Originally Posted by
iahphx
Can you use them on any domestic fare over $250 (I assume that includes the tax) on non-blackout days (of which there are several) -- or do I have to avoid the cheapest fare buckets?
The fare has to be over $250 base - in other words, about a $290 total fare. As for fare buckets, I've had no problem asking the phone agent to put me in the "right" bucket - e.g., the one that generates a fare as close to $250 without being under. There are no phone fees if you're using a companion cert.
There are no excluded fare buckets that I'm aware of...at least not among the typical revenue buckets USAirways.com would sell you. I don't have the cert in front of me, but it does have blackouts and I believe requires some degree of advance purchase, 14 or 21 days. You have to physically snail-mail the paper cert to US Airways right after you book the flights via phone. (Yeah, the whole thing is a bit time-warpy.)
In other words, two people can fly for about $420 total with all the taxes. Three people can fly for $550-ish. I think of the cert as being worth about $200 to $300, although the more expensive the underlying ticket is, the greater your "savings" will appear on paper. (Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!!
) I value it enough that I renew the CC every year even though I rarely use it.
All seats are eligible for miles and upgrades, although I seem to recall there are some PNR-gymnastics you have to do to make 2 people on a 3-person itin eligible for a normal Preferred upgrade. The US board has a long thread about this.
I've used the certs to small Northeast cities that are never cheap from MCI: ITH, BTV, SYR, etc.