Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - How to Redeem Travel Credits

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

Over the last two years, COVID probably disrupted your travel plans once or twice… and that means that you likely have a travel voucher that you’re figuring out how to use. Today, Nicole explains how to redeem those travel vouchers, and cash in on your dream vacation.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. I'm sure that over the last two years, COVID has disrupted your travel plans once or twice.

And that probably means you have a travel voucher and you're figuring out how to use it. That's what's up from June in San Francisco. Here she is. Hey, Nicole. My name is June and I'm a project manager in San Francisco. Me and my best friends from college were planning on taking a trip to Mexico in 2020 and we booked everything through Expedia. Then we had to cancel everything because of COVID. When we canceled, we got travel vouchers for everything, thankfully. And now we're just starting to think about getting the trip back on the calendar. But I'm realizing that I don't actually know what it means that we got a travel voucher. Where can I find the vouchers and how do I use them? Thanks so much for your help.

June, I am so glad that you're getting your trip back on the books with your girls. After a tumultuous last few years, we all need to treat ourselves a little and get back into having some fun. All right. So here's the thing about travel vouchers. During COVID, most airlines had amended their cancellation policies so that regardless of what type of ticket you purchased, you would be able to rebook without being charged a change fee. The majority of the time, and yes, there are exceptions, but the majority of the time, your travel voucher will only be valid with that particular airline you selected, regardless of whether you booked through a third party. And even if you did book through a third party,

you'll need to buy your tickets through the airline in order to use the travel voucher. So in your example, June, your travel voucher likely won't be stored in your Expedia account. You probably got it sent to your email from the airline. And when you and your girls are rebooking, you'll need to track down the travel voucher information and use it to book directly with the airline and not Expedia. With most airlines, if you're booking your new trip online, you can apply the travel voucher at checkout no problem. Once you're in the payment portal, there will be an option to apply the travel voucher at checkout no problem. Once you're in the payment portal, there will be an option to apply the travel credit to your purchase.

However, I've had experiences with travel vouchers where I needed to book over the phone and have the agent apply the travel voucher, and I couldn't use the travel voucher online. So when all is said and done, I think my main piece of advice here would be to budget a little extra time to book these flights. You may get all the way to checkout and find out that you actually need to book over the phone. Is it efficient? No, but we want to make sure you're able to use your travel credits. For today's tip, you can take it straight to the bank. Check the

expiration date on your travel voucher. Most companies said they wouldn't expire any vouchers that were issued during COVID, but airlines are hurting right now, and they can make changes to that policy on a whim. And remember, the travel voucher expiration date would be for when you can apply it, not for when your flight is. So the time crunch right now is actually on just booking the dang flight, not when you travel. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are

Penny and Mimsy. Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team Michelle Lanz for her development work, Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.