are reading this blog. Fingers crossed that this all works out when I head to the airport to finalize this!
Good luck, voucher-holders of the world. Fight the good fight
I am embarassed how smoothly it went for me today after reading all these horror stories. My situation is that I want to take a trip with my son this summer and use the voucher for one of us, so naturally there are extra logistics involved. I first looked online and found the flights I was interested in, then called the dreaded 800 number.
I got a human in about 3 minutes (I said “operator” and the robot said, “I heard you say ‘agent’, is that correct?” so maybe just say “agent”), with what sounded like a hispanic accent, no problem communicating. The flights he suggested matched what I had on my screen already, and then he gave me the confirmation number with the 2 options: mail or go to an airline desk. I asked if I could go to the tiny regional airport near me, and he said yes, but gave some baffling combination of hours it was open (10-11am, 12:30-1:30pm, 3-4:30pm, 6:30-7:00pm). It was 6:30pm, so I said, “great, I’m on my way there now”. He quoted me a price for the second ticket which was more than the online price, and when I said so he advised me to just get it online.
I went to the airport and got there at 6:59, but the guy was completely cool and issued the ticket. He even switched the name to my son and corrected the mistake the first guy made of somehow not indicating that it was a free voucher.
I then went home and bought my matching ticket, and that was that.
On a side note, the way I got the voucher is that I volunteered to get bumped on a cross country coach class redeye. The flight I took left 5 minutes later, and went to JFK instead of Newark, but with the 9 hour layover it made zero difference - and it was FIRST CLASS! I know, I would hate me too, but that kind of stuff never happens to me. I slept all the way in an almost real bed.
Hey, i’ve been reading the stories on free vouchers from United. I also recieved 2 vouchers and have successfully been able to use them. The best bet is to go directly to the airport to make transactions. Life is much more easier when dealing with people for these types of things than computers.
Hallelujah!
Of sorts. Get this: after 11 documented letters and emails, 22 hours accumulated time on the phone, and sending a confirmation letter asking for signatures of the friends of whom I had purchased tickets last fall, a CR named Geet finally sent me 3 of my 6 vouchers. Yes, you read that correctly; 3 of my 6 vouchers. Lo and behold, I got a phone call from one of my friends, who is now the proud owner of voucher #4. Appears that Geet ignored the fact that the all of the tickets had been purchased by me for my 5 friends and myself, and decided to treat one of them with a freebie.
Wow. This is such a hilarious comedy of errors that it borders on the unbelievable. United knows the program and is doing this deliberately to discourage voucher usage. Who out there knows how to punish them politically, punitively, for their actions?
[…] My post on United Airlines Ticket Vouchers continues (for 2 + years now!) to be the most popular post on my site with over 10,000 pageviews. In fact, that post has become a community within a community. It reached 80 comments yesterday and continues to generate pageviews, unique visits and comments. It really is the best source for dealing with United Airlines and their messed up voucher system. It’s a blog within a blog! […]
I’m not surprised, seeing that I just found this post due to difficulties I was having getting my own vouchers redeemed. The information here was helpful.
And I agree with the “if at all possible, go to an airport”. I just didn’t do this, since the airport is 90 miles away.
Knock on wood, I hope the mail approach works right.
I have read all your wonderful comments about United and I am now knee deep in their run around crap. I have sent emails and spoke to India several times. I was told by my uncle who is a pilot that if you send a letter that actually states the words I would like to file a formal compliant then they must send it into the FAA, and a different branch of customer relations will handle it. I have had no look in finding the address. Does anyone know of an address for customer relations in the US.
Does anyone know how soon I can use my ticket voucher.It says I’d have to book my flight 14days in advance and i wanted to book it for the 19 of June.
Great blog post! One thing that isn’t clear on the United Customer Service page regarding free ticket vouchers, is that the flights must be on United or United Express (which a United agent told me). I’m wondering if United Ted also works? Anyone know?
I tried to book tickets using my voucher, but I have a slightly complicated situation (three people flying from two different airports), and the United customer service agent clearly was not trained as a travel agent to help with that kind of situation. So, I’m going to do the flight research myself and call in when I’m prepared.
Thank you Eric,
I was told by the rep that the mailing option needed to be received in 14 days, not “mailed in 24 hours”. I spoke to the rep yesterday after the Post Office was closed but I will mail the voucher via certified mail today.
I too was floored that ual website could not handle the vouchers, of course, after I found my flights and selected my seats online. I also expressed my dissatisfaction to the sales rep that a large airline website is unable to handle this type of transaction.
I also should state I do not normally fly UA, and they did issue me a voucher for the remainder of my canceled flight. I normally fly American Airlines and I am pretty sure their website does handle travel vouchers.
To