US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - bump vouchers: free ticket vs cash off?

I'm in a debate with my brother who has been bumped twice in the last two weeks flying out of ITH to PHL. They gave him a voucher for a free flight within the US. I am wondering if he is better off asking for a dollar off coupon. My logic is the following: the seats for the free flight vouchers come from the same pool as the ones for free flights which may be limited from ITH; he can use dollar off certificates for international flights; he can get mileage for his flights with the dollar off but not free flight vouchers; and I believe that he can only get preferred upgrades to first class on a "purchased" ticket rather than a compensation one.

He maintains that he is better off with the free flights because fares out of Ithaca are expensive and he is on a limited budget- he is a grad student who flies overseas 3-4 times a year and domestically 3-4 times for conferecnes, the airfare paid by someone else.

Any opinions?

I'm with you. Your logic matches mine. The only problem is that, in my experience, they aren't usually interested in offering the money off voucher -- just the "free trip" (which tends to reinforce my thoughts about which is the better deal...)

I generally have no trouble with the vouchers. More often than not I use them to take a companion on the Shuttle from DCA to LGA/BOS. Or I gift them to my parents.

Depends:

1) If you're a college student who simply wants to get from A to B, then I'd say the voucher.

2) If you're a FF who travels with any regularity, the cash is much better as a) the free voucher is capacity controlled, b) the free voucher does not earn you miles for that travel, and c) 99.8% of the time you cannot upgrade a free voucher.

Me personally - no debate - cash off.

Instead of a cash or a coupon could you ask for miles?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by schistosomiasis:
I'm in a debate with my brother who has been bumped twice in the last two weeks flying out of ITH to PHL. They gave him a voucher for a free flight within the US. I am wondering if he is better off asking for a dollar off coupon. My logic is the following: the seats for the free flight vouchers come from the same pool as the ones for free flights which may be limited from ITH; he can use dollar off certificates for international flights; he can get mileage for his flights with the dollar off but not free flight vouchers; and I believe that he can only get preferred upgrades to first class on a "purchased" ticket rather than a compensation one.

He maintains that he is better off with the free flights because fares out of Ithaca are expensive and he is on a limited budget- he is a grad student who flies overseas 3-4 times a year and domestically 3-4 times for conferecnes, the airfare paid by someone else.

Any opinions?</font>

Round-trip bump tickets may come from the same inventory, but they may fewer restrictions.

On my last US bump, three years ago, I got a roundtrip ticket. It didn't have a Saturday night stay requirment. The only restriction, besides the seats being available, was either a 3-day advance booking requirement or a 3-day minimum stay (can't remember which). I used the ticket to go to Vegas in the middle of the week, where my hotel and maybe a rental car, cost a lot less than traveling over the weekend.

Of course, not all that many vacations don't involve a Saturday night stay.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by schistosomiasis:
I'm in a debate with my brother who has been bumped twice in the last two weeks flying out of ITH to PHL. They gave him a voucher for a free flight within the US. I am wondering if he is better off asking for a dollar off coupon. My logic is the following: the seats for the free flight vouchers come from the same pool as the ones for free flights which may be limited from ITH; he can use dollar off certificates for international flights; he can get mileage for his flights with the dollar off but not free flight vouchers; and I believe that he can only get preferred upgrades to first class on a "purchased" ticket rather than a compensation one.

He maintains that he is better off with the free flights because fares out of Ithaca are expensive and he is on a limited budget- he is a grad student who flies overseas 3-4 times a year and domestically 3-4 times for conferecnes, the airfare paid by someone else.

Any opinions?</font>

You're both right for your own circumstances. Your brother isn't probably flying enough to get elite status, so with his budget, taking the free trip makes sense. If ITH is like CMH, there's no elite line anyway and way too much RJ service, so being Preferred here isn't that beneficial.

On the other hand, what you're doing makes sense as well, for you. You're in NYC, you are flying more, and your budget probably has more give to it. At LGA, elite status is worthwhile for the check-in and elite screening plus you have more upgrade opportunities.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
He maintains that he is better off with the free flights because fares out of Ithaca are expensive and he is on a limited budget
</font>

Even without the limited budget, this is a very good reason to accept the free ticket.

Maybe you should sign up for classes at his school. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I specifically asked twice for $ off instead of free RT on a possible bump a few weeks ago when they were overbooked (CLT-LAS). I told them I couldn't use the free r/t because I buy tickets to Europe most of the time and the free r/t won't work for that (based on a previous FT suggestion). They didn't get it and kept offering free tickets. I don't think they had to bump anyone, but the plane was completely full.

I think they've been told free r/t only. I was offered cash or vouchers in CDG on an overbooking earlier this year, but not domestically in quite a while.

Once in PIT when taking a VDB, I asked the GA for a dollar off voucher. She said she couldn't authorize that, but a supervisor could. She printed out the r/t ticket voucher and I went to the Special Service counter and explained what I wanted and why and they had no problem filling out a $200 voucher for me. We all won. I ended up spending more than $200 on my next trip and I got miles for it.

Another time in CLT, I got bumped off a flight. My two companions took the r/t voucher and I asked the GA for a dollar off voucher. She said no problem and had a supervisor deliver the voucher to me while she printed off the r/t vouchers for my friends. Again, we all won!

They'll work with you most of the time as long as you're patient and nice.

Don't the VDB vouchers sell for more than $200 on ebay? Seems like a no brainer to me... even if cash wasn't better than USAir credit (which of course it is).

As far as I know the VDB vouchers are completely transferrable.

VDB vouchers are mostly transferable. In my experience the recipient must sign the voucher in the presence of a USAirways ticket agent. The ticket itself may be issued in any name, however.

I tried to get a cash voucher instead of the flight voucher the last time I was VDB domestically (using the same argument that I was moving overseas and that it was of limited use to me), but USExpress refused to do so. I took the VDB voucher, and ended up signing it over to my parents.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tw0i:
Don't the VDB vouchers sell for more than $200 on ebay? Seems like a no brainer to me... even if cash wasn't better than USAir credit (which of course it is).

As far as I know the VDB vouchers are completely transferrable.

</font>


Yep, I've sold them on ebay.

Alysia,

You may want to edit your post to not state anything that may be a violation of rules.

FWIW, I am holding two roundtrip vouchers, but I would prefer $200 vouchers. I have had success exchanging after the fact for European tix, but some gate agents flat out refuse so I accept the RTFC. I also am holding a $100 voucher given with the RTFC, but they wouldn't offer but $100 in exchange for the RTFC, so I kept the RTFC.

I actually like the RTFCs. I use them in situations where I would otherwise have used miles to fly family members around. I just booked my grandmother on a cross-country flight to see us. Booked about 2 months out, plenty of dates and options available.

My cheapest flights were $400, so the RTFC was a good deal for me. Of course, RIC is the most expensive place to fly I know, so YMMV.

It's $ or nothing and I let them know that every time. I've had too many vouchers used for piddly little trips that I could have paid cash for, just to get rid of the things. When they announce 'free round trip blah blah blah' they should also throw out all the restrictions. Being a miles freak, it's not worth it for me to sit in a seat and not earn miles unless it is to Europe or Hawaii.