kimharp

Does anyone know if it's possible to get some sort of documentation of the monetary value of an award ticket? I used miles for an award ticket to Asia for myself and my husband so we could guarantee Business Class. My employer is willing to reimburse me the coach fare equivalent, but only if I provide documentation of the monetary value. Any ideas?

ArizonaGuy

Have US price out what coach would be on the route and have it emailed to you - would your employer accept that?

AZ Travels the World

Price the coach fare for the exact itinerary on Expedia, Orbitz and some other site -- perhaps the operating airline's site. I would think that providing multiple printouts of what the exact fare would be if you were purchasing an economy ticket would suffice.

This assumes that your itinerary doesn't generate an inflated cost because of how you had to fly to get the award seats. If so, then price origin to destination, in economy, on the same dates -- as you likely would have flown it if you did buy the ticket and fly in economy. By providing several such examples, it should be fairly easy for you and your employer to settle on a value that's fair to both of you.

kimharp

Yes, but I haven't been able to get US to do it for me. They agents keep saying it's not possible. I need an official letter or documentation from US of the monetary value of my trip, not just a web print out of what it would cost if I go online and search. I just emailed CS and hopefully they'll help. Just curious if anyone else has encountered this and had any luck.

kopflyer

Step 1. Book a refundable fare on the same flights, same day.
Step 2. Get the confirmation email & receipt.
Step 3. Submit documentation to employer.
Step 4. Cancel the refundable fare.

CactusFlier

I am suprised that an employer would allow the price to be considered after the booking. Personally, if I was the employer I would pick a price and agre on it before (route, dates, class, carrier, etc). You can book a full fare in Y and show that price because technically anything less than that is at a discount. But honestly, it seems like you or the employer can easily get ripped off in this deal, just my opinion.

I know where everyone'e intentions are and they sound great, but it could be dangerous dealing with the price so no one gets ripped.

kopflyer

I fully understood what I was doing when I suggested booking a fully refundable Y fare. If kimharp's employer is too obtuse to accept an online booking quote (BEFORE booking the award), let them pay out the nose for their ridiculousness.

Besides...it's not technically a ripoff. The value US assigns to that seat IS the full fare. kimharp might have been able to get a discount from that value under certain circumstances (booking N number of days in advance, etc), but if (s)he had to book at the last minute because of work scheduling, (s)he'd be paying pretty close to the full fare cost.

CactusFlier

HAHA that was what I thought you were suggesting. And yes, a full fare is the value of the ticket...anything less and you are saving money for the company technically! (I should think about it like that when the fares I usually pay for a route are increasing - at least its cheaper than full fare most of the time!)

Sweet Willie

agreed,

my employers that have been willing to do this based on going avg market rate not full Y

Beckles

I have been reimbursed for awards and I simply ask for the cost of what the ticket would have cost for the flights I would have taken if the company had been paying it. Note one distinction compared to what has been recommended here is that may not be the same flights you are on.

kopflyer

I never did understand the point/benefit of booking an award flight for an expenseable fare...? Why not just earn the EQMs on a revenue fare?

Beckles

Because you can get more EQM from the leisure trips booked with the money than you would get from the 'expensive' work ticket. The miles/credits have to be used on something, and using them on an expensive ticket and buying cheap ones maximizes EQM and RDM per dollar. By your argument one would never use miles for an award ticket because you're always passing up the EQM you would earn if you buy the ticket instead. Not all frequent travelers think like Ryan Bingham and believe the miles themselves are the goal.

yellow77

I don't know how the companies doing this are squaring the reimbursement with the IRS... IANAL, but since miles are worthless in the eyes of the IRS, I strongly suspect any compensation would be supposed to be viewed as income for tax purposes.

There is a reason most companies won't go there.

kimharp

Thanks to all who have chimed in. I have an email in to US now and have not yet received a reply. To answer some of the questions, since this is a long Asia flight and my husband is accompanying me, it was worth it to us to use miles to guarantee Business class for both of us and a free ticket for him. The award fare for our flights was only 90,000 which seemed like a bargain to me. It made more sense to us to use awards for BC, rather than pay for his ticket, get reimbursed for mine, and sit in coach with the possibility of upgrading with miles. But since my employer is willing to reimburse something with documentation, that's what I'm trying to do. I have thought of some of the more creative solutions posted here and may go there if necessary! I just wondered if anyone had encountered this, since it seems like it would be pretty common. Thanks for the replies!