jedison

I have one, it came as an insert with the letter that has the certificate attached. Fares range from $254 within the mid Atlantic states to $624 for Portland to Portland (OR to ME). Not a great deal, considering you have to find T availability and the the companion doesn't earn miles and can't be upgraded.

why fly

Air Canada has them the passes are very sucessful.

jedison

Can't speak for AC, but don't see how that's relevant here.

jonslow

My wife and I get these certificates annually and so far haven't used them as we both work to get elite status. Maybe we will try to use them toward the end of some year when we have reached our EQM goals.
It seems annoying UA tries to train all of us to use their website for booking and then comes up with some complicated scheme that seems designed to have us call to inquire about reservations.
I really wish UA and Chase could come up with an alternative option to the free zone companion ticket. Has anyone ever used this free companion ticket and felt that for the price paid the free companion ticket was worth the trouble? Or is the free zone companion fare just a trick to suck infrequent flyers into calling United because they think United will give them something for free that they really end up paying for in the form of a higher price for the paid ticket.

Fly16

I had the same question as the o.p., but assume jedison pointed us to the real answer -- they left out the insert with the zone chart in letter. Figures.

flora02

would someone post the zone chart? my letter also came without a chart. what a disappointment -- i upgraded to platinum thinking the companion cert. would be a "buy one get one free" type deal.

rjque

Bumping to add:

I too thought this cert was useless. That was until I realized that I can fly two people RT SFO-ASE on this for $360++. This route is regularly $400-$600 per person, so this is one of the few situations where the cert is actually very valuable. I was able to book two of us for a ski weekend in January for $430AI. United's lowest price on those flights was over $600, so this worked out very well.

itsme

Is that the companion cert based on zone fares or the one that gives you a companion ticket whenever you pay >$299 for the first ticket? People keeping saying these certs are worthless, and like you I found they can be worth hundreds of $. (Kicking myself because I didn't realize I could have used one to save myself $350 when I took my wife along to Mexico on a quasi-MR back in July by using the cert rather than paying for her ticket. Well, her miles will probably get her to 2P, so not a complete waste.)

Now my question about these two different Visa certs, one of them for opening an account, the other for renewing - they're supposed to be non-transferable. Has anyone been able to use them when the person in whose name the cert was issued is not traveling? Will a CSR take the cert from other than the named person, or will they balk and flat out refuse to do so? Any successful or unsuccessful experiences trying this?

Same question about stated non-transferability of 1000 mile upgrade cert. Has anyone other than the person to whom it was issued been able to use it? (I see them offered through CC sometimes, but wonder if they will be usable by the taker.) Should you be able to use them in combination with 500-milers (the bonus or purchased kinds) when flying >1000 miles? A CSR let me do that, but I didn't know where I was lucky or that was the way it was supposed to work.

rjque

It was the zone cert. I ended up throwing my cert away last year because SFO-ASE is the only route I fly where using it would actually make financial sense, and I booked too late to get any T availability. The January ticket I just booked had very limited choices in T (two options outbound and only one option on the return). Still, going with what was available saved me about $800.

itsme

Yes, IIRC, the zone fare one that comes with renewals requires availability in T, which can be limiting. I could have used it for our upcoming IAD-JAC trip, but waited too long to book and T was no longer out there. (In part screwed because number of flights drop after Sept 30 until they pick up later with the start of ski season.) Did it instead with the $299 companion cert, which I would have preferred to keep, since it is good for travel beyond the lower 48 (Mexico, CA, and Caribbean, IIRC).

Now, can anyone answer the question about "transferability," can someone else use it notwithstanding its "non-transferable" terms. (Wouldn't think to ask that except have seen them offered in trade on CC and on occasion someone will say they were successful with something or other that is not supposed to be allowable.)

bamboola

I received the MP Visa coupon a few weeks ago - shortly after my one-year anniversary.

Today I called UA reservations to reserve the two tickets and then drove to the airport to surrender the certificate. Upon returning home, I checked my Mileage Plus account online and see that I am now confirmed as "Bamboola + 1." The name of the second passenger was also listed in the same confirmation. Is this how it is supposed to work/look?

My ticket cost about $10 more than the cheapest ticket I can find online. The companion ticket cost $28 in tax. The airport agent told me that she was supposed to charge me $40 to issue the two e-tickets, but she didn't because she thought it was "silly" to make me pay. All in all, a good deal.

Firewind

Following up re the companion ticket offer that accompanies new enrollment, I remember complaining about the voucher's short window (May to Sept. 15), among other things. Well, just to test what we were dealing with, my son and I turned his in at the beginning of September. W/he had no use for it within the apparent window. We received "the real voucher" by return mail, good until Sept. 2008. ! He also got the $25 coupon, 1,000 mi upgrade, and 21,000 after $250, so all in all, a good offer, made good on.

Now, we've saved the encomium that accompanied the first one (the real one came without anything, even a stub). As I noted above, the zone prices are different from the chart that others talk about here but there is net value intra-CA, and we certainly have such trips coming up.

Just offering this for anyone who might be coming here under the same misimpression as I did -- that it was about the enrollment offer.

Now, if I would just catch a perk on the renewal of mine, which I never have in some, well, many years in good standing.....

itsme

Again, has anyone tried either successfully or unsuccessfully to transfer one of these, looking for tickets in the names of 2 people other than the one named on the cert? I don't expect it would work, but I have seen offers of these companion certs on CC, meaning that someone(s) think it possible to transfer them.

Firewind

This is either a "No" answer or no answer, so I probably should keep my peace for the time being. But my son's has his name on it, and only the contractor's phone number. No T&Cs at all.

itsme

Sorry, don't understand your post. Are you responding to my post (and if so, how is it responsive?), or to someone else's prior post (which one?)?