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Reader Julie writes:

I read this problem-solver article in the Washington Post last week but I’m not satisfied with the answer the newspaper gave.

Why would a person with a $711 [airline] credit not be allowed to use that voucher on a $500 ticket? Isn’t there anything the woman could have done?

Yes, Julie, there is.

Here’s the background:

After canceling a trip on United Airlines, Sarah Anderson of the District was left with a $711 credit. An agent told her she couldn’t use the credit for a $500 ticket, even though she was willing to forfeit the difference. “This seems crazy to me, since it would be my loss,” Anderson wrote […] Many international nonrefundable tickets state that any value of an unused ticket must be applied toward the purchase of a new ticket at an equal or greater fare, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. She added, “This tends to be common throughout the industry.”

A stupid rule, indeed. If Ms. Anderson had wanted to put that credit to use, she should have requested a ticket in a higher (more expensive) fare class for the same flight. The phone agent was pricing out the itinerary as cheaply as possible, but that most certainly wasn’t the only fare for sale.

Idiotic, I know, but United won’t give partial refunds of unused vouchers, so you might as well get SOMETHING for the voucher rather than letting it expire. (It’s a crappy policy. American’s policy of issuing vouchers for any leftover balance is far better.)

Note also that you might end up paying a small sum of cash in order to use the voucher, since the total fare has to exceed the certificate’s value, and you’re responsible for the difference.

It’s dumb to have to buy a more expensive ticket in order to get any value from a voucher, but if that’s the only way to use hundreds of dollars of credit that will otherwise expire worthless, it’s still worth doing.

Related:
- Reader mail: Why is a $75 airline voucher only worth $30?