American Airlines travel vouchers

I have the opportunity to purchase three AA travel vouchers from someone on Craigslist. They're asking $1000 for the three, and they have to be used by the end of May 2009. We would like to potentially use them for a trip to Mexico next spring.

I don't know anything about these type of vouchers. Can someone tell me anything to look out for? Is there a way to make sure they are valid?

Do you think this is a good deal?

Thanks!

Travel Vouchers

I have a couple of travel vouchers here for tickets we didn't use - they do have an amount of them so I would find out how much the original voucher is for and not just pay them $1000.

They also say "Here is the transportation voucher you were promised. This voucher may be used toward the purchase of a ticket on American for yourself, or anyone you choose".

Maybe someone else with a little more experience than I could respond to this as well?

You might ask them to fax you copies of the vouchers???

Deb

The vouchers are good anywhere in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. She did not mention a monetary limit or anything like that.

In fact, she said that I could use one voucher to fly to Chicago, stay a few days, and then New York, stay a few days and then fly somewhere else as long as it was on the same booking.

Anyway, I'm interested in Mexico and this will be a huge savings for us... if it's real!

Debbie0329 said:

You might ask them to fax you copies of the vouchers???

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I think this is an absolute must. The Terms and Conditions are different for various AA vouchers. Unless you can read all of the details of the T&C, you'll have no idea whether they will be of any use to you.

If they get concerned that you would use them based on the faxed copies, they can blank out the code numbers on the copies they fax to you. Without those numbers, the vouchers are worthless.

I just had a United round trip voucher, that I could not use, I was told by United that I needed a copy of the drivers license to whom it was issued. Seller was kicked off ebay. Paypal is checking into it currently.

Marsha

Good point! Most of these vouchers have a provision that prohibits selling them. That's another good reason for studying the T&C before bidding.

marsha77 said:

I just had a United round trip voucher, that I could not use, I was told by United that I needed a copy of the drivers license to whom it was issued. Seller was kicked off ebay. Paypal is checking into it currently.

Marsha

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Marsha, excellent point!

I did a search online and the tickets are transferable (but only after the original person buys them). So, in theory, I would have to ask the other person to book the flights, and then pay for those tickets after they've been booked. Probably still worth it, especially since the other person lives within 5 minutes of me (in case something would go wrong).

Thanks!

We received AA vouchers back in the spring and they were in my wife's and my names. I would never consider purchasing a similar voucher as the ability to have it enforced (used only by the named party) outweigh the savings. On the other hand, I purchased Continental vouchers through a charity auction and they could be used by any person. Just got back from using them to visit Jamaica. If the vouchers you are using are similar, we used codes when booking our seats online. The only way to know if those type of vouchers haven't been used is to try a dummy booking with them - but the seller would be crazy to tell you the codes.

calgarygary said:

If the vouchers you are using are similar, we used codes when booking our seats online. The only way to know if those type of vouchers haven't been used is to try a dummy booking with them - but the seller would be crazy to tell you the codes.

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Yes, this person did say something about codes. She also mentioned that she received them as an employee benefit and couldn't use them this year.

I guess now I'm back to my original state of confusion...

If they are 5 minutes from your house, then go to their house (or an internet spot), book your tickets, then pay them for the vouchers. Craigslist always recommends dealing with sellers in person as there is no protection such as on ebay.

If you are buying to potentially use in the future, it would be risky as mentioned above.

One other thing to keep in mind is that if the voucher is for a ticket as opposed to a $-value towards a ticket you may have difficulty using the voucher. Most airlines limit the number of "free" seats available on flights and you might find that the dates you want have no availability.