Originally Posted by
Chamor
I want to use a (substantial) future flight credit toward the purchase of a ticket from UA, on AC metal. UA is telling my travel agent that in order to use the FFC, I need to book a higher fare class than I want. I thought a future flight credit could be used toward the purchase of any published UA fare. Am I wrong about that? (The travel agent is trying to sort that out with their contacts at UA, but just wondering what your experience/knowledge is). Thanks.
In general, future flight credit from a non-Basic Economy ticket cannot be used to book Basic Economy, if that’s what you mean.
But I suspect it’s a deeper issue. Nearly all UA nonrefundable fares have a clause that states that residual value, when changing to a lower-priced fare, will be ignored. This clause is then ignored by UA when you book and cancel directly with them — they give the residual amount as a new form of Future Flight Credit that was introduced in late 2020 or early 2021. Travel agents do not have the ability to issue this new residual FFC and must follow the fare rules. You may be able to get UA to take over the booking from the travel agent and change directly through them — there may be a $50 fee. If this is a corporate travel agency, tread carefully, as cutting them out of the loop may violate your employer’s travel policy.