Save and mail EVERYTHING
 

I learned again that to get airline/hotel
credit -- send copies of everything (the
ticket stubs, itinerary, credit card statement, two letters... etc.)

Here's my situation... my United flight got
cancelled from Newark last month, missed my
D-C connection to New Orleans. SO they put
me on Continental. Mailed the tickets and
an appreviated copy of the itinerary (booked
through BizTraveler) and a personal letter explaining what happened to United for credit
when I got home.

Then comes a letter saying this was not enough, I need to mail a complete itinerary
with EVERYTHING on it.

So I'm waiting for BizTraveler to send me the
right itineary. Lesson learned: I'm sending
everything... including the ticket envelope
next time.

I'm so close to Premier 1k I need every mile
I can get. CATMAN

Recently I was re-routed involuntarily by American when bad weather cancelled their inbound flight from ORD to PHL which therefore cancelled my outbound flight from PHL to ORD. American did an excellent job switching me to America West so that I could make a friend's wedding in San Francisco the next day. When I wrote to AAdvantage explaining the situation, I included my e-ticket stub and AA/AW boarding passes. Within two weeks, my account was properly credited for the mileage as well as the Gold bonus miles.

On rare occasions when credit didn't flow so smoothly, I have kept one half of the original receipt by tearing along the perforation (and half the boarding passes) which allowed me backup "original documentation". It really comes in handy when you need it for a second letter!

By the way, American will not issue a voucher when weather cancels your flight. They leave any voucher decision to the sole discretion of the agent who originally handles the problem. By contrast, TWA sent me a voucher once when a problematic onboard drunk was not handled to my satisfaction. Southwest and Continental have given me vouchers on the spot in the event of flight cancellation regardless of cause.

In fairness, American's customer service department gave me double miles on the cancelled portion of my trip as an apology (which was better than nothing).

So keep your original documentation (or at least copies), but also write to the general customer service department, not just the frequent flyer division.

Ferry, thanks for the suggestions, and I wish
I talked to you before I mailed my whole ticket stubs to United. I'm waiting for the
Itinerary from BizTraveler for the flights I
need credit for.

Again, thanks for your help and I hope I can
help YOU soon... CATMAN

sorry Catman - you may have to wait long - bizmiles (for more than a month now) is not able to link to UA-Miles-accounts. The promised me to email when the link works again. I will notify everybody (under the UA-titel) when I receive that message.