star_world

On the same screen that you enter your credit card details you can choose to use your credit. It's been a while since I checked but I didn't think it mattered if you had *A segments in the booking.

bouncingbug

Definitely, doesn't exist on my screen as I'm trying to redo the same booking...

star_world

Agreed - just tried a test booking with *A segments and it doesn't appear for me either.

drewguy

There are all kinds of limits if you click through on the restrictions. In my case I couldn't use it for fees associated with award travel.

Richard Chen

+1

I just did it last week to redeem $10 in TravelBank credit after using a revenue purchase (you generally taxes so you can't use it on reward bookings). It's there on the payment page.

Related (though neither directly answers):

1. Travel Bank feature on "new" website?
2. What is the united.com Club (formerly Continental TravelBank)

lexdevil

The promised 15k in compensation RDMs appeared in my account today, but the $15 of missing TravelBank credit has not appeared. I still have no idea if the 15k miles is supposed to replace the $15, or if I should still expect it. The communications from United are entirely opaque on this subject.

buddlakecoflyer

1K Voice via e-mail gave me this link that does not work.

http://insidecoair/Reservations/trai...lubRequest.asp

The issue is splitting reservations for upgrades. I split one booking into three, and only received the $5 credit for wife's reservation. Nothing for mine or daughter's, so I'm shorted $10 (2 @ $5) credit. This link was supposed to get me somewhere on united.com where I could request the credits.

Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

lexdevil

I had the same issue and expect to have it again this week. I submitted a request to Customer Service via the website, including all of the new PNRs. Received a totally generic reply three weeks later. It made no mention of the problem, though it included the text of my message, so I know what it was a reply to. Apologized and promised miles in compensation w/in three days. No amount mentioned. Around a week later I received 15k miles! That was for $15 in missing credit.

Though I found this to be very generous compensation, I still don't know if United plans to credit me the missing $15. I also have no idea if they have done anything to prevent the problem from coming up on my upcoming flights (I have a reservation for five people). I have no idea if the 15k miles are compensation for all future failures to give me the correct credit, or if I will be able to request missing credit in the future.

My posts starting at #66 here give more details.

exerda

I believe I can answer this with: "NO!"

I'm going to check with UA about this one, but my most recent trip was originally put on hold via FareLock on 3/5; I signed up for United.com club on 3/6; I purchased the held fare on 3/8. $5 credit did NOT post for this itinerary.

jsl42

Hi there,

A couple of weeks ago, i tried to book a flight on the website and I elected to use $10 from my TravelBank towards the price of the ticket. I got the regular first confirmation email, but the reservation never ticketed. I called back and told them that it didn't ticket with 5 or 10 minutes that it has generally taken since March. This was on a Saturday night, and I was flying at 7:00am the next day, so it was important that it be ticketed immediately. After conferring with the appropriate department, the reservations agent assured me that they were keeping an eye on the reservation and that it would be ticketed within a few hours. It never was, so I called reservations again and the agent and I agreed that I would just create a new reservation and she would cancel out the first one (at no penalty, being within 24 hours). I did just that, but this time, of course, there was no $10 in my TravelBank to use as I completed the purchase. The second try ticketed nearly immediately.

I flew the flight (under the second PNR) but am now out $10. After being bounced between the 1K desk and the web support phone, and then eventually dumped to a Chase agent for no reason, I eventually got a direct number to the refunds department. The agent had me verify what happened and, while he was on the phone, create a case on the website. Several days later, I checked the status of the refund, which was an ominous "Please contact your Customer Service Representative at 1-800-WECARE2," which I did. I ended up in a phone tree that told me to go back to the refunds section of the website, so I called back the direct line to the refunds department. After conferring with his supervisor for a while, the agent told me that the issue was that the original reservation was under a hold that would have to be removed by a something or other account department before the refund to my TravelBank would be processed. He said he would connect me to the appropriate person, after giving me the direct line (800) 451-100. The call was connected and answered by a recording identifying itself as the "United Airlines Executive Desk." I was then connected to an offshore agent that identified herself as a domestic reservations agent.

At this point, the $10 is not worth the time I have wasted trying to get it back, but, like everything that United has taken from me since March and not fulfilled (global upgrades, regional upgrades, miles earned on UA/CO flights, miles earned on *A partner flights, and cancelled UA and *A award flights), I will fight tooth and nail get it returned to me.

So, has anyone, former CO fliers or current UA fliers, successfully had money refunded to their TravelBank? If so, how did it happen? How long did it take? And what the heck is the "United Airlines Executive Desk"??

channa

This sounds very similar to the bug with electronic travel certificates (ETCs) where you apply it, it takes it, it debits it, and then the ticket doesn't issue, leaving you with no ticket, and a used/debited cert.

Fortunately that problem is common enough that they have a procedure (void and reissue the cert or call in for your next booking to have the value manually applied).

I would try calling web support on this because they're probably most familiar with this sort of bug. Since CO's cert/credit validation is before the ticketing process, so when the ticketing process fails, the cert is already used. Another joy of no instant ticketing.

jsl42

Thanks for the quick reply. I did talk to web support near the beginning of this, and surprisingly the united.com phone support agent admitted that he had no idea what the united.com Club was after I pressed him on it. If I recall, that's how I ended up being directed to Chase customer service. Maybe I'll give them another call on Skype and try again while I enjoy my second hour of my hold for the United refunds line.

The new airline is really something.

lexdevil

I received another email today, this one less generic, but totally incorrect.
Oh dear. To which I replied:
I've also followed up with a phone call. Thirty minutes of bouncing around from the Philippines to India. Shockingly, the second person at web support seems to know about the program. No one else had ever heard of it. I'm back on hold, but hopeful that I may have a solution to offer soon.

One hour and six minutes invested. Upshot is that the guy who had actually heard of TravelBank took all of the PNRs in question and my MP number, did a bit of research, and took the mess to a supervisor named Vishal. Word is that it will take some time to fix this, but that Vishal will call me back w/in 24 hours. Once I hear back, I will report on the outcome. I hope to have a definitive answer re: how to go about getting missing TravelBank credit. It may be that the solution is not worth the price (in terms of time invested), but at least we'll know what it is.

lexdevil

Well, Vishal has missed his 24 hour call back window. Cue Jeopardy theme.

TravellingMan

I also have $15-$20 outstanding that I am about to write off. The bouncing back and forth between different call centers and promises is not worth the $15. Anyone have a direct phone number or email to this department that can sort it out?

I admit I made a mistake of paying $25 and signing up for it I will not repeat it again.