Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

You might remember back in March, when Twitter user @allisonmpreiss tweeted out that she had gotten $10,000 as a voucher from United from being involuntarily denied boarding.

(SEE ALSO: Bumped passenger gets TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR voucher)

On a United flight from Washington Dulles to Austin, United needed to bump one passenger, and nobody volunteered.  She was the lowest fare passenger and was denied boarding.

Originally she was offered a $1000 voucher and pressed to sign a document saying she voluntarily gave up her seat. When she declined and pressed for the $650 cash that she was entitled to under federal regulations, the United employee eventually gave her a $10,000 voucher.  TEN. THOUSAND. DOLLARS!

In an op-ed for NBC, she lamented the relatively lax airline delay / cancellation regulations in the US. And it’s true that this is an area of consumer protection where the US lags well behind the EU.  The EU261 law allows compensation of up to 600 Euros in many cases if your flight doesn’t get you to your destination on time.

(SEE ALSO: My EU261 claim is approved! But for how much?)

(SEE ALSO: Why Aer Lingus is paying me $1306)

How she spent the $10,000 voucher

Since it’s been a few months, I reached out to Ms. Preiss to see if she had spent the voucher. She responded that she used about half of it to fly her and her mom first class to Hawaii

Winter escape to Hawaii

Image courtesy of Jason Francisco

By my count she’d have earned about 10,000 redeemable miles with that ticket as well.

Where to next?

She has until one year from the issuing of the voucher to spend the rest of it. So between now and next March, she needs to spend another $5500. While we’ve written before about the best way to use 1,000,000 United miles and the 4 WORST ways to use United miles, I’m not sure how I’d use $5500 burning a hole in my pocket

Readers now it’s your turn. If you had $5500 to spend on United (ex-Washington) before March, where would you go?


This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them

User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.

BoardingArea