if this concerns you, you can always ticket at the airport or at an Admiral's Club.

When I called AA, they said they had no way to check whether the voucher has been received.

My experience is the same. They ask you to write the date on the outside of it, and they go in that order. The one I did via mail ticketed about 2 weeks before travel.

Because of this, the 2nd time, I just went to the airport and had them ticket it there.They can do that if you're willing to head up there. Fortunately for me, I live about 15 minutes from the airport and drive by daily, so it wasn't a big deal in my case.

Before using a voucher, always get a photocopy/scan/picture. It is best to redeem at the airport as opposed to mailing it. Just because you send it priority/expedited mail and/ord certified, does not mean they will process it early, it goes in the queue and it is processed by flight date, hence why you are told to write the flight number and date on the envelope.

I got a voucher 2weeks ago & immediately applied it for a Memorial Day reservation. Like you, I was given the instructions on where to mail it and how to addressed the envelope, however, since I was going to the airport today, I opted on redeeming it in person. Saved myself about $15 in taxes.

Think about it, the money you spent for certified mail could have been used to pay for one hour remote parking at the airport, and you would have gotten your ticket immediately, instead of waiting or risking loosing the voucher in the mail.

I don't think so, that "Ticket Pending" means they got the voucher.
I just did it. And the status became: Ticket Pending on 2/23/15, the minute I finished talking to agent, a few days before I mailed voucher.
This is on Reservations List. Inside the Reservation it says Status: Unknown.
Unless there is a difference between Ticket Pending with and w/o a date.

AA should be ashamed that they use such a primitive system, instead of doing it all electronic.

I was not aware that AA is processing it about 2 weeks before flight. I hope my request for stickers upgrade (that shows "Requested" on my "Status: Unknown" reservation) is dated (for priority among Platinums) on the date I did it, and not when they process the voucher.

Yes, the Ticket Pending status keeps them from cancelling the reservation, so You should see that shortly after calling AA and telling them you want to use a voucher. Payment is pending so they should not void the rez.

The wiki has the details, posted and amended as necessary by members and their experiences. That's why we've merged this query and replies into the existing master thread; it makes finding information easier and reduces information fragmentation. :)

Here is my experience in detail for date of travel 3/23/15:

1/11/15
Made reservation on AA.com, called in and told a phone rep I was partially paying with a paper voucher.

I was given instructions to mail the voucher to Florida, with the date of travel and flight number on the outside of the envelope. I was told that it had to arrive by 1/27/15. I photocopied the voucher, then put it in the mail, immediately. I enclosed a copy of the reservation.

The reservation status said "Unknown" on AA.com.

1/27/15

The status was still "Unknown". I phoned to see if the voucher had arrived and was told they were behind in their processing. They process vouchers by the date of travel, not by date of arrival in the mail. This phone rep had no clue why I was told 1/27/15 as a deadline for receipt of the voucher.

2/16/15

The status changed to "Ticket Pending". I phoned and was told that meant the voucher was received and the packet was in the queue for final ticketing.

Oddly enough, the iPhone AA app said "Ticketed".

The phone rep told me it would be "a few more days".

Cut to the chase...

3/11/15

I saw "Ticketed March 10, 2015" status on AA.com, along with the ticket numbers. That was 13 days before the date of travel.


I was a bit worried, since the paper voucher was not in my name. It was issued to a German guy who traveled with us last year and who will be with us, again, for the upcoming trip. I hoped there would be no problem, since the name on the voucher matches one of the three travelers.

And, yes, electronic vouchers are much easier. We all three were on the same trip last year that got interrupted. MrQ and I got e-vouchers as some compensation, but the German guy got a paper voucher. I've been saving it for this upcoming trip knowing that he would be with us, again.

I can't help you with the stickers upgrade issue.

To add my recent experience to the mix, was issued a paper voucher for ~$350 last September as residual value from a flight I cancelled/rebooked. Redeeming it turned into a tragicomedy.

Flights I wanted were MUC-PHL-MUC. US flights, AA flight numbers booked through AA.com. Call in to book, and am told sure they can book it, but at $300 more than the price shown on AA.com. Uh, no thanks, why can't I have it at the price listed on your website? Because that's the website, this is the phone.

Right.

Am told I can place the reservation on hold via the internet at the internet price, then use the voucher over the telephone to book. Great! Put the reservation on hold, call back, and no, no you can't do that because it's not an AA flight. No it doesn't matter that it's a codeshare sold on AA's website. But, you can purchase it and have it refunded to your credit card at a later point by going to a ticket office. Asinine, but fine. So I book.

And then am told when trying to redeem that no, the voucher cannot be applied to an already ticketed reservation. We're sorry you were told the incorrect information. No we can't do anything about it, but you can totally use it on a new reservation! Or give it to a family member or friend!

DOT complaint filed, currently working through them for a resolution since AA's customer service has led to dead ends. The correspondence from AA responding to the complaint even indicates they're aware their agent gave misinformation.

I'm no neophyte to the world of airlines, but this is absurd.

Yes, this is a big problem with different areas knowing what the others can and can't do. I have a friend that tried combining some soon to expire vouchers. The phone agent said they could not but absolutely a TA at the airport could. Went to the airport and was told they can't do it but absolutely the people in FL could. Sounded too familiar to believe a second time.

Trying to get the same answer from two different agents is very tough these days. Even escalating to Customer Relations gets you nowhere. Makes it a pain for the customer when things go sideways. :(

Good luck with the DOT complaint. Please post back any resolution.

I posted after receiving both an initial response from both the airline and the DOT employee. The DOT deems that it doesn't fall under their jurisdiction because the contract of carriage was not violated. When I pressed, saying All of the above, and questioned how this could not fall under the purview of consumer protection, I was curtly told "your case is closed."

So it doesn't matter if they mislead, dispense misinformation, flat out don't know, and then screw you out of your voucher, the DOT doesn't care.

I work across the street from Superior Court here, I'm just going to throw together a small claims suit because I now have a voucher for which I have no use. I don't flippantly file these things either, but when all of my attempts at correspondence lead to dead ends with the airline and the regulator...sure I'll spend $35 to file and take a half day of work.

In February I made a reservation, talked to an agent, sent the voucher.
And I just was ticketed exactly 7 weeks before the flight !!

I searched the forum but didn't see the answer - I have been ticket pending for 2 1/2 weeks now for a re ticket and a voucher purchase - I requested a SWU upgrade but my understanding is that the date doesn't apply until it's TICKETED. Can anyone confirm or deny ?

Answer to above. I think you have to call and ask.
But I requested stickers upgrade, and it showed in the reservation immediately even when was still pending, waiting for voucher processing.

Just wanted to to share my story and update a data point re: having a Business Extraa number associated with your reservation.

I first called the Business Extraa number as per the FAQ, and spoke to a nice agent who informed me in no uncertain terms that I was wrong about the voucher being tax free. I asked about calling the tariff desk, but she made no moves to do so. So, I politely hung up and called the regular customer service number. Spoke to another agent who again was quite nice but again didn't think I could get the taxes waived. However, she was willing to call the tariff desk, and it eventually got straightened out. She asked for my business Extraa number unprompted, so I'm assuming it will stay on the reservation. Other thing to note, I was able to apply one voucher towards two PNRs - the agent told me to send in the original in one envelope, and a copy in another envelope, each envelope marked for a separate PNR. Bit of a pain to pay for two certified mail envelopes, but I saved $75 on the taxes so I can live with it :D