B1

Being bumped on HP last year I was given an FTA ("Future Travel Award") for $300, which seemed like it would be useful. However. it is a slip of paper and cannot be used for payment on any web fare, nor can it be used as a credit for a refund. Instead, I was told to book the flight with an HP agent and then submit the FTA as partial payment. However, the agents do not have access to the Web fares. So, with the coupon and agent the FTA is essentially worth very little. This is not the way it works at other airlines I have dealt with. Has anyone else noticed the problem?

AZ Travels the World

What is the difference in fare that you're talking about? I wasn't aware that HP was offering web-only fares that are that much lower than those available through a phone agent.

enviroian

I received one of these a year ago. It was a coupon, and the amt of savings was tiered and dependent upon the purchase price of a ticket. A $150 savings would apply for tickets over $500 for example. Unfortunately you had to either go to Tempe or a ticket counter at an airport to redeem it making it very inconvenient.

Like the OP stated, wouldn't it be an accurate statement to say that fares quoted while live in front of an agent (or the phone for that matter) are generally going to be considerably higher than internet fares?

cpmairtight

These are actually two different things.

FTA which is what the OP is talking about. Which CAN be used over the phone.

"Air Check" which HAS to be presented to an agent to be used.

They are different, and nothing is ever as advertised

Jim_F

Good luck trying to earn FF/DM files or snag an upgrade if you're an elite member with your FTA too!

grbauctions

I all most took a bump last night.I am glad i didn't.Well i know now to ask a lot of questions before i take one to see if its worth it.

cpmairtight

Getting bumped is no fun anymore.

I recall in 2003, on STL - PHX was oversold badly. Asking for Volunteers, was traveling with the boss. The offer was $500 voucher and F back through Vegas. My boss said, take the day off tomorrow (Fri), and have fun.

I took the bump, they split the voucher into 2 ($250s a useful amount), sent me to LAS, and gave me a requested long layover through (Sat), met up with some buddies and had a nice time. I skipped the hotel voucher offer in LAS, I think it was at the roach motel. This is not possible anymore.

B1

Really? On HP's web site there are fares designated "Web Specials". When I asked the agents to try to book them they tell me that they are not available to them - and what they have are double the competition's web fares or Expedia's. And, the procedure is that up to 14 days ahead, the FTA is to be mailed to HP as partial payment. Less than 14 days, you have to go to the HP ticketing office at the airport if you can find it. With HP fading from YYZ, it would be quite a trick. The rotten thing is that when I was given the FTA I was told that it could be used for any payment. Don't be fooled. And if they ask for volunteers, don't. Even if they up the ante. Now, how will US be worse? And World Perks from Canada on HP is gone too.

Insiderdude

To y'all experts out there, I need to confirm or advice if i'm wrong ...:

OK - I have 2 x $150 FTA's. I've been trying to get a straight answer to how it affects upgrades and miles et al. This is what I know so far - and feel free to correct:

1. Miles (EQM or otherwise) = the fare must be FULLY (as in 100%) paid in $$$ to be eligible to earn EQM or otherwise. If there is so much as a $1 coupon on your ticket, miles will not be accrued.

***I'm a little fuzzy on the next one, so please, some FT-gurus here please confirm/correct me:***

2. Upgrades = Upgrades will still process for FTA-assisted tickets, but are NOT available if a ticket is mileage-redeemed. Say if I used a $150 FTA to reduce my $500 SAN-YYC fare to $350, I will still be upgraded. But if I withdrew 25,000 miles as an award ticket, then no upgrades, and certainly no miles. What about tickets that are not only partial, but are fully paid for by a FTA? Like I said, I'm fuzzy about upgrades and FTAs in general...

mallthus

I got a $300 FTA and 3 Air Check Coupons when I was bumped on an ATL-PHX flight year before last. Truly a pain to use both.

Here's what I did:

As stated, web fares weren't accessible by phone. After the agent reminded me that I wouldn't get EQM for a trip paid for with the FTA, I opted to use it to purchase a seat for my buddy on a bachelor party trip to Vegas in exchange for him paying for the hotel rooms. Because it was an all or nothing thing (no refund for unused credit), I bought him a 1st class ticket outbound (LAX-LAS) and coach return for a total of $298 with taxes, etc., which was much more than the same flight would have been if purchased online.

I then used one Air Check (since you can only use one per ticket) on my R/T LAX-LAS. Again, without being able to book online, my all coach fare was higher than it ought to have been, but not as bad as the markup on the 1st class ticket.

Although I made both reservations on the phone, I had to go to the ticket counter (between flight check-ins) to pay for them and receive paper tickets.

The good news is that on flight day, my upgrade went through and I sat up front with my buddy. On the return, no upgrade, but no surprise either, given it was a Sunday afternoon LAS-LAX flight.

Full EQM posted after the flight for me despite using the Air Check.

So unless you have some other reason to take the bump, don't.

Side Note:
The best bump awards used to be on Reno Air. Their standard offer on the always oversold Sunday night RNO-SNA flights was "two R/T tickets anywhere we fly". I used to volunteer on this one all the time. If it was a really busy night, they'd occasionally get up to 6 tickets per volunteer.

cpmairtight

Air Check = EQMs
Voucher = No EQMs

HPDTW

FTA =
1) Not Valid for First Class Tickets

2) Must be used at One Time, any remaining balance will be lost

Example - $300 FTA - If you purchase a $199 ticket the remaining funds will be lost.


In the past I would always ask the agent to issue the FTA's in $200 increments. But now the "NEW" U*S Airways has jacked up so many markets that it is possible to pay $700 for a coach ticket.

If you have doubts just look at http://farechase.yahoo.com/

B1

I continue to try to use the FTA on HP or US and find that the call-in fares permitted with the FTA are still way above the web fares which are still way above the other carriers. BUF-PHX is very instructive on the web fares. I think I will have an FTA burning in the near future. Meanwhile, AC's version requires only that I book a flight anywhere on there site and then claim a refund. The fraud of the FTA as presented on the bump is a pi$$er.

Joeypete

The old HP Future Travel Awards are quite easy to use. I've never heard anyone complain about them and I've exchanged dozens of them. Though someone complained once about not being able to apply it to a change fee...that was it. They are not valid on webfares as they are a paper document and must be turned in manually. If they were electronic then of course they could be used for web fares.

They will only be used for a couple more weeks when the new vouchers will be introduced. You think the old one was restrictive? The new ones will not be dollar based..simply a free ticket to certain destinations. There will be 3 tiers of destinations depending upon what flight you volunteer for. There are many black out dates and they can only be booked for coach in certain classes, the same that are reserved for frequent flier tickets.

I can't remember the exact tiers but the first is the 48 states only, second is the Caribbean/Mexico/Canada and the third is Hawaii and Europe if I remember correctly. So if you volunteer for a flight from CLT-ATL, you will get a free ticket in the 48 states only. If you volunteer for PHL-LGW, then you can get a free ticket anywhere we fly.

I'm glad its no longer dollar based, but the restrictions are going to make it tricky to book.

seratonin7

I wonder how this scenario would play out:

I have a $250 FTA to use up. I was thinking of booking a trip with a buddy and purchasing his ticket with the FTA. I’ll buy my ticket online and most likely get upgraded. If there is space available, would my buddy qualify for a companion upgrade? Do the TAs look at this type of fare when upgrading a companion?