jacob_m

Rather than hijacking the lounge thread I thought I'd better ask this in a separate thread. It might be useful for future references as well.

Last weekend I was to fly ARN-FRA on SAS, the flight was overbooked and I volunteered to take another flight, which eventually happened.

In return I got 150 euro in travel vouchers, four vouchers at a value of 37.5 euro each. They are printed on SAS stock, the vouchers look like the paper tickets that were used 15-20 years ago, i.e. printed on carbon paper, and each voucher has a unique number similar to a ticket number.

My question is rather simple, what are your experiences of using these?
Can they be used by tele sales? Over the internet? How do they handle any charges when using the vouchers? I'm thinking about booking/service fees.

I asked the man at the service counter, the man who prepared the vouchers and seemed to be some kind of supervisor.
He said I had to visit a ticket counter to use the vouchers, which in Stockholm would mean a trip to Arlanda just to buy a ticket.
I asked about the possibility to use them through tele sales or the internet, he thought they were working on this, but he wasn't sure about the current status.

So what are your experiences? Thanks for any input!

jth

I got some vouchers a few months ago and redeemed two of them for an upcoming weekend trip. I asked about it and there is no way you can use them to pay for internet bookings. It would have been nice if you could send them in and they credit your card, but they told me this was not possible

I bought the tickets at the ticket counter at Arlanda T5, which charges a fee of 250 SEK, about the same value as one of my vouchers.

I did not try it, but the phone booking also can be used, however they charge a service fee as wll.

cph_flyer

I spend some vouchers worth 300€ (4x75€) a few years ago on a trip to BKK. First I looked up my trip on the SAS booking pages and then called SAS reservations. Told them I was unable to use the vouchers online , but would like to book this trip using them. Booking was made on the phone,and I was told to mail the vouchers. (I was given a specific address) .Didn´t have to pay any fee - I was even thanked for accepting a denied boarding voucher. As the vouchers only covered part of the cost for the ticket , the remaining amount was billed to my CC.

jth

Maybe the fee was waived since you were EBG?
According to this page, the phone service charge is 250 SEK, same as over-the-counter tickets.

http://www.sas.se/sv/Misc/Help_and_C...ervicearvoden/

Discus

Last time (some years ago) I used vouchers, the fees were waived. I was EBB at that time.

If they charge a fee for using the vouchers, I would call it a scam.

cph_flyer

No, I wasn´t EBG at the time - just basic.

pswe

I've used vouchers from Lufthansa to partly pay for tickets puchased through their phone sales in Sweden. I had to mail the vouchers to their local office, which worked out fine.
One problem with the vouchers though, were the limit to LH flights and LH metal only, meaning that their regional partners like Air Dolomiti was not eligible.

jacob_m

I think so too. I did SAS a favour by taking another flight and it's kind of strange if I have to pay extra fees to make a booking because of it.
I'm happy to book myself on the internet if given the option.

SK_RSJ

I have also been given a mail address nad been asked to send in the vouchers. Actually worked very well, but obviously the reservation has to be made over the phone as ticketing date must be postponed untill they get hold of your vouchers.
You may use vouchers for any SAS service, upgrade cost, award taxes etc.

oliver2002

The usual procedure is to make the booking and the call to say you want to pay with vouchers and take instructions. Agents are authorised to waive the service fee for airport ticketing when you use VDB vouchers. if they tell you something else, get pushy and ask 'so I sacrifice my time for the benefit of SK and you guys want to charge me for it?' @:-)

Another trick is to go to LH ticket counters at German airports, they also act as ticketing agents for SK in Germany (sadly only at the airport, everything else was moved to the Baltics) and purchase the ticket using the vouchers on the spot. This used to be my favourite way of booking SK tickets with the LH ticket team in MUC. Each voucher was used for one ticket

LH has now moved to 100% cash value for VDBs, so the only thing to do with those is to cash them on the spot.

Amexpat

I got 150 euros in vouchers a couple a years back for giving up a seat from COP-OSL. I called SAS and was told that I couldn't use them with an Internet booking, but I could book over the phone and pay at a ticket office at the airport the day of departure.

I ended up cashing them for 50% value because SAS was more expensive then all the flights I wanted to take during the one year validity of the vouchers.

Jespersm

Yes, I've been 'forced' to be that pushy several times, and then it works well. There is absolutely no point of getting vouchers that you have to pay extra to use.

WilcoRoger

Same here in HEL, except that on top of the phone booking fee, KF has only a rip-off line (at 1,75€/min!).
I had some pointed e-mail exchange with KF, they just repeated, "You don't have to use the phone for booking, you can do it on the internet. No, you cannot use the vouchers on the internet"

Finally I used the vouchers calling SK's Stockholm number at about 0,06€/min. I also asked KF customer "service" why they charge 30x price for the privilege of speaking to an unfriendly person in Finnish with a strong Estonian accent, their answer was again "You don't have to use the phone for booking, you can do it on the internet. No, you cannot use the vouchers on the internet" after which I stopped using KF altogether - customer service at its best!

travelkid

Scam yes.

These vouchers are transferable?

cph_flyer

I called SAS travelcenter some days ago to redeem a 150€ travel voucher against a trip. There was no mention of any fees (nor did I ask!) and I can tell from my CC statement, that I haven´t been billed any extras.
Anyone else have any recent experiences regarding spending vouchers and fees / no fees ?