Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > United Airlines | MileagePlus
Reload this Page >

Beware : the difficulty of using the UA e-certificate

Community
Wiki Posts
Search

Beware : the difficulty of using the UA e-certificate

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Jun 24, 2012 | 4:39 pm
  #46  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 1,277
I had a $150 cert received because they've been taking too long responding to an email about missing TravelBank credits.

Was booking SBA-SFO-IAD-LGA and LGA-CLE-SFO-SBA as two one-ways because that was the only way to get it to price correctly. Whenever I tried to apply the cert to the outgoing SBA-LGA, it gave me an error and said I needed to call. I applied it to the other direction LGA-SBA instead, and it applied just fine. Then I was able to book the SBA-LGA direction without the cert with no problem. Seems odd that it couldn't apply correctly to one but worked fine on the other.
penner42 is offline  
Old Aug 7, 2012 | 4:14 pm
  #47  
21A
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 1,374
Originally Posted by maize&blue
2. now reduces taxes on the base fare as well, making the certs worth more than face value (+7.5% I think based on typical ticket taxes, although I haven't bothered to calculate exactly)
What type of certs do this? I have a (post-3/3) VDB and it seems to be applying dollar-for-dollar.
21A is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 3:01 pm
  #48  
DEN
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Golden, CO USA
Programs: UA 1K 2MM, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 795
Limited Payment Options when using E-Certs

Sometimes I like using Bill Me Later to pay for personal flights, especially when Bill Me Later will give you 6 months same-as-cash payments.

These additional payment options ( Bill Me Later, PayPal, Western Union, E-Check etc) are available to use except when I tried to use a $200 E-Cert. After inputting the correct E-cert and having it accepted, the additional payment options disappear.

I tried it a number of times, being logged in and logged out with the same results. Use a E-Cert and they seem to only accept Credit Cards.

Odd quirk

DEN
DEN is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 3:55 pm
  #49  
10 Countries Visited
20 Countries Visited
30 Countries Visited
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,019
here's one I did not know: a pax may not use a ETC if even just one segment is on non-UA metal. Oh well...
dcpdxtrans is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 4:23 pm
  #50  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
20 Countries Visited
2M
50 Countries Visited
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: D.R.E.A.D. Gold card holder
Posts: 53,184
Originally Posted by DEN
I tried it a number of times, being logged in and logged out with the same results. Use a E-Cert and they seem to only accept Credit Cards.
Under "Fare Rules", the T&C link I have (http://www.unitedmileageplus.com/CPR...CID=1062525263) says
Reservations and ticket purchases on United.com must be completed simultaneously.
I wouldn't have expected "bill be later" be affected, but disabling some of the others makes sense.
mahasamatman is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 4:31 pm
  #51  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
1M
2M
50 Countries Visited
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 18,069
How odd to resuscitate a 2-year old thread where the original issues may have since been resolved (or not, knowing .bomb).

My personal issue with the e-certs (at least as of last year) was that you cannot use them when your record contains more than one person. This means that you must make a separate reservation for the person using the e-cert, which can screw up family travel when the computer fails to recognize that your elite benefits should apply to the entire travel party.

Hard to understand why this cannot be fixed any more than using multiple credit cards to pay the bill.
Boraxo is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 4:48 pm
  #52  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
20 Countries Visited
2M
50 Countries Visited
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: D.R.E.A.D. Gold card holder
Posts: 53,184
Originally Posted by Boraxo
My personal issue with the e-certs (at least as of last year) was that you cannot use them when your record contains more than one person.
You can, you just need to call web support to do it.
mahasamatman is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 5:15 pm
  #53  
10 Countries Visited
20 Countries Visited
30 Countries Visited
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,019
Originally Posted by mahasamatman
You can, you just need to call web support to do it.
+1. that is what we have done in the past.
dcpdxtrans is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 7:53 pm
  #54  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Houston, Tx
Programs: UA Plat
Posts: 96
Originally Posted by Boraxo
How odd to resuscitate a 2-year old thread where the original issues may have since been resolved (or not, knowing .bomb).

My personal issue with the e-certs (at least as of last year) was that you cannot use them when your record contains more than one person. This means that you must make a separate reservation for the person using the e-cert, which can screw up family travel when the computer fails to recognize that your elite benefits should apply to the entire travel party.

Hard to understand why this cannot be fixed any more than using multiple credit cards to pay the bill.
Last week I was able to book a reservation using e-certs and two people. We each had an e-cert applied to the reservation. So I believe this issue is fixed, at least for me it was.
pong1092 is offline  
Old Feb 18, 2014 | 9:09 pm
  #55  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Community Builder
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 16,183
Beware : the difficulty of using the UA e-certificate

IME, depends on the type and the conditions. IME, pre-merger UA certificates (same as today's 1016 type) were sometimes limited to an itin. with 1 person and sometimes not. That definitely was the case with % off, which makes some sense. With $ off, it doesn't seem to make too much sense as it would be a straight amount off anyway, whether for 1 or 5 people. Not that difficult, IMO to basically split the discount among several people.

The TCV certs (that are a form of payment) can be used on multi-person itineraries, and as many as one per person - they need to be applied to a specific person though. So if you have two certs and one person traveling, you can only use one, but if you have two people, you can apply one to each. IME, if you have one cert on a multiple person itin, it will be issued as 1 PNR, but you receive separate eTicket emails - one for each person which is different than on a regular two-person itin.

And yes, with even one flight on another carrier, none of the other payment options usually show (gift card, TCV, travel bank, etc.). TCVs definitely have the UA/UAX only restriction, but travel bank doesn't. I flew to BKK with 1 segment on ANA over a year ago now and couldn't get the travelbank option to appear, even though there is no UA-metal only restriction. It took me 6 calls or so and a great agent to finally get it used - she was able to look at the terms, agree that there was no restriction with travelbank and got it done, calling me back about 2 hours later with everything resolved. It was a large amount I was trying to use (through a gift registry), otherwise there was no way I would have bothered.
emcampbe is offline  
Old Feb 19, 2014 | 10:15 am
  #56  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
1M
2M
50 Countries Visited
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 18,069
Originally Posted by mahasamatman
You can, you just need to call web support to do it.
Tried that, did not work for me,at least as of a year ago. Went through the entire reservation process (glacial compared with online booking) and at the end the CSR said "no can do" so we split the reservation. Thankfully the pre-assigned E+ seats did not get messed up and there were no irregular ops.

Originally Posted by emcampbe
IME, depends on the type and the conditions. IME, pre-merger UA certificates (same as today's 1016 type) were sometimes limited to an itin. with 1 person and sometimes not. That definitely was the case with % off, which makes some sense. With $ off, it doesn't seem to make too much sense as it would be a straight amount off anyway, whether for 1 or 5 people. Not that difficult, IMO to basically split the discount among several people.
This was a post-merger $300 cert that would have discounted 1 ticket (for 1 traveler) on UA metal but was told nobody else could be in the record.

Originally Posted by pong1092
Last week I was able to book a reservation using e-certs and two people. We each had an e-cert applied to the reservation. So I believe this issue is fixed, at least for me it was.
Best news of the day! Good to hear UA's IT department has done something useful recently.
Boraxo is offline  
Old Feb 19, 2014 | 11:28 am
  #57  
1M
40 Countries Visited
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA Plat & 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 8,687
Originally Posted by Boraxo
Tried that, did not work for me,at least as of a year ago. Went through the entire reservation process (glacial compared with online booking) and at the end the CSR said "no can do" so we split the reservation. Thankfully the pre-assigned E+ seats did not get messed up and there were no irregular ops.
Same experience with 1K line - using certs for three different pax. Might have been possible if only one cert for three pax, but had two $$ off, and one % off. 3 PNRs.
drewguy is offline  
Old Mar 22, 2014 | 9:16 am
  #58  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1
I had this exact same problem a month ago with a UA certificate. Called the help line and was told that I would receive an error message on the website but that I should just click through it. Trouble was I couldn't, and she could figure out why. After 20 minutes on the phone I gave up and booked without the credit.

The most frustrating thing is that when I emailed customer service asking them to simply extend the term of the voucher, it took four weeks to respond, and the response was "Expired documents have no value and cannot be reissued or extended... We appreciate your business and look forward to welcoming you on board a future United Airlines flight."
maestrop is offline  
Old Mar 22, 2014 | 10:46 am
  #59  
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: South Carolina
Programs: UA LT Gold, American Kettle, Hertz #1 Presidents Circle, Marriott LT Platinum
Posts: 930
Originally Posted by emcampbe
The TCV certs (that are a form of payment) can be used on multi-person itineraries, and as many as one per person - they need to be applied to a specific person though. So if you have two certs and one person traveling, you can only use one, but if you have two people, you can apply one to each. IME, if you have one cert on a multiple person itin, it will be issued as 1 PNR, but you receive separate eTicket emails - one for each person which is different than on a regular two-person itin.
Can you provide any additional information on how to apply multiple TCV Certs to a multi-person itinerary? The wife and I are looking to travel in the fall and I want to use the e-Certs I've been collecting so far this year for our vacation. I don't want to make separate reservations, as I need her to be tagged on my PNR so we get my 1K benefits for luggage and boarding.

Thanks.
drowelf is offline  
Old Mar 22, 2014 | 11:07 am
  #60  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
10 Countries Visited
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Splitting time between small towns in NorCal and Wydaho
Programs: Amethyst Premier Plutonium Medallion
Posts: 21,523
Looking for some advice here.

In October 2013 Mrs PV_ and I each received a 1016 type voucher by automated email for a delay incurred on a UA flight -- totaling $300.

Today when trying to use the vouchers I received errors online, so I called web support and learned they had been consumed, but neither of us have used them and noone else has had access to the PIN codes since they were issued.

Web support and 1K line are useless, telling me that they can see they've been spent but cannot tell me when, for what PNRs, or by whom.

Who can I call to find out when/where these were consumed?
PV_Premier is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.