LGA

When we went to the ticket counter, there was no mention of a fee to take over the ticket. For this reason (and just being able to try to pick an agent who doesn't seem to be a moron), I'd recommend going to the airport.

Happy

The fee is a standard fee, but it depends on whether the agent remember to charge it or not - i,e, the system would NOT prevent the agent doing things on your ticket w/o first charge the fee. Therefore, if the agent forgot, or did not care, the fee would not be charged.

The portion of TYN tickets issued on UA, I would venture to say, is less than 0.1% of all UA tickets issued during the period.

FYI, even if you just booked thru Expedia normally, you would still get charged the agency fee when you change your itinerary for whatever reasons, such as sudden illness.

demigawd

It sounds like it's iffy if you get charged the fee if you change over the phone, but I don't think anybody has been charged the fee in person yet. If it's convenient and you can spare the time, a personal trip to the airport is the recommended way to go IMHO.

hellyea

I made a mistake -- booked my TYN itinerary for March 15th. Anyone know --- what if I change my ticket to a refundable itinerary, and then cancel that flight later. What would happen to my funds?

gv111

So what is the mistake with March 15th?

eagleswings

Called UA earlier to inquiry about canceling the ticket only. Was told about the $150 plus $25 fee because it was booked through Expedia. Then decided to go to the airport. The agent was very knowledgeable. Gave me the full amount voucher in less than 10 minutes. Only mentioned about the change fee of $150 and never mentioned about the $25 fee. So I don't think this is an issue at all if you do it at the airport.

However, before he canceled my ticket, he did make a comment "Expedia might not want to do business again with you in the future". Does anyone know what that means?

Happy

When you change to a refundable ticket, the $150 is subtracted from original tkt value. When you cancel the refundable tkt, you get back a voucher the same amount as the refundable tkt - that is if your refundable tkt is equal or higher than your original tkt value - if it is higher, you pay the difference by CC.

You need of course to cancel your original ticket before your March 15 travel date. That is all. No mistake other than you cannot sit on it for too long.

milemission

Just to clarify. So when we go to the airport just to cancel the flight without rebook, we will get the whole amount without the $150 charge?( means the charge will come later when rebook) And if we cancel and rebook(for real travel or a refundable) at the same time, we will get the $150 charge?

Happy

Correct. No matter what you rebook, the $150 is chargeable at rebooking.

Therefore I honestly dont see the need to get a voucher now (long before the deadline) if you dont have a trip to book now.

eagleswings

I was also told that we can only redeemed this voucher by using a live agent. Is that correct? Aren't the fares higher? Are there ways to get lower fares? I really appreciate any advise. Thanks.

Happy

The fares are the same whether you book online or book over the phone.

The only difference is, you would need to pay phone booking fee.

The best way is to make reservation online, then go to airport to ticket it - still need to pay counter ticketing fee, but you get the unused balance in the form of a new voucher, on the spot. From what I understand, you only need to pay the counter ticketing fee on first rebook, subsequent rebookings dont incur counter ticketing fee.

I dont know anyone would trust USPS to mail in a thousand $ worth voucher to the airline, and then get a balance voucher, probably still worth thousand $ worth mailed back to you.

You must remember, voucher is treated like CASH in the eyes of the airlines - there is NO REPLACEMENT WHATSOEVER, in case you misplace it, lose it, or cannot find it, never receive it from mail despite airline records show they mailed it. Period.

ckpeter

I posted a trick with using paper voucher on AA in the AA forum, which should also be mostly applicable to UA, since AA and UA have similar paper voucher policies (*make sure that you double check UA policy).

Trick to Convert Paper Voucher to Electronic

Incidentally, the fear of loss in transit is part of the reason why I devised the trick. So for those of you still holding a canceled reservation, there is no hurry to get a paper voucher out, because otherwise you have a piece of paper that you need to protect from loss.

hellyea

Yes my mistake that I speak of is that I booked an itinerary with very near dates.

I dont' have a replacemeent itinerary that I need right now. I'd feel safer if I can get a paper voucher for the full value, which is what some people have said they've been able to get at the airport.

Other thing I'm thinking to do is rebook with a fully refundable fare of a larger amount. I'd pay the difference for now with CC and they would deduct the $150 change fee. Then, cancel that itinerary, get a voucher for the part paid with the united funds, and get the difference paid with a credit card back onto my credit card. That way I'd get a paper voucher for the full amount minus change fee.

Now -- couldn't you do that (book refundable fares and then cancel) to extend the life of your voucher if its nearing expiration?

Second question -- can you use two vouchers to add up to a single ticket value for redemption?

r0man

I was able to redeem 40K TYP for SJU-ALB around Christmas last night (Friday, March 7th) for $789 +taxes/fees. The agent mentioned that my account is eligible for Fixed Flight Redemptions until 3/31/09. I hope someone finds this info useful.

I was also able to redeem 90K TYP for a $2700 fixed flight on my wife's account on 3/5. I was expecting a $1800 cap, but the agent mentioned something about Smith Barney told me that cap was $2700. I bring this up because we don't have any Smith Barney accounts. We do have a Citigold banking relationship, which I assume did the trick.

susieling

This is a breaking news! So besides citiGold banking relationship, would you mind sharing what else account you registered with your TYP program? thanks!