United Airlines Honors Lost Plane Ticket From 19 Years Ago
You know the feeling you get when you unexpectedly find money in your pocket, or that sense of relief when you find something lost after days of searching for it? Now imagine discovering an old airline voucher and learning it's still redeemable. Well, that's exactly what happened to John Walker when he discovered his unused United Airlines flight voucher from 19 years ago.
According to WFMY News 2 , the Greensboro, North Carolina resident recently found his unused United ticket in a box under his bed, among other old documents and birthday cards. The ticket was dated back to a United flight on December 31, 1998 from Nashville(BNA) to Sacramento (SMF) and went unused.
"Over the years, this box has been under there, I just never really thought about it," said Walker in an interview.
Along with the ticket was a letter Walker received from United that addressed the 19-year-old refund request for his flight. The letter stated that the "domestic wholly unused non-refundable ticket(s) can forever be applied toward the purchase of another domestic non-refundable ticket, for the customer named on the ticket."
After finding the letter, Walker contacted United by sending a direct message to the airline's Twitter account.
"No one knew what to do with a paper ticket because by this time paper tickets were long gone," Walker said. "They hadn't been issued for 10 or 12 years."
According to Walker, a customer care associate explained that the "forever" referenced in his letter was no longer under a binding agreement because United went bankrupt in 2002, which meant all debts, including airline tickets such as his, were discharged by the airline. Lucky for Walker, his then $378 paper ticket and is valued at $571.60 today.
"They decided to honor it partly because of the letter even though it wasn't legally binding. But also, because I think it was just good customer service on their part," said Walker.
H/T WFMYNews2.com
Feature photo by Zach Honig
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Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month
- Top rated mobile app