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Comment by donald123 | Hacker News Reader

And also, those $800, $1000 are just United voucher. The worst is they only issue 16 or 20 $50 vouchers, you can only use one voucher each time, and can only book through phone (which some people say is usually more expensive than online), oh and expire after a year. When more people know that, they are not stupid, it's useless even if they give you $10k.

Basically they caused this no volunteer situation themselves.

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This is false. I have volunteered for flights on United in the past and I have a got a single voucher of the total amount ($800 and $500). Also I can use it online. I received them less than a year ago.

It's not false, it's from someone else's experience. Maybe it's up to different gate agent or airport to decide what they'll issue.

Yeah, turns out it's false.

You can use United vouchers online. I have volunteered a couple of times in the past and used them without any problem on United's website. You can also use them for multiple trips if the amount on the voucher is not exhausted. They do expire after a year, though, that is correct.

Did they issue you multiple $50 vouchers like the other person said? I fly mostly from SFO to HND (Japan) and it would be worthless if I only got $50 off a flight.

I've gotten several thousand dollars in vouchers over the years. I've never ever had gotten one which couldn't be stacked with other vouchers to pay for a flight.

Always an electronic voucher with the full amount offered. My last one was a 600$ voucher and I paid a full round trip to Europe with it.

Did they change this recently? A few years ago when I was flying all the time, you had to use the vouchers at an actual ticket counter to redeem them. It was ridiculous.

Maybe, but the first one I got was 5 or 6 years ago and was already an electronic voucher redeemable in the website.

I think you are legally entitled to cash if you ask for it.

Only if you were involuntarily denied boarding. The $800 offer is just that, an offer, and the carrier can set their own terms.

Isn't that what happened?

No, denied boarding means they won't let you board in the first place. In this case, he already sit in his seat.

While I suspect you're correct in this instance, that's not actually the point I was making. A lot of people have been going around the past few days saying, "I accepted a $20 voucher for my cancelled flight; was that illegal and they should have paid cash?!?!" People seem to have no notion of voluntary exchange.

Well, that's "involuntary compensation" regulated by DOT. And those are usually handled before you board on the plane. So technically if you walk down the plane yourself, they can call it "voluntarily".

What? What do you mean by "walk down the plane"?

It's involuntary if they don't let you on the place, but if you willingly walk off the plane it's voluntary.

If what the person is saying is true, then technically speaking, the only one who could demand cash would be the doctor.

I disagree. United chose the other passengers who were to be removed as well, and so none of the chosen passengers volunteered to leave the flight as there was no alternative (default) option presented in which the passengers would remain on the flight. Threatening to call the authorities if someone doesn't leave doesn't qualify as eliciting a voluntary exit.

I'm not arguing for or against, I was explaining what the other poster meant since it seemed as if their meaning wasn't clear.

My statement about the doctor being the only one that could be compensated was definitely tongue in cheek.

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