I have received a free ticket ECV as well. I had the same issue regarding no avail. flights to places I wanted to go. Just for grins I tried to apply the ECV number to a regular reservation on nwa.com. Sure enough it let me use the "Free ticket ECV" for $200 off the flight. So even though they told you it was for a free ticket you may try to use the number for $$$ off. There is a field on the billing page to use a ECV for credit. Once you proceed it will tell you how much it is good for and the final total.