US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - When prices drop...

Current pricing for a trip that I have coming up in a few weeks is almost $200 lower than it was when I bought the tickets (and there are 2 tickets). I've read occasional comments about being able to recover the difference in these sorts of situations but I've never been in a situation where the gap was wide enough to feel compelled to act. This, on the other hand, seems worth the effort.

Under what conditions can you do this? Do the ticketing codes have to match exactly or anything funky like that? Is it just a matter of calling and asking or do you have to help the agent through the process?

If I do recover the cost will it be in the form of a voucher? Or will they refund the CC?

Normally it's a voucher, with no deduct for issuance.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TomBascom:
Current pricing for a trip that I have coming up in a few weeks is almost $200 lower than it was when I bought the tickets (and there are 2 tickets). I've read occasional comments about being able to recover the difference in these sorts of situations but I've never been in a situation where the gap was wide enough to feel compelled to act. This, on the other hand, seems worth the effort.

Under what conditions can you do this? Do the ticketing codes have to match exactly or anything funky like that? Is it just a matter of calling and asking or do you have to help the agent through the process?

If I do recover the cost will it be in the form of a voucher? Or will they refund the CC?</font>


If the fare is available for all legs of your itinerary, pop over tot the CTO or ATO and ask for them to reprice the ticket. You'll get the difference in the form of a credit voucher for the full difference. If you ask for CC refund, kiss 100 bucks goodbye.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ITRADE:

If the fare is available for all legs of your itinerary, pop over tot the CTO or ATO and ask for them to reprice the ticket. You'll get the difference in the form of a credit voucher for the full difference. If you ask for CC refund, kiss 100 bucks goodbye.</font>

It's the exact same itinerary. Same flight numbers, same time, same aircraft. Just cheaper.

What's an ATO? (I got "TO" but what's the "A"?)

Does having bought the original on the website as an e-ticket complicate things?

I think that I generally prefer a voucher -- especially if they're going to nail me like that.

ATO=Airport ticket office (ie the ticket counter)
CTO= City ticket office that some ciies have.

Is the new fare available only at the US website? If so, you'll need to call the US.com customer service center at 800-245-4882, not US reservations. Simply give them your record locator and tell them that you noticed the fare for your exact itinerary has dropped and that you'd like an MCO voucher for the fare difference. They will reprice the ticket and mail you the vouchers. I've done this several times already (for fare changes ranging from $25 to $75) and have not had any problems at all.

Arrzee

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Arrzee:
Is the new fare available only at the US website?</font>

I booked the original on the website and found this fare by looking there. But how would I know if that's the only place where it is available?

Tom-
I think what Arrzee is saying is that if the same fare is available through US reservations (1-800-428-4322) then they can rebook you, put in the authorization for the voucher and you can go to the Airport or CTO and pick it up. But if it's only available through US.com, then you need to call them and they will handle it.

I've gotten refund vouchers twice -- once for a $45 fare drop and once for a $50 fare drop. They are as good as cash on USAirways for one or two years (I forget which). "Good as cash" means you can use them without restriction on any fare you purchase, but you can't use them online or over the phone. You have to go to an ATO or CTO.

The key to being eligible for a voucher is that you have to be able to purchase the lower fare at the moment you request the voucher. In other words, you have to be eligible for the lower fare, there have to be seats available at that fare, etc.

The major problem with getting vouchers is that you have to listen to the poor man at the CTO moan about how no one ever buys from him anymore because everyone uses the web. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ManyMiles:
I've gotten refund vouchers twice -- once for a $45 fare drop and once for a $50 fare drop. They are as good as cash on USAirways for one or two years (I forget which). "Good as cash" means you can use them without restriction on any fare you purchase, but you can't use them online or over the phone. You have to go to an ATO or CTO.
</font>

Remember, you don't have to use them to purchase tickets. You can use them for any US Airways product/service like purchasing upgrades, Club memberships, etc.

Mission accomplished. Voucher issued :-) Thanks everyone! That's a pretty simple process. Now if only they took vouchers on the web site...

Thanks to all these wonderful, informative posts, I was able to get two tix to Paris repriced from $817 each to $497! I would not have known how to do this without Flyertalk http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

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lennon

[This message has been edited by lennon (edited 09-06-2001).]

Dumb question maybe, but do fare restrictions need to apply, such as 14-day advance purchase? I have a ticket for Toronto next weekend, bought a few weeks ago, and prices have since gone down.

Do I need to be outside of the 14-day window to request a voucher for the difference?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hscottm:
Dumb question maybe, but do fare restrictions need to apply, such as 14-day advance purchase? I have a ticket for Toronto next weekend, bought a few weeks ago, and prices have since gone down.

Do I need to be outside of the 14-day window to request a voucher for the difference?</font>

AFAIK, as long as there's inventory in the fare bucket you purchased, you should be able to get the ticket repriced and a voucher issued. In other words, if you booked in V, there has to be V-seats available when you call to reprice.

Note also that I have been able to reprice -and get a voucher for the difference- tickets purchased weeks in advance when an E-saver for the same destination, dates, and flights I've booked becomes available the Wednesday before my departure.

My advice: get to know your CTO agent well...

Arrzee

[This message has been edited by Arrzee (edited 09-08-2001).]

The tickets can be downgraded into a lower fare class. The key is that the price has to be lower for the same exact flights.

I am not sure, but I think there is some confusion on that last point.
ex. Fare purchased KRA14QN 200.00 base
not incl PFC or segmant tax (ZP)
It is 2 days prior to departure and
you have seen an ad in the paper
showing a 14 day adv fare at 75.00
ea way, based on roundtrip.

If that fare basis code is the same
as what you originally purchased
(KRA14QN) then requalifying is not
necessary.

This is called Fare Decrease.

If it is 8 days before departure and there is a new fare basis (VRA7SN) that is a lower price and -V- class is available . You may receive a credit voucher for the difference.

This is called a Lower Fare introduced.

Hope this clears it up!

Thanks MCO/JJ Gold/Silver

BWI2MCO97,

Thank you very much for the insights and the clarification. It is certainly nice to see it come "from the source", sort of speak. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

If you're MCO Gold/Silver resv, maybe we've talked before. Either way, thank you.

This information is very useful today given the big one day sale. I had previously purchased r/t from PIT to DFW for FEB 2002 at what I considered a good rate of $208. However, today, r/t to DFW is $130 through MAR 2002!!!!!!

I will be calling the preferred line today to request my voucher.

Thank you for this thread! I vaguely remembered reading about this, and I was able to request a credit voucher for $60 for a lower fare.

I figure this will pay for my subscription to
InsideFlyer (I know I don't get the money *back* from US Airways, but I can always rationalize :-).

TomBascom? This was done over the web!

If you buy the ticket with a zone promo code can you still get the refund in the form of a voucher? Thanks.