Has anyone used the USAT America West Airlines travel vouchers?
They are provided to USAT members when purchasing tickets through USAT Travel Desk; the America West website suggests most sports equipment go through Sports Express so I’m not sure what’s going on…
I don’t want to have an incident at the ticket desk…
Thanks,
John
I don’t know about the Sports Express thing, but I flew my bike to Mexico last fall on America West and they ended up letting me do it for free. I didn’t have the foresight to do it through the USAT desk, but there is a code they provide for that, and once they gave me the code I was in. I told them I was a USAT member but just hadn’t booked it through their travel desk and after talking to a few different people at AW they basically said, “We’ll do the best we can.” They put a note on my reservation, and my bike case counted as regular luggage and I saved $160. They were really very nice about it, particularly considering I had gone about it the wrong way. I would be surprised if they weren’t very helpful if you do it through the USAT travel desk … of course you have to pay a fee for that as well.
USAT no longer gives out United Vouchers, however, American West does not fly to many places including Hawaii.
If you go to USA Cyclings web page you can join USAC for $50 and receive two United Vouchers. That will save you $100. Not only that but these vouchers have no expiration date and you can buy additional United vouchers for $25 each way.
Not sure why USAT decided not to give out vouchers this year but when I called them they said it had to do with Uniteds Bankruptcy. Seems like it did not effect USA Cyclings ability to get vouchers.
I believe it really has nothing to do with the Uniteds financial situation as letting a passenger take a bike along gets them on board without any additional cost. By not giving the vouchers it allows the pasenger to shop around for a better rate seeing that they have to pay for a bike on any airline. But if you have a United voucher you would be hard pressed to find a better rate on another airline if you have to pay for a bike as well.
The plane is going anyways with or without a bike and passenger onboard. It can’t be the extra weight since they allow skis and golf clubs for free. Plus the weight of me and my bike is less than 200 pounds which is less than some passengers.
Willy
America West lets me bump up my flight times for free too if there are open seats for an earlier flight, even with the discounted fares. Southwest charges if you advance your flight time for discounted fares.