brp1264

100% agree here - the GA was looking for path of least resistance, and bumping the offer up $300 to not have to do the work to get you rebooked on the American flight was worth it for them.

joe_miami

The GA didn't "spend more of UA's money." United retained the fare for both pax in exchange for an additional $300 in ETC, which was almost assuredly a net financial win for United, especially given the breakage rate for ETCs.

Kacee

Going from $700 ETC to $1000 ETC is absolutely spending more of UA's money.

And again, the GA lie taints everything here. GA wasn't trying to save UA money, she was trying to save herself work.

joe_miami

We're going in circles. Instead of paying AA to fly one of the pax, UA kept both fares in exchange for providing an additional $300 in ETC, which might never be used. That's not at all a loss for UA.

This thread is full of people getting $200 ETC because, e.g., the IFE didn't work. UA throws around ETCs like they're funny money.

Assumes facts not in evidence, and ignores facts that are.

jjmoore

A $300 ETC to me is worth quite literally $300 that I would otherwise have spent on a UA ticket. To UA, the same cannot be said in MY case lately. I have been forced to use $2300 in ETC's on close-in bookings. UA's higher fares for these seats are priced far higher than if I had purchased them weeks prior, in which case I would have likely been able to book L, K, or G fares. UA's operating cost for the more expensive seats I paid for with my ETC's basically means I am using them to pay the higher margins they make from those seats. If I had booked extremely cheap discount tickets with them, UA would ultimately have paid more of their own money for them.

joe_miami

I'm sure this is true for most UA elites, which means it would make sense for UA to use non-elites as much as possible. Regardless, on the whole, the reported breakage rate for ETCs is so high that the GA's decision was probably the right one, whether that decision was made for pure or impure reasons.

fumje

Isn't there actually some policy that Premier status gets favoured when volunteering? I thought there was, but at present I can't imagine what it would be.

What is the best estimate for breakage overall? It seems equally plausible that it is lower for elites, many of whom fly for work and may not otherwise be inclined to travel on personal time (with personal money, when it is most straightforward to use ETCs).

joe_miami

I saw one report from a decade ago that claimed the breakage rate was over 85%. That seems crazy high, but I've never seen a number lower than 50%.

EDIT: Here's a report claiming a breakage rate of over 90%:

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/tr...h-go-for-cash/

Disagree. No way the ETC breakage rate is lower for elites.

goalie

I agree with your disagreement ^ but also to add F/t'ers to the list of "lower breakage"

jjmoore

To add to that stat... I have a 0% breakage rate.... have made probably $30-40K in vouchers over the last 10 years and have used every penny of them. I'm probably the worst enemy of UA in this regard!!

I simply can't believe breakage rates are that high. Anyone I know (even those that travel very little) finds use for these vouchers.... and most people at the gate that I encounter in VDB situations know what they are doing. I could see a 50% breakage rate, but I don't believe it's much higher than that based on personal experience and what I have seen from others... just an opinion though.

On another note, I just took a $600 voucher for tomorrow's UA256 DEN-SFO downgauge from a 788 to a 753. It was booked full prior to the downgauge. Since Y was wide open, I happily took a downgrade to Y for that offer. Another big winner. They called me just about 20 minutes ago to ask me if I was willing.

LAXOGG

Most e-certs originate from traveler inconveniences. The high breakage rate comes from these sources, most of which come from the one off traveler.

threeoh

Aren't ETCs also generated from unused travel funds? Like I book a ticket for $700, I change the ticket and pay a $200 change fee but the new ticket is only $675, I end up with a $25 ETC and it gets lost in the swamp of life.

I bet most people who get a $1,000 ETC find a way to use at least part of it. But $25-$100 ETCs (or unused portions of ETCs) can be hard to use if you are price sensitive and other carriers happen to be cheaper, and for many people the one year expiration date means they only have one or two trips to use it on. Add in foreign travelers who don't see United metal often and people who can't keep track of things (most people)...

Hipplewm

Remember, before the era of combining, if you had 4-5 of them for $100-$200 sitting around they were much harder to use, but now you call, they combine and you get a nice chunk off a ticket

jjmoore

This is correct... same type of voucher. I am sure MANY of these are lost in the abyss. Many people likely don't stay organized enough to know where to find the pin #'s and don't bother. We all need to keep a document (electronically) that keeps pin #'s and expiration dates organized. This is how I ensure that I use them all.

segiddins

Took $2000 for de-planing UA1796 SFO-EWR on 2018-08-30. They were over by 4, 2 people got $700 and business on the 6am. Got offered the 11:30am departure the next day, tried standing by for the 1am (missed it by 3 minutes when the last passenger arrived), and took the 5am to DEN and then connected onward to EWR. Spent the night in the terminal working, and my one meeting the next day got moved, so I'm very happy with that outcome.

The irony is, I had put myself on the list at check-in, but didn't hear them call my name since I was in the lounge! Probably netted me $1000!