Can you redeem an expired voucher?

We had tickets with Continental Airlines to fly home from Las Vegas to Newark Sept. 14, 2001. Flights were cancelled on Sept. 11-13 and refunds were given out. We decided to drive home instead.

When we got home, we went to the Continental Airlines ticket office and were issued vouchers which we believed to be good, with no expiration date, to be used on a future flight. We realized this week that they expired in September 2002. Back then, the people at the ticket counter had assured us that the vouchers would not expire. Now the people at Continental are saying that they have expired.

Is there any recourse in this situation?

Doug

Dear Doug,

This is a tough one. Continental seems to have an inflexible attitude towards re-validating an expired voucher. I called Continental’s Customer Care line (1-800-WE CARE 2), and did not get very caring service. Calling twice, I received the same blunt non-responsive statement “that vouchers expire and there is nothing to do about it.”

Based on the attitudes on both “upper-level” customer care mangers I am happy that I do not fly Continental.

In favor of Continental Airlines I will admit that your vouchers are a year and a half past due and the vouchers do clearly state that they expired after one year. Moreover, after 20 minutes of expressing the value of a loyal customer one representative did offer to look up my account and review the history. Therefore, I recommend that you call the above number and ask if a manger of the customer care department will look up your account and try to assist you in any manner possible.

Good luck.