I know VDB compensation has been discussed in the past but since the most recent question in this thread went unanswered I thought I'd ask it again here.

My family of three got VDB certs for domestic travel for bumping off SEA-LAX last week. Is it possible/worth it to contact customer relations about exchanging these for travel credits?

Also, can someone clarify how these are used. Is it at airport only (meaning I have to pay fees)? How do I go about transferring the free ticket if the name on the cert is not the name of the traveler? Can a parent transfer his child's certificate to himself without the child being present?

Thanks for your help.

I doubt you can exchange them for travel credits (assume you mean the cash-value vouchers? that let you earn miles?). If you try and have success, please post your tale here.

You can mail the VDB in after making your reservation by phone, or proceed to airport ticket counter for ticketing. No fees. Last time I did this at the airport, I seem to recall I had to have the tix issued within 24 hours of making the res by phone. I find it helpful to play around on ual.com to find your desired itinerary before calling (plus you also get to see how much money you'd be paying!).

IIRC, yes, you can use these tix for other pax. However, I believe YOU must be the person who forks over the voucher when ticketing the reservation.

Thanks for your reply.

Does this mean I can't ticket-by-mail when transferring these from one person to another? Or is that only for at-airport ticketing?

Hi. I have used many United VDB vouchers and will try to answer your questions in no particular order.

1) The United vouchers, IMO, are much more valuable than credits. These vouchers are essentially good on any domestic United-metal flight that is greater than two weeks out. A ticket such as PIT -> DRO (Durango, CO) is very expensive; the voucher gets it to you for free. Unless you are saving miles for that free trip to Australia, or unless you absolutely have to have first class, the VDBs are a very good deal. (i.e. You won't get upgraded and you won't get miles.) The fare classes are V,W,and S, I believe, but I have found that most flights qualify for this (but they have to be on United metal, not a code-share).

2) The vouchers must be ticketed within 24 hours, or at least have a postmark (or fedex ticket) within 24 hours of making the reservation. I have scheduled other people on them, although, to be honest, I cannot recall if I sent in the tickets or just picked them up at the airport. I live close enough to the Pittsburgh airport that I usually drive down and get the tickets after calling ticketing. It is a pain that these cannot be redeemed electronically.

3) There are NO fees for these VDBs, whether you go to the airport, or mail them in. You can change the dates and cities on the VDB for a $100 change fee (which effectively can extend the life of the voucher for a year).

If this is too much trouble, I'd be happy to take the vouchers off your hands.

I perhaps was the one asking in the linked thread. Does anyone know if customer relations will exchange the DBCFREE ticket for the applicable dollars off certificates? Would it be best to mail in the DBCFREE coupons with a letter and this request (in a way that makes it more difficult not to honor the request as they then may have to mail back the DBCFREE ) .

My situation is that they only offered the DBCFREE, and the door was still open and they were not going to take my seat if I did not agree to get the DBCFREE. Prior to this, I have never had real trouble getting the dollars off.

The reasons I don't like the DBCFREE in order of importance are:
1. The 14 day advance purchase. If your going to book 14 days out, you probably can get a reasonable $$$ fare unless its a strange market like the one referenced above;
2. Not upgradeable;
3. Don't earn miles;

One clarrification I have been told numerous times that you can make date and flight changes on a DBCFREE with no charge. The only problem is that if you change your outbound flight date apparently you must have 14 days before the flight. Also I believe DBCFREE might also be bookable in Q, I have also had them booked in V.

I believe if you are keeping the same cities on both ends, you are correct. However, if you change the cities, I am fairly certain it is $100.

You are right about Q class; I just checked the certificate I have here.

Well, I could really use one of those DBCFREE vouchers for a EWR-RNO trip.. going for about $400 roundtrip. It's not only "strange" markets.. sometimes it's timing, too... these certs work fine for summer trips, which get horribly expensive.

This is great information should be places in the FAQ