michiganflyer

That's correct.

iahphx

My taxes on a biz transcon came to about $183. My voucher is just shy of $2000.

Why I find odd about this is that I often buy transcon coach tickets for little more than this, and then try to upgrade with my status.

It's really easy to spend other people's money.

chicagonick

so your itinerary was ~$2183?

i thought the max the program would pay is $1800? im confused

Happy

The tax paid becomes part of the ticket value which is made up of base fare + tax, therefore the "voucher" is just shy of $2000. Technically, it is not a "voucher" yet before the OP rebook. It is only a residual value voucher after he rebooks. Then the voucher value should be the ticket value minus new booking minus ticket change fee, in the case of AA and UA. In the case of CO, the ticket change fee is paid separately, so the voucher value is not reduced by the ticket change fee, just by the rebooking.

scottsd

Since you pay the Excise tax, it is added to the price of the ticket when
the eVoucher is given. Thus, the $1800 ticket (+$135 Excise tax +$45 other taxes) becomes a $1835 eVoucher ($1800 + 135 +45 - 150 change fee).

Correct?
Scott

iahphx

Yeah, keeping it simple, when you go on Expedia to price a 90K biz class ticket, try to get as close to $1945 (before taxes and fees) without going over. You will then pay the displayed taxes and fees (mine were less $50) PLUS the 7.5% excise tax. This will get you to the maximum redemption of $1800.

Remember, if you ticket on some airlines (like CO) and want to exchange the ticket value for a voucher, you have to pay an additional $150 out-of-pocket for the change fee. Other airlines (like UA), take the change fee out of the voucher value. Personally, I didn't use CO because I didn't want to be out almost $350 in "real money" from this transaction. Spending $200 to get $1850 in free travel seemed like a better deal than paying $350 to get $2000 in travel.

Happy

Equal deal, because you do not lose a cent - the difference between 350 and 200 is 150 which is exactly the difference between 2000 and 1850. It only makes you "feel" it is a better deal because you dont need to pay then get it back. Mathematically, 150 is 150.

An added benefit, at least for now, the $150 paid separately when you rebook, if paid by PPE, will earn flight pts on the old ticket number with new itinerary, plus the new ticket number with new ticket itinerary, essentially 2x flight pts earned on the rebooking.

CO e-cert also is far more convenient and easy to use than UA paper cert, unless you truly trust UA's ICC folks and have confidence in USPS in delivering your residual value voucher by mail so you would book over the phone instead of going to airport. Remember, voucher is like cash, it is not replaceable when lost, no matter how it is lost.

busterbaxter

How to calculate for the max value for international tickets? Should I look for something at around $3600 for base fare (before taxes and fee), or just a bit over? Thanks!

iahphx

Well, it's only an equal deal if you would have bought the extra $150 in travel anyway. Otherwise, most people would prefer to pay $200 to get $1850 in free travel than pay $350 to get $2000.

I do agree that it will likely be significantly easier to deal with CO on this than UA!

BTW, as I was reading other threads, I wondered whether it would be a good strategy to pick two cities with awful winter weather and then book those pairs (heck you could even look a few days into the future for a bad weather forecast). If your flight gets cancelled, you could save the $150. Improbable, but if you're willing to carefully monitor the situation, you've got nothing to lose.

friedablass

For international your base must be $3600 or below for Europe, or $4k or below for Middle East because there is no excise tax - the tax you see on Expedia is exactly what you pay.

friedablass

Correct for most airlines, bot not CO. With them you pay the $150 separately and you get a voucher for the full fare difference - remember that on ALL airlines you first need to book another ticket before getting a voucher.

friedablass

I just paid a CO change fee w/ PPE and only the airport codes for the NEW booking posted to my statement - still a great deal in my opinion!

Happy

Why wouldn't anyone not use up the $150 extra in travel? Since the credit can be extended until it is depleted? Official with AA & UA, workaround with CO, so unless a person does not fly in years, otherwise, an additional $150 is nothing to sweat about.

I think you get a better luck in CO in the flight cancellation / change fee waived scenario because CO's fee is separately billed - so they would notate it to the ticket when you cannot travel on that original itin due to flight cancellation. At least that was what someone had done. Not sure if it would be as easy as AA or UA.

pinniped

The point is (near) moot if you are spending the $2000 rather quickly. The only difference is the time value of $150. Even if it takes you a couple years to burn through the voucher, it's still not a huge deal - certainly less of an issue than getting the voucher on your desired airline to begin with.

vulches

Or for someone like me that uses frequent flier miles almost exclusively to book airfare, the extra $150 seems like an unnecessary expense. I would attempt to book travel with the voucher at exactly the value of the voucher... easier said than done, but it's not an equal deal for all.