Classanymore

I have had it with United...I have been a mid-tier Prem. Ex for many years..they have sent me these $150-350 customer appreciation over this last year..these were EARNED...one case was I paid for First Class and due to mechanical problems..they made us move to Economy with no reimbursement. So...here came the so called, "customer appreciation voucher". Well, in having spent already over 25K so far this year out of my own pocket and well on my way of earning 1K status this year...I can not believe what they did to me..I booked three flights this past month and used my certificates which covered about 30% of the cost,however, due to personal reasons, I had to cancel the flights..YOU will not believe this..they will not allow me to use the certificates again even though I had to cancel my flights. Remind you, I earned these. Customer relations said no luck. They said it does not matter if you fly or cancel,either way they are looked as utilized. I cannot believe they could go this low especially to a mid-tier customer on his way to 1k easily. I also HAD three business flights scheduled for this year. I simply cannot go back to this airline. Any suggestions on how to battle this...the total vouchers were under 800 dollars.

LIH Prem

Yeah, that's the terms of the e-certs, and we all know it here.

If you know what you want to rebook into, sometimes if you call web support, you might be able to keep the value of the e-cert on a one time exception by having them change your ticket for you. No idea what would happen if you tried to do 3 at once.

-David

UAPremExecflyer

Welcome to FT!
Your status has nothing to do with the certs. It's a well-known fact, known only to you now apparently, that you can only use these once.
Use them for a ticket and then cancel the itinerary, the value of the certs disappears too.
Did you read the T+C?

luv2ctheworld

Welcome to FT, Classanymore!

While I sympathize with your frustration, I'm afraid the T&C's do spell out this annoying restriction.

Unfortunately, this is probably going to happen to you on whichever airline or company you do business with. They have rules, and sometimes they are not very consumer friendly... it is what it is.

If you can't get a resolution to your satisfaction, I'm sure you will remember to always read the T&C's on gift cards, certificates, vouchers, and any other cash-like instrument.

Good luck with your search for another airline; you may or may not find it any better elsewhere.

travel.flier

If you were in Paid First and got a downgrade to economy, you should ask for a diffrence in fare back. If they don't give it to you, dispute it with your credit card company. Take personal responsiblity for the situtation and it will be resolved.

Re: certs...everyone has already stated the facts for you. Good luck and let us know how it is over on the dAArkside

Classanymore

Yes, I understand what everyone is saying about the T & C...in the past I rarely used them due to the many restrictions..missing this particular restriction. However, my buddy who has been 1k for years says the disappointments carry over to that level as well with the introduction of GS. And with the Merger, it will be only worse (more 737s & more elites begging for nearly the same seats). Late note..American did send me a late note stating, after review of my Rev which averages around 50K a year, they would grant me mid-tier level and if I make another set of flights up to their top level, they would grant me that level so I will try 'em out. I would have qualified for 1k with United but with GS now and with SFO and ORD my main Hubs..it has become a joke as my buddy said and as I witness in my many flights with United regarding their treatment toward GS over 1K.

So, I do fly often and am above average on Rev for Mid-Tier since I pay for myself and my companion on nearly all flights,however, I decided to finally use some of these Certs. in these last few flights so I guess a person needs to keep on top of all the games. Thanks guys for the info. and good luck with this mess with CO. At the end of the day it all becomes laughable and as my buddy here in Pebble Beach told me today on the Course..William, you see that building next to the Monterey Airport named,"Million Air"(charter jets)well, that is the way to fly IF you can afford it otherwise, the rest of us are just an Ant on the tarmac matter how important or special we think we are with those elite benefits. How true...but this darn Fog here in Pebble Beach..now if we could only resolve that issue.

booch

sorry to hear about your problem. if it makes you feel any better, i was unaware of this restriction on the certs. as well (despite flying quite a bit and frequenting FT). this type of thing (unfortunately) shouldn't surprise either of us though, given that the legacy carries aren't exactly known for the clarity and customer-friendliness of their policies and procedures.

as i've said before -- and although i'm not a supporter of excessive compensation by any means-- giving customers paltry (relative to the severity of the incident) and/or over-restricted "appreciation" seems to me to send the wrong message. if the organization is going as far to take responsibility for harm in some way, then it ought to "feel" like that is happening.

tom911

If some of those AA flights are SFO-ORD and before end of August make sure to register for the DECSL promo.

StingWest

Yes, this is one of those incredibly non-customer-focused policies. This happened to me last year, and I wrote to 1K voice asking for my certificate back (I had cancelled the flight only 2 hours after booking it, under the "United Commitment" policy to get a full refund). They initially denied my request, and it was only after I wrote back and expressed my displeasure (and mentioned that I would post my experience on FlyerTalk too :-), they relented and emailed me a new certificate, acting like this was a big deal to them.

I just mention my experience, as things have likely changed...

jhayes_1780

Just a few OT thoughts:

Not exactly correct. More elites will be begging for more seats (remember, the fleet nearly doubled)

While I am NOT saying you would make GS, if your individual spend is $50K, you would be "in the running" for GS.

Also, I get the "feel" that you are recently noticing GS:

The introduction was almost 8 years ago.

as other have mentioned, welcome to FT ^

bmvaughn

Why does this old talking point get so much mileage? It ignores the fact that there are more planes and more routes to align with the more frequent flyers.

nmenaker

The T&C's are pretty annoying, especially that they cannot be applied to an itinerary with more than one passenger, makes no sense, just set a $$ theshold or something.

I would, however, focus more of my energies on getting money back for having "paid for first class" and having been downgraded. I don't think there is any question that you should be due a total REFUND of a difference in fare class paid. you PAID for F and received a much cheaper Y, this is a failure to perform and should be compensated directly not through a voucher

travel.flier

I'll be honest - I have some doubts about the OP total spend, along with this being a paid F ticket. I just don't see how someone in paid F would accept an eCert for a downgrade and not insist on a refund.

Ocn Vw 1K

In other threads, members who've been downgraded from F to Y have reported receiving relatively small compensation for the downgrade, based on the strict definitions of the fare constructions used. It's possible that the voucher was more valuable than the refund would've been. We simply don't know.

Classanymore, welcome to FT. If my UA spend approached $25K midyear, I'd not be resenting GS, but aspiring to be invited to join that rank.

Classanymore

regarding the issue of merging with CO and its affect on demand and supply...my friend a mechanic with another airline stated United will be inheriting many 737 to replace 757 and will gain market share but he pointed out that the number of passengers in comparison to seat allocation will INCREASE . I will post the figures later this week showing the stats he sent me. Also, I think many people who have flown many miles like myself rarely read the T&C of these so called Vouchers as they don't add much value for for the headache of using them. I received some in the past but with the exception of this time, I simply forgot about them. American more than glad took me on today and offered me the promotion of the SFO-ORD double miles. I also received a call from a Dallas office today stating based on my past two years of Rev with United, they might grant me a special access membership for the remaining year. I asked for clarification and the lady simply said I would be pleased upon receipt of the package. I will let you guys know what this is upon receipt and although I am one of many out there..I do think United made a bad decision on not making an effort to retain me. I wrote to this so called Premiervoice@customerrelations Twice with the same response so be it. But again as my buddy says,"we all think we are special with our special access packages but we are simply another dot in the sky". I will be sure to send a follow-up letter to United showing true customer service regarding American. Time will show how AA is. by the way, I am assumed that the 25-50k a year in Rev. is the norm for most Prem. Ex. like myself but maybe I was wrong. It would be interesting to see on average how much a customer spends on flight rev. based on their status? Thanks again everyone for your comments. I will post any general responses I receive from United and AA if applicable.