AirTran Airways A+ Rewards - Business Class upgrade "voucher"

Usually I call the day before. Just for the heck of it, I decided to try it the old way. I exchanged 4 A+ credits for a voucher.

The problem I am having is that the valid "voucher" shows up in Airtran's system when I call them. But it does not show up for me on the Airtran website.

Under the page entitled "Book Reward Flights" which is under "My Rewards" page, there is a small box in the upper right hand corner. The box has my name, A+ number, and then it shows "available A+ credits," under that is "Coach Vouchers," and below that is "Business Class Vouchers". It is showing the business class vouchers as 0 (zero). But it should show 1.

What am I missing? When I email them they respond back as if I'm talking about a used voucher (past flight). I can't seem to get through to them what I am asking.

Any information will be appreciated.

I believe when you call to redeem credits for a business class upgrade, the agent redeems the credits for a voucher which they instantly redeem for your upgraded seat assignment.

I have in the past redeemed "business class vouchers" for 4 credits as a way to extend my credits that are near expiration, then call Airtran to redeem them at the T-48 timeline (as an elite).

Understood, but there is no seat assignment as I do not have a flight. I just redeemed the A+ credits for a voucher to use at a future date. And it is not showing up.

Anyone?

Here is a new wrinkle. I am flying out with relatives on Friday Sep 1.
I will be flying from Atl to a certain destination in the northeast. My relatives are flying from Bloomington to the same destination and will join me in Atlanta. I thought we could all use our 4 credits to get upgrades for everyone.

The Elite customer rep tells me we cannot upgrade for these flights via vouchers on Friday because economy class is full, even though there are seats in BC because the Airtran system won't allow it. She said to try our luck at the counter. I understand the logic on one level where new customers may be forced to buy BC tickets. But then , they could also sell the economy seats vacated by us for the BC upgrade to customers paying a premium.

So I guess you can't use the voucher automatically even if BC seats are available. Never had this scenario before as I am pretty sure I upgraded to BC on some full flights in the past.

OK, good news for me. I called in Thursday evening for my Friday afternoon flight from ATL to PHL(3:30pm, FL 334) to upgrade two people because I got the Business Upgrade prompt when I was checking in. I looked at the seat map and surpisingly there were 8 seats open on my flight. Funny thing is earlier in the day , I tried to fake book business class and the booking page indicated it was full. Also, as you know, I couldnt upgrade the prior day either.

Anyway, success. Then I asked them to transfer some of my credits to upgrade my cousins from Bloomington to PHL and success there too. They joined us in ATL and we all had fun traveling in the same block of seats.

Flight was full. But they were considerate enough to make sure we had enough space to place our carryons despite boarding last and they were making some economy people checkin their carryons due to lack of overhead space.

Only negative was I saw the FA eat the last kettle chips packet while we were taking off and there were none left when the snack tray came around to us. Damn you southwest for the low inventory. Also when I asked for glacial Icelandic water bottles, the FA initially said she was out of them, but then I lingered on in the cabin for jsut an extra few seconds and then it occurred her to check again and magic , there were 4 or 5 bottles in one of the drawers. But the rest of the snacks were fortunately still there in the snack tray. THe service was a little spotty for BC. I think the FAs seemed a little too "business like" , pun intended. The FA also did not check on us for drinks or snacks as often as they used to in the past.

Still, it is still a nice luxury to travel like this for little extra cost on a busy labor day weekend. I will miss this. I highly doubt there was a single free upgrade for elites on this flight. I am just thankful to use my credits.

Usually I call the day before. Just for the heck of it, I decided to try it the old way. I exchanged 4 A+ credits for a voucher.

The problem I am having is that the valid "voucher" shows up in Airtran's system when I call them. But it does not show up for me on the Airtran website.

Under the page entitled "Book Reward Flights" which is under "My Rewards" page, there is a small box in the upper right hand corner. The box has my name, A+ number, and then it shows "available A+ credits," under that is "Coach Vouchers," and below that is "Business Class Vouchers". It is showing the business class vouchers as 0 (zero). But it should show 1.

What am I missing? When I email them they respond back as if I'm talking about a used voucher (past flight). I can't seem to get through to them what I am asking.

Any information will be appreciated.

For all of those, who like me, could not find valid upgrade vouchers in their account on the FL website, I finally figured out where they are hiding.

Log into your A+ Rewards account, click on "account activity," then on the blue "redemptions" link toward the top of the statement. You will be able to view the vouchers, including issue and expiration dates and voucher numbers.

It's probably been there all along - just not in a real obvious location.