Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Why do I forfeit my Customer Care cert if I cancel a reservation?

I used a customer care certificate ($150 because of a foreign object I found in my polenta) towards a refundable ticket. I had to cancel the reservation. In doing so I had to check a box that said I would forfeit my C.C. cert. by canceling.

Why? It seems to me I should be entitled to reuse that $150 towards another tix at least until the cert.original expiration date.

Don't leave us hanging, what was the foreign object!? :)

Neil

Its the pain of a discount code- a one time use code. You could try to call Customer Care and see what they have to say. But in the future change your ticket to another one to preserve the value of the code.

Don't leave us hanging, what was the foreign object!? :)

Neil

fingernail.

It seems to me I should be entitled to reuse that $150 towards another tix at least until the cert.original expiration date.

Instead of cancelling outright, why don't you "change" the ticket to something else entirely, thus preserving the value of your certificate? If you have no upcoming flights to book with Alaska, change your current ticket to another refundable/changeable ticket well into the future, then change it again once your plans firm up and you know what you want to book.

fingernail.

Ewwww....

Can I ask how you approached the situation and ended up receiving the $150 cert? Did they give it to you on board, or did you have to follow up aftwards?

To answer OP's question, you lose the value because those are the terms & conditions of the certificate.

For a technical answer... a Discount Code works like a coupon, as opposed to a Credit Certificate (like the Bonus Travel credit) which works like a form of payment.

To answer OP's question, you lose the value because those are the terms & conditions of the certificate.

For a technical answer... a Discount Code works like a coupon, as opposed to a Credit Certificate (like the Bonus Travel credit) which works like a form of payment.
Correct.
From the OP's persepctive and from mine too, I would like to be able to use the benefit of the $150. In other words, I would like my pocket to be $150 worth heavier than it would be had I not received the certificate.
to the OP:
Under the terms and conditions of the care certificate is not money. It has no monetary value except when it's used to purchase a ticket. It acts as if it were money, until used, but it's not convertible like money (dollars, for instance). Once used, it has no residual value. When you refund a ticket, you get your "money" back.
Delta can, if it wants to be nice, help you retain the credit, if you call Delta reservations, or customer care.

How long ago did you purchase the ticket? I have had to make changes to a ticket purchased with an e-cert just once, but I made the change immediately after I purchased the ticket, even before the ticket had been issued. The only hope of getting anything back is to call. YMMV though. It can't be done on line.

Ewwww....

Can I ask how you approached the situation and ended up receiving the $150 cert? Did they give it to you on board, or did you have to follow up aftwards?


Besides calling over the FA ( see below) , I wrote customer care and they issued the cert with a letter of apology. My guess is the FA documented my complaint so there was some back-up.

From my original post in December:

Found a little surprise in my polenta.
I flew FC the other day. I had the pork shank and polenta.

Half way through my meal while eating a forkful of polenta I spit out what looked like a finger nail clipping. Kind of grossed out I hoped that it was just part of a corn husk or something.... but the person sitting next to me agreed it looked like a fingernail. I did call the FA over who apologized profusely and made sure I knew it wasn't hers....showing me her trimmed nails.

Next time I'll order the chicken.....

Its because Brad Tilden seems more interested in padding his wallet and degrading the product to the standards of US and AA than he does providing a good product. Furthermore In my opinion only $150 for a fingernail in the food is a slap in the face. You deserved a free flight for that just as in a restaurant such a thing results in a free meal for the whole table. If they still want the money let them take it up with LSG or whoever catered the meals

You deserved a free flight for that just as in a restaurant such a thing results in a free meal for the whole table.

I don't think I would get back to a restaurant with $150 meals if I had found something disgusting in it, free or not :eek:

You deserved a free flight for that just as in a restaurant such a thing results in a free meal for the whole table.

We had a fingernail clipping in a dessert this past week, and the restaurant didn't comp anything. (Well, they didn't charge for the dessert that was returned, but the person at the table for some reason didn't want a replacement.)

They did apologize. Profusely.

So not every restaurant gives out a free meal for the whole table.

Will we go back to that restaurant? Probably. The food is pretty good. Will we order dessert there again? Probably not.