ARCHIVE: LUS: US Companion Certificates [use by 31 Dec 2015]
 

I actually got to make a reservation last night using my $99.00 Companion voucher for travel this coming December. I always book this far out.The agent instructed me to send the certificate within 24 hours to a US Airways address in Winston-Salem, NC. This morning, I looked closer at the Companion voucher and it says travel must be completed by 9/30/11. My reservation is in 12/2011. I am able to pull up my reservation on the US Airways site without any problems. My question is, what happens if I mail the voucher and they see my reservation is past the date the voucher is good through? Will my reservation be cancelled?

Did you just get the voucher? If so you would think they would give you until the end of the year to use it. That stinks..

I got mine about 6 weeks ago or so, and the cert is marked "travel not valid before 12/01/10, not valid after 11/31/2011, book by 5/31/11" so they do give you a decent amount of time to use the certificate. Or at least they gave me a decent amount of time to use the certificate; not sure if they update the book by/use by dates each month to reflect time going by and mine are just dated that way because my renewal is in October/November?

As for what happens if you don't send it in or if you book outside the marked travel period: I think this is going to be one of those YMMV areas. I've usually dropped mine off at the airport ticketing desk rather than mailing it in, and every year they look at me like I've got three heads. I'm pretty confident that at least some of those certs never found their way back to home base but I've never had a problem with the bookings. I'd think they wouldn't let you ticket if you didn't meet the rules of the promo but I think there are so many hands in the pot on this, that nobody "owns" the task of end-to-end validation. So basically if US is just going to send that cert back to Barclays in the end, nobody on US is telling Barclays to look for a cert from you, and nobody on Barclays is telling US to look for a cert from you. Same with the rules. Nobody at Barclays is telling US that your purchase has to be made within X date range and nobody at US is telling Barclays that you used the cert.

I honestly don't know what advice to give the OP as it seems like sending it in and having the date problem noticed is equally likely as not sending it in and having the absence of a cert noticed. I do think the chances of either situation causing the itin to be voided are pretty low but who knows....

I just got mine too and I was going to call this weekend and use it for travel over Memorial Day. Then I took a look at the blackout dates. :mad: Rats! I guess I won't be using it for that trip!

US Airways CC / Companion Certificates [master thread]
 

Just got the US Airways CC, so I have a few questions. I did a general search for the information, but couldn't find the specifics, as there is a great deal of discussion on these certificates and the phone fees, etc.

When do the companion certificates arrive? Can a reservation be made before they arrive?

And after the reservation is made, they have to be mailed in, correct? How far in advance does the reservation have to be made? (At least 14 days?)

Thank you for your help!

I know the cert arrives shortly after you pay the annual fee (in subsequent years) but for the first go-around I think it took several weeks to get it as I remember. You cannot make the reservation before it arrives as you will be directed to mail it in right away and you have to quote the code number when you make the reservation. I believe an advance (~14 day) purchase is required. There should be no phone fee; once I was charged one but I called and they reversed it.

Most of the terms are spelled out in the Terms & Conditions that you agreed to during the application process. Quoted below. It can take as long as three months from the date of your app (or longer if you don't make a purchase within the first month). Note also that the base fare on the first ticket must be at least $250. The advance purchase requirement is 14 days, and the blackout dates are listed here. The certificate only applies to roundtrips within the lower 48 and to Canada.

You cannot make a reservation before you receive the certificate for several reasons. The certificate has a code on it that you need to provide when making the reservation. Your code is only valid for reservations made within a certain length of time (a few months after receiving the certificate). You won't know the code until you get the physical certificate. You are also instructed to mail the certificate within 24 hours of making the reservation or risk cancelation of the reservation.

Fee is charged late in year
 

My annual fee is charged late on, like in July. Thus, I won't get a new certificate until October?

This blows. . . I received a certificate last August, but it expires on Dec 31, 2010. So in the future, I essentially only have 3 months to use the companion certificate. What a silly system.

My annual fee was charged on 1/31 and I got the certificates about two weeks after that. It should not take a couple months from the annual fee until you get the certs.

This year I actually received the cert in the mail prior to being assessed the annual fee.

you guys are talking about those certificates where you can bring up to 2 companions free, right?

I got one in the mail this year but I've never paid an annual fee on the card. I've had the card since 2005 and haven't really used it since 2007 (save a few dollars every few months so they don't cancel it).

If I want to register my complaint about how the certificate works, would it be best to call Barclays? Or does USAirways handle the issuance of the certificates?

When does USAir/Barclays send out Anual Companion Certificates?
 

I've been a USAirways Mastercard holder for a little over a year and my initial $99 annual companion certificate expired on 2/28/11 (tickets had to be purchased by then to fly from 2/28 to 8/31.

I need to book travel in November, and want to use the companion certificate for this. Can I expect that they'll be sending me a new one? Is there a particular date that they are sent out, or does it depend on the date you activated your mastercard?

Thanks,

Justin:)

This thread may help.

Best wishes.

Thanks for finding that!

As this seems to be a recurring topic, I added that thread to the sticky at the top of the first forum page, at the bottom, under the topic, US Airways Credit/Debit Card Issues and Benefits--


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