wgrc1971

Hello everyone,

I want to fly BUF-SEA or BUF-PDX this July. The fares seem awful this year, can't find anything better than $450 or so RT for 2 people (unless someone has a better idea, I've checked everywhere though?)

I prefer NW because of my mileage mostly being there, and they are running the Fly Free Faster plan again this summer (10000 bonus miles, but you need to take TWO flights)

I noticed some coupons for sale on eBay, not using someone's voucher from an overbooking or something, but they look like just some promotial coupons someone has picked up. Any problems with using one of these, before I splurge for the $15-$20 per coupon that they seem to be going for?

I thought I was good at finding better fares, but not this year. Thanks for all your help and happy travelling!

yogimax

They are capacity controlled. I had absolutely no success using them from NYC a few months ago. Perhaps someone in Buffalo has better experience with these coupons which are usually included with NW Visa statements.

Standby4321

I'm thinking the OP may be not be talking about the zone coupons that I believe the first response refers to. The "dollars off" coupons may be from amenity kits that people receive when a flight is delayed. I'm looking at one right now that is a PD964. It is good for one passenger only and the ticket must be issued by July 31, 2006. The discount is a sliding scale:

$25 off a roundtrip fare of $75-$199
$50 off a roundtrip fare of $200-299
$75 off a roundtrip fare of $300-399
$100 of a roundtrip fare of $400 or greater

Note that these are off BASE fares (that is, before taxes & fees)

These certs are void if sold, auctioned, bartered or exchanged for compensation. (As a practical matter, I am not sure how that is enforced, but it is certainly worth knowing). While the ZONE coupons are capacity controlled, I'm not at all sure that the dollars off certs are and I'm thinking that they probably are not.

wgrc1971

Thanks for the replies! Actually, it was the coupon voucher for $100 that I was looking at.

Our travel schedule will unfortunately dicatate that we have to fly Sunday-Sunday, which voids those vouchers for $198RT across country (and I don't believe I see them in the summer that often anwyay? Those things have a great habit of showing up in my mail when I DON'T need them, enticing me to travel, but not be around when I need one. Someone there in marketing is doing a good job on their timing!)

That's what I suspected, that they are void. I heard a story that NW monitors the bidding sites and writes down the numbers, and compares them to who purchases the tickets, and then wreaks havoc on their trip (after it is underway, rather than voiding the ticket right away, and they take away FF miles, etc.). That sounds a little like an urban legend though, has anyone heard of this actually happening??

All the fares look pretty poor this summer, we picked the wrong summer to have more rigid travel schedule needs!

Thanks to all of you for your help, I see I am going to enjoy this forum! Perhaps I will share a story about our NW/KLM flight from FCO-DTW last year that has been bugging me .....

timrick

It got to be an urban legend. The e-cert is 1 time use only, and has no name on it. Unless they are really dumb, there is no way the buyer or seller would want to disclose the number/code.

You can find more information from this thread. PD925 discussed there is essentially the same as the PD964 mentioned by Standby4321 except for different expiration date. There are a number of other ones as well PD924, PD886, etc. The thread below tells it all.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=420383

As of the capacity controll, I don't think so. There were once or twice I couldn't get it work at all; then I realized I couldn't escape from certain Continental operated segments; and the coupon only works on NW/KLM operated flights.

wgrc1971

Oh yeah I guess that makes sense, as long as you don't reveal the codes.
I'll have to get one quick, the fares are getting crazy!, and this is just under 2 months away! What to do ....

Thanks for your help!!!

wgrc1971

Well it worked, $16 to save $200, thanks for all of your help. I think I am going to be visiting this forum more for the future ....

I will save any coupons/etc. in the future that I'm not going to be needed and will be happy to share them. Problem is I haven't seen one in quite awhile! Hopefully they will start showing up again.

Thanks again for your help!