How to use UA credit vouchers with Entertainment Book $75 off coupons?

[Denise L]

I need help making the use of these vouchers as easy as possible.

Since our fare last year to MCO went down 4 times, I have 4 separate vouchers for 4 separate passengers (my family). I want to use these (total $150.50 per person) plus the Entertainment card $75 off coupon, to buy four seats to Maui for December 2006.

I think that the vouchers are good one year from the date of issue? Maybe? Can I book these online, hold them, and then show up at a UA ticket counter and purchase them using the coupons and vouchers? Or do I book them on the phone, and then show up in person? Does my whole family have to be present? We have different last names...

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Icarus]

Are you 1k on UA? If not, you'll end up paying ticketing fees no matter which way you go. It's possible you may be able to avoid the ticketing fees if you try book&hold online and then call and tell them about the vouchers. I've heard other people say that they get an address where to send the vouchers.

Does it even offer you the book&hold option? (It does for me as a 1k, but a lot of people on ft have said that it doesn't offer it to everybody. It might be a status thing, but I wouldn't know. It offered it to me as 1P and 1K.)

I do book and hold and then go to the airport and ticket there with the vouchers.

The entire family doesn't have to be present. (Are you using the vouchers for the same named flyers? If not, I'm not sure. A letter authorizing their use by the named party not being ticketed might be sufficient.)

And yes, the vouchers are good for a year.

I have no idea if they are combinable with the Entertainment coupons. I've never been able to use them successfully even on their own. I find cheaper fares without them. One of the reasons I don't buy the Entertainment books anymore. Sorry, I don't know much about them. I'm pretty sure the vouchers reduce your fare, so depending on the lower fare basis, they might not be usable. As far as I recall, the Entertain. coupons require a certain fare amount, but there were several types of Entertain. coupons. One tactic that might work is to redistribute the way you apply the vouchers. You can combine them to, say, 2 of the tickets, and then maybe use the Entertain coupons on the other two tickets? You have to learn to be creative with this sort of thing. (There are plusses and minuses to combining the vouchers.)

Dave M and Hoc probably know more about this type of thing than I do.

-David

[Dave M]

Well stated, David.

Your first task is to go through the motions of selecting your flights online, using the promotional code for the Entertainment Book ("EB") coupons. Price your flights both with and without the EB coupons. Why? Because (1) the coupons are not eligible for savings for all flights and (2) the lowest fares on some flights will be higher with the EB coupons because there are some discounted fares for which the coupons can't be used.

You might well find that you can get better fares for your trip without using the EB coupons.

Once you have selected your flights, do the book and hold online, if you can. Otherwise call UA and book the flights. Then go to an airport or mail in the coupons, depending on what the phone agent lets you do.

Assuming you got the vouchers because your earlier fares went down, you should be able to use them like cash as partial payment - either by mail or at the airport. If doing this by phone, tell the rep that you have the vouchers as partial payment.

[philemer]

I tried entering the EB coupon # online and it did not recognize it. You need to call UA, make your rez., and then take the EB cert. to the airport or mail to their headquarters in IL. I've done this twice now. You 'lose' $5 because that is what UA charges when you talk to an agent to make your rez. Kind of a pain but $20 off is better than nothing.

Phil

[Denise L]

Originally Posted by Icarus

Are you 1k on UA? If not, you'll end up paying ticketing fees no matter which way you go. It's possible you may be able to avoid the ticketing fees if you try book&hold online and then call and tell them about the vouchers. I've heard other people say that they get an address where to send the vouchers.

Does it even offer you the book&hold option? (It does for me as a 1k, but a lot of people on ft have said that it doesn't offer it to everybody. It might be a status thing, but I wouldn't know. It offered it to me as 1P and 1K.

David,

Thanks for your reply. I'm not 1k, so I'm just figuring on paying the booking fees. Last time I looked at UA, they offered the book and hold option, I was shocked and delighted! I don't know if it is still there, but I will check.

My kids, 3 and 6, have vouchers too, so they wouldn't be able to sign anything authorizing me to use them. I also thought that I read somewhere that you can't combine vouchers in different names, so we each have to use our own and can't, say, combine them all for me to travel to NY by myself (although I can dream, can't I? ).

I guess I'll just see what works out, starting with checking for the lowest fares.

[Denise L]

Originally Posted by Dave M

Once you have selected your flights, do the book and hold online, if you can. Otherwise call UA and book the flights. Then go to an airport or mail in the coupons, depending on what the phone agent lets you do.

Assuming you got the vouchers because your earlier fares went down, you should be able to use them like cash as partial payment - either by mail or at the airport. If doing this by phone, tell the rep that you have the vouchers as partial payment.

Hi Dave,

Yes, they are vouchers because of a fare reduction x 4.v I'd better check the dates on them, I think it's maybe April or May 2005. Hopefully, they will work just like cash, since we're talking $600!

[LisaH]

I truly enjoy ual.com's book and hold capability. Lat night, I booked flights to and from Houston (IAH) for $245 and put it on hold. This morning, it went up to $400. I purchased the tickets with the lower fare. No problem.

[Denise L]

They were issued March 24, April 2, April 2 and April 18, 2005. So I guess I have until March 24 to book something.

They also read "cannot be combined with other travel industry discounts." I hope this doesn't mean the Entertainment card coupons, but maybe it does.

Thanks again!

[Icarus]

They say that, but, in fact, many people have been able to combine them. Dave M gave you the steps to use to try it.

-David

[camachinist]

Denise...

A little heads-up about book and hold...

1. There has been some variability in its functionality, enough that I would not want to do an itinerary for an entire family on it.

2. We've found ways to force seat assignments, but success with getting them to stick has been variable. I've only been successful one time. However, it is a good way to remove the seats from the GDS if you want them later. I found, by cancelling (after making sure I can rebook at the same fare), I can release the seats and use them within a few minutes (after the sweep) for the new reservation to purchase.

3. We're currently working an issue which I've brought up regarding returns when booking more than 5 segments, whether via round trip or multi-city. The excess segments still appear to be in the PNR but are not visible online in either the purchase page or on the seat mapper. Work continues on a work-around.

Personally, if I were in your situation, I'd find a competent phone agent (it might take a couple of calls to do so) and do the entire transaction on the phone, paying the ticketing fee, and do tickets by mail, which I believe your vouchers allow (sending the vouchers in). As noted above, there should be a way to use the Entertainment discount along with the vouchers, as vouchers are a "currency", like cash, and are merely used to pay for all or part of whatever the ticket costs. That's my story and I'm sticking to it

Flyertalk has much more on these issues....sorry if I got off-track...

Good luck!

Pat

[Denise L]

Well, I finally used my vouchers and the Entertainment card coupons tonight! Talk about waiting until the last minute to figure it all out. 4 of our 16 vouchers expired tonight so I had to ticket by today to save the $$.

What took a while was figuring out where to go. We thought we would use them to go to Maui, but since airfares to Maui are now through the roof, we opted to go to Orlando (an unplanned vacation). I booked the ressie for 4 on the phone last night, then drove to SJC today to pay for them all. I was standing in line for a while and then they annouced that a flight to Chicago had been cancelled and that rebooking all of those passengers would take priority over me, so I was asked to wait or leave and come back before 8:30PM. I was distraught! I don't particularly like going to the airport when I am not getting on an airplane!

Anyhow. I drove back at 8PM in the rain and luckily there was no line. The agent was very pleasant and used all of the vouchers and coupons (worth $900) and now we are going to WDW in November!

I'm SO glad to be rid of those vouchers! Thanks for all of your help & advice.

[Fletcher921]

Glad the vouchers worked out. We used United's Entertainment coupons a few days agon and were slapped with a fee of $15 "ticketing" fee while at the airport to redeem the $25 coupon. We couldn't mail in the entertainment certificate because we were purchasing a reservation 8 days away.

Glad you got away with a $5 fee. Looks like we may have spent $10 in gasoline (not really that much, I guess) and $15 in fee's while using our $25 off coupon.

Hmnnn...

I am glad the other coupons in the book make it worthwhile.

[Denise L]

Originally Posted by Fletcher921

Glad the vouchers worked out. We used United's Entertainment coupons a few days agon and were slapped with a fee of $15 "ticketing" fee while at the airport to redeem the $25 coupon. We couldn't mail in the entertainment certificate because we were purchasing a reservation 8 days away.

Glad you got away with a $5 fee.

It turns out that I wasn't charged any fee at all for ticketing at the airport. I was told that it would be $15 per ticket, but I guess she either forgot or waived it because she remembered me from the morning when she asked me to step aside? So it cost me just $3 in parking, 3 gallons of gasoline, and a bit of time and okay, frustration. But now it's done!

[Luanne]

Originally Posted by deniselew

So it cost me just $3 in parking, 3 gallons of gasoline, and a bit of time and okay, frustration. But now it's done!

When I used the Entertainment coupon to get a discount I just mailed it in. Cost me 37 cents.

[pizzagirl]

Originally Posted by deniselew

I need help making the use of these vouchers as easy as possible.

Since our fare last year to MCO went down 4 times, I have 4 separate vouchers for 4 separate passengers (my family). I want to use these (total $150.50 per person) plus the Entertainment card $75 off coupon, to buy four seats to Maui for December 2006.

I think that the vouchers are good one year from the date of issue? Maybe? Can I book these online, hold them, and then show up at a UA ticket counter and purchase them using the coupons and vouchers? Or do I book them on the phone, and then show up in person? Does my whole family have to be present? We have different last names...

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Excuse my ignorance, but if you book a flight and the price goes down, you can get a voucher? Is this option available with all major airlines and how do you go about it?? Thanks!

Ex

[Marty Giggard]

deniselew

How much are tickets from San Jose, California to Orlando, Florida
for 2 adults and 2 children in November (holiday) on United Airlines

What was the originial price and your discount price
after using your credit vouchers & EB $75 off coupons

*

If anyone wants/needs Four (4) Extra Entertainment Book
United Airlines Discount Coupons good until (exp 12/31/06)

Take $25 off one round trip ticket of $150-$299
Take $50 off one round trip ticker of $300-$474
Take $75 off one round trip ticket of $475 or more

PM

[Denise L]

Originally Posted by pizzagirl

Excuse my ignorance, but if you book a flight and the price goes down, you can get a voucher? Is this option available with all major airlines and how do you go about it?? Thanks!

Ex

Every airline is a bit different, and I know that AA was charging a $100 change fee last year if there was a fare decrease, so it wasn't worth it unless the fare went down more than $100. UA wasn't charging a fee last year, so when the fare went down 4x, we received 4 sets of vouchers for 4 passengers. I had to call up UA each time the fare was lowered and have an agent issue the vouchers. I hope his helps!

[Denise L]

Hi Marty,

Original fares for my routing (SFO-MCO & MCO-DEN-SJC) were $560+ (last week, it was $490+). After the $75 coupons and our vouchers, our fare was $328+ each person. Had I purchased a week earlier, I could have saved another $70 each. Oh well! Airfares are crazy and hard to predict. I'm just glad I am done with that for a while!

Last year, we paid $606 per ticket, then I watched them go down 4x so I got vouchers each time the fare was lower. That was $150 each! So we'd already dished out the money for those, but at least we were able to use that toward this year's tickets. So the real price of these tickets was the $479.77, and we were able to use our vouchers like cash.