Using NW TCVs on CO
 

Can I? I never even thought of asking this question, considering I shelled out $600 to fly on CO to Europe two weeks ago. Feel free to make me feel bad if appropriate.

- Pat

It completely depends on the location. The Continental ATO at ATL will accept them and I know of people who have done it at a CTO in CLE as well. However, I have tried to do this at the PHX ATO and the LAX ATO and neither of them were willing to accept it.

The key to this is whether your voucher is marked as a "TCV - Transportation Credit Voucher" or an "MCO - Miscallaneous Charge Order". One of the terms of the TCVs issued by NWA is an endorsement saying "Valid on NW/KL only". TCVs are usually the initial vouchers issued for denied boarding. If your voucher is thus endorsed, you are SOL.

However, every subsequent iteration of the voucher (residual value) is issued in form of an MCO. Theoretically ANY airline can accept the MCO, since they will be reimbursed for the full value of the coupon upon submission to the issuing airline. Most veteran agents are aware of this and will accept them, but it usually requires authorization from a supervisor.

[This message has been edited by B747-437B (edited 04-07-2001).]

I had no problem using one at CO about 3 months ago, but I bet some agents are mis-informed on the policy. I booked two round-trips for me and my mother from CLE-PBI. The cost was $249 with tax for each ticket, and we had a $500 voucher. Continental's CTO (not CLE counter) took it without any questions. However, If I took the same TCV to NW and booked the tickets on NW, they would of given me the speech of the TCV being non-transferrable and the only person that could use it was the person it was written for. I got the TCV from a overbooked DTW-LAS flight (which was printed on it, flight number and everything).

CO and NW do take MCOs, Travel Certs, and TCVs from each other. However, I would caution that you should have a Res. agent annotate your record to that effect, as ATO/CTO emps. tend to be less aware of this fact.

[This message has been edited by avek00 (edited 04-07-2001).]

The TCV is good on CO as long as it is used on a NW-coded, CO-operated flight.

It can also be used on CO-coded, CO-operated flights as well; they're fully interchangable.

I just used a NW TCV for an Easter weekend trip back home on CO.

Now I feel really dumb. At least this won't happen in the future.

- Silver Elite Pat

Don't feel dumb. On multiple occasions, I have just paid the fare in cash rather than waste time arguing the matter with them. If THEY arent aware of the rules themselves, its unreasonable to expect us to know them.

Dumb? It took the entire station (3 agents) 75 minutes to process our 4 tickets to SEA using a combo of TCV's and a MCO. Halfway through printing one of the etkt receipts, the ticket printer died. I took a look at it myself and told them to find the dust screen - sure enough, it had about a inch of dust on it.