Using Airline Vouchers

[artnbarb]

We have something of a dilemma, so I'm tossing this out there for suggestions. After our disaster of a flight home from Copenhagen in July, United gave us each a $300 voucher. Later in the month we volunteered to be bumped for our flight to Seattle and each received $500 vouchers from American.

Although there is little information on the websites, American tells me that their vouchers can only be used in the U.S. and Canada, and United's site seems to indicate the same policy, so my plans for using one or both vouchers for travel from Barcelona to Zurich, and then Zurich to Rome next spring aren't going to work. Both vouchers need to be used within one year, and we'll probably use one to fly to Louisville sometime in December - using the $300 vouchers seems to make the most sense, leaving us 2 $500 vouchers to use for - what???

Is this the sign I've been waiting for to finally take that trip to NYC? Or perhaps Quebec next summer? We've been to San Diego and San Francisco, and to Seattle and Vancouver. We went to the Grand Canyon and we've been to Austin TX. I'm trying to think of longer flights that would use most, if not all, of the $500! Art would probably vote for Chicago and a Cubs game, and altho it's been a while since we've visited Chicago, NYC still calls my name. Is there some great place I'm not thinking of?

 

[Pauline]

Have you been to NYC before? If not, that's where I would go. We got to spend a lot of time in NYC because of Steve's work in the late 1990s and it is an amazing place.

 

[artnbarb]

I've been to NYC before, but not for several years. It's always my #1 choice, but something always seems to get in the way - including the cost! Several times I've calculated the cost for a visit and and then had seconds thoughts when I realized I could go to Italy for not much more! Isn't this a fun problem to have?!

 

[Cameron]

Saw this interesting story on redeeming paper vouchers. Are yours paper? This guy sent his paper voucher to American and they had no record of it. His advice, but read the comments.

Regarding the cost of visiting a domestic city, I agree. I tell my friends that staying in Paris (not including the flight cost) is less expensive than going to, excuse me, tacky Myrtle Beach, SC.

 

[artnbarb]

Thanks Cameron, my United vouchers are electronic, but the American vouchers are paper. I scanned them all into my computer as soon as we got home, just to be safe!

 

[Pauline]

I still think you should go to NYC because you have talked about doing this. The free flights will balance out the expensive accommodations.

 

[artnbarb]

Here's my new(est) plan: Next fall, around the 1st of October, use the $500 vouchers for a one-way fare to NYC. If there's money left over we can use it for baggage fees. (We'll have to pay $25/bag/person for the flight to NYC) Spend maybe 4 nights in NYC (I've scaled back, trying to be fair).

Then use FF miles to fly from NYC to Ireland - Dublin I'm guessing. Use more FF miles to fly from Dublin to Rome. Spend 2-3 weeks in Italy. Take a transatlantic cruise home with new olive oil and lots of wine.

I don't want to make any mistakes with this, so I'm not rushing. I did find out 3 things about these vouchers:

1. They're only For flights within the U.S. and Canada
2. They can be used for baggage fees
3. The vouchers must be used - spent - with one year of issue, but I do not have to complete the travel within one year. Our date of issue was July 30. So - on July 29, 2017 I could use the vouchers to book a flight for as far in advance as the airline will let me (typically 330 days).

 

[artnbarb]

OK, maybe the above plan was a bit ambitious.....Now thinking of using the $500 vouchers to fly to Quebec (city) next summer. We have friends who have a house in Vermont, so I'm trying to figure out what our itinerary would be, and where we would fly home from. Anybody familiar with Quebec and the surrounding area?