IDB amount when ticket purchased using ecert?
 

So for some reason AUS is really popular today. Ended up getting IDB'd on the 822am ord-aus flight mostly due to an incompetant gate agent. Got offer of the $400 vdb or $360 IDB check. My r/t fare was 190 w tax.

Used a 250 ecert on ticket so originally a $440 ticket. IDB value calculated 400% x 1/2 of my ticket value.

Supervisor said ecert not considered.

Any recourse? Should've gotten $880 if you count the original fare pre ecert.

Thoughts?

PS I'm in Denver if anyone wants to grab a drink

Do you have the same fare basis each way?

It's not always safe to assume that the oubound is 1/2 the RT cost. It could be more or it could be less.

Print a duplicate e-receipt if you want to see the breakdown.

PMUA ecerts discount the fare (type a), they are not part of the payment (type b). As such, you'll get IDB based on the cost after the discount.

As channa mentioned, the per segment calculation can be somewhat messy. However, if it's a simple AUS-ORD-AUS booked on the same fare, around half is right. In which case 190/2=95 and 95*4=380. Based on your 360 I'd guess you're probably including some tax inside what you called your fare.

Cash Is King
 

The GA gave you the option?

Has anyone else experienced this before?

If it's an IDB they typically give you the option of the VDB compensation or IDB compensation.

VDB compensation is usually cheaper for them (e.g., $400 Smisek Scrip vs. $360 cash). In other situations, if the value difference is larger (e.g., say a $39 one way short-haul cheapie), one may be more likely to choose the VDB compensation (e.g., $400 cert vs. $160 cash).

It's still supposed to be reported as an IDB, irrespective of which compensation method you choose, as you did not voluntarily relinquish your seat.


On foreign carriers, it's more common to offer a cash option in addition to a voucher option. I remember taking a MX bump a few years ago. It was $400 MX voucher or $250 cash. Seeing the limited utility of a MX voucher for me (would have to go back to Mexico), I chose the cash. Glad I did, considering what happened to MX.

Interesting story, they brought a man in a suit out to pay us off and do the paperwork. The converted the $250 US to MXN, and there were two (2) of us, so they paid us literally in cash. So combined, we received over 5,000 Pesos paid via a stack of 200 Peso notes. First thing I did was pop into an exchange booth to convert that to something less bulky (US $100 bills).

By both the letter of the new rules, and by what information the GA had available to them, they've most likely paid you the correct amount.

But I'm sure this isn't the intent of the rules this shouldn't be the case. In addition to the cash you handed over $125 worth of voucher for this flight. Whether UA decide to treat that e-certificate as an "above the line" or "below the line" amount (ie, a discount or a payment) doesn't change the fact that it was part of what you surrendered to them in order to pay for the flight.

I would expect that under the intend of the rules you should at least be due a replacement e-cert - probably to the value of 4x$125. There's no way the GA is going to be able to give you that - time to start writing to customer service.

If nothing else, this sets a bad precedence. Pay for a $260 ticket with a $250 E-cert, and they can bump you for $20 or $40!

For what it's worth, the IDB legislation includes details of what to do in the case of a mileage booking, but not for a specific case like yours.
"If your ticket does not show a fare (for example, a frequent-flyer award ticket or a ticket issued by a consolidator), your denied boarding compensation is based on the lowest cash, check or credit card payment charged for a ticket in the same class of service (e.g., coach, first class) on that flight."

Which is the $2 someone paid after an ecert discount according to how this appears to be working.

Nice.

Outbound UE143KN
Return QE143KN

Booked Jan 15

Base fare total $169
Tax $21.60

Can someone look up the fare amounts above on the date purchased? Is it worth me asking UA for more compensation? filing a complaint with DOT?

Happens all the time. I believe some will fudge the numbers and pretend it was a VDB if you take the funny money (which is actually very useful for those of us who fly out of pocket).

I've stood there waiting for my VDB and rebooking to finish up and saw IDBs negotiating with the agent over what to take.

U and Q are different fare codes. U fares are generally more expensive. Its definitely not a 50/50 here.

Agent gave me a choice because the IDB amount was less than VDB. But given that there's a chance I would have lost the difference anyways since VDB residual value = $0. Thats why I for sure took the IDB Check.

If the $250 E-Cert was applied 50/50, I lost out on $500 cash basically.

Why not write this into the DOT and see what happens?

Frame it as the ticket price was the total price, and you paid partly with voucher and the rest in cash, yet UA said only the cash component would apply towards the calculation for IDB compensation.

It may spur UA to do the right thing here, and it would alert DOT that further clarification on something like this may be necessary in future rulemaking.

I am confused. I thought airlines can try & see if there are willing pax to voluntarily give up their seats before IDB. If VDB compensation is compelling, I would imagine there will be pax giving up their seats voluntarily. If this is the case, why does it still need to be reported IDB??

LAX

I was already IDB'd -- I denied the VDB offer when they announced it because the GA was a moron. She only looked at non stop availability rather than connections, so I refused a 5PM nonstop. I even pulled out the timetable to be like hey check these connections. Supervisor got us on the 951AM through Denver (and she didn't have to open more inventory up for it). So had they offered that connection during the ask for volunteers, I would have probably taken the VDB at that point. Again, agent was not the best trained one.

In the brochure that they handed me, in the section for IDB, it does state airline may still offer you discounted travel vouchers etc. So I think its a choice at that point -- the backstop is the DOT mandated cash calculations.

Yes! OP please write to DOT to get clarification on the Ecert portion of the IDB calculation. Thanks.