The Department of Transportation pressed airlines to return to the old practice of offering meal vouchers during long delays, at least ‘controllable’ delays like mechanicals. This is now in customer commitment documents, incorporated into their contracts of carriage, and therefore enforceable. And policies are summarized on a DOT dashboard:
United Airlines has even automated the process of distributing meal vouchers. Eligible customers receive a text from the airline. There’s no need to stand in line or ask for it.
Here’s how to know if you’re entitled to a voucher that airlines now provide. The government declared a victory. But there’s not much discussion of “how much?” The standard answer is $12, and in an airport that doesn’t go very far.
Here’s a burger, fries and soda that cost more than double the meal voucher amount.
@AmericanAir can we talk?
My flight out of SGF was scheduled to leave at 10:52a. I'm still here @ 2:42p. It might get here at 4:50p. I was given a $12 meal voucher, but that barely covered 1/2. I've had 3 connecting flights rescheduled. This isn't okay… pic.twitter.com/w9r0j28gBF— Cheyenne K (@CMCtheCHEROKEE) August 29, 2024
I’ve written before about a trick you can use with these meal vouchers: add them to your Starbucks card. That’s true across airlines. It works not just with American Airlines but also United (and presumably others but I haven’t personally tried it).
The reason it works is that you’re being given a single use credit card number that’s restricted to use at specific merchant codes. Other food vendor apps should work too.
And maybe you don’t even need the voucher anyway – you’re going to stay in the airline’s lounge, or eat in a Capital One, Chase or Centurion lounge, or even leave the airport during the delay. So $12 is more useful than if you were buying overpriced airport food served with the warm hospitality of Delaware North, HMSHost or OTG.
I personally tried it with Delta and it worked.
No one is “trapped” with a $12 meal voucher. If you are so cheap you don’t want to spend money you deserve what you get. Personally I go where I want, whip out a card and pay for it. I would grovel or stand in line for a $12 meal voucher. That is beneath me and sad that people are so cheap (or broke) they value that
Correction- I WOULDN’T grovel or stand in line. Can get what I meant from context but wanted to clarify. Sorry for typo!
I find AA’s response interesting. Essentially that the voucher isn’t intended to provide a free meal in an effort to make getting screwed by AA feel more tolerable…..its just to make extortion-priced airport food cost a bit less……think of it as a coupon for getting screwed.
Like the Marriott GM yesterday…..at least they’re dumb enough to actually put it in writing.
Does Retired Gambler remind you of the annoying narcissist standing around at a party pontificating on all his investment and home purchase successes? Am I being rhetorical?
When I read Retired Gambler’s comment, it sounded like “I don’t understand why people rent a car when traveling. When I need a car, I just ask my chauffeur to meet me with whatever car he wants from the personal fleet in that city. Others should just do the same or stop complaining about the service at the rental car companies…” or some variation of that.
@James – no I just don’t understand why $12 matters to anyone that can otherwise afford to take a trip or is on an expense account and can run through the meal. BTW I also don’t grovel for hotel rooms if there is a flight interruption-I quickly book my own room and pay w cash or points. Sorry but I believe stuff happens and you deal with it instead of having your hand out for someone else to pay
Thanks as always, Gary ! Regarding all of the usual suspects, I’d add Aramark to the list, they do serve Airports. As for the Title, I’d change the byline from “Here’s The Insider Tip To Make It Go Further” to “Here’s The Insider Tip To Bank It”. After all, as you’ve pointed out, people may be able to use an Airline Club or maybe have brought snacks along. This tip is all about banking the $ 12 voucher for future use, not in “making it go further”.
Issue isn’t the $12 voucher but the price gouging for food at airports
Are there any other businesses where you can add it to your card/app account?
Last time I got a UA delay voucher at LAX I discovered that it would work at the convenience store since it also sold food-ish stuff and beverages. For some reason I had never thought of trying there before. I bought a book I had be meaning to read and a snack. But I got more than $12.
I am with @retiredgambler.
I don’t usually eat airport food and can go without food for a longtime.
Comfort and convenience are more important to me than a $12 meal voucher.
I missed a connection in San Francisco (mechanical) so United gave me a hotel voucher on my phone, which worked quite well; I had a meal voucher which I used to get water at the hotel gift shop. HOWEVER: the hotel had no shuttle (past 11.00 pm or something) and I paid for uber. Much later I discovered that there was also a Lyft voucher on my phone. I had arranged this through the 1K desk. The agent mentioned the food voucher but not the transportation.
Novice here. Can someone explain “how” you “unload” a voucher credit card to Starbucks (or other destination)? I just want to be prepared and know nothing about this. Thanks.
I agree with Retiredgambler for myself. I’m not that desperate. However, I do think there may be people traveling on cheap tickets who do not have much disposable income and are not on an expense account. That would have been me back in grad school. For them, the $12 might be the difference for a meal. I doubt the ability to add it to a Starbucks card would be meaningful.
Well, the thought of retiredgambler. and Morita is the general thought in the US today.
“I have a lot of money, so I don’t care about those losers who don’t have it.”
Empathy no longer exists…
Per Jon’s comment on price gouging at the airport, if the gouging was profitable, then wouldn’t expect to see the turnover in airport space that I see when I travel. You would guard those spots like gold. Maybe it is the rent gouging going on for those spaces? Either way, I agree with Retired Gambler, I grab a hotel room before they are gone via my app. I am not going to wait in line to get a third-tier hotel. I got the last hotel room at Hampton LaGuardia in June simply because I was faster in knowing what was happening.
Too bad AA doesn’t offer something when they switch your scheduled flight time a couple months out. I scheduled for a 90 minute layover, but after AA finished rescheduling my flights, it is now close to 4 hrs. This happens almost everytime I fly in from overseas. I could make the five hour drive from MIA to TPA in the time it takes to fly (4hr wait, 1 hr flight)
I am glad I do not need to depend on the airlines for help, but I sincerely wish they would treat people better when things go majorly sideways.
I know people who save all year for one trip, and if they had an extra $25+ in airport food to absorb, it would hurt. I’ve put on a small conference where many of the attendees were travelers like this. We did everything we could to keep costs down.
I also would be interested on the exact steps to ‘load’ a food voucher to a Starbucks acct or somewhere else. My automatic Alaskan Air food voucher expired in 24hrs. I didn’t see the voucher until I had already purchased food, and I didn’t have time to use it by the time I had to board. I arrived late night at destination & all food vendors were closed at destination airport. That $12 voucher went unused. Even if you ‘loaded’ the food voucher as a payment method (for example) on a Starbucks acct, wouldn’t it still be expired after 24hrs? I don’t see how this can work unless the expiration of the voucher is false.
My god. Retired Gambler… People save for years to take trips and yes, we try to make sure we have extra dollars for the unknown things that will happen. But you, sir, make it sound like we should just all suck it up and it’s so beneath you. That’s great for you. But do understand that the majority are not quite as entitled or as rich as you.
One time my wife I got a food and drink vouchers in MSP because the flight was canceled but all of the places that took vouchers were closed. I paid out of pocket for food at another place. I was able to use the vouchers the next morning at BUF. I went to Burger King and ordered enough to burn both vouchers almost completely. It was a lot of food. I took it to my parents place and we all had a meal with it. Another time I got a food and drink voucher in Narita (NRT) for a delayed flight. All of the food places were closed but a beverage place was just closing. I ordered four scotch on the rocks to pass the time and burn the voucher. It made me feel a little better about the delay. A $12 voucher for food is a joke with today’s prices. Maybe you could get a child’s meal for that.
It isn’t meant to buy you a meal…. it is meant to offset the cost of airport prices.
If your flight was on time, presumably you would have eaten at some point, yes? And paid for that meal?
My last two vouchers were both Delta. I (within the 24 hour time limit) took it to my local pub in one case and my wine store the other. Both were able to hand enter the numbers on the c c machine and allowed me to use the full amount.
Wish thought of the Starbucks trick when Etihad at JFK gave $200 in food vouchers for not providing a business class lounge in terminal 4 a year ago which was useless when we used priority pass for the virgin clubhouse. Oh well not sure that terminal even has/had a starbucks
The question is what is better eating at the airport for $25 and paying a $12 difference for disgusting food or using a $12 voucher at the Starbucks to get an overrated $0.20 worth of Frappuccino for only nine dollars? Get real !
There’s no reason why anyone should not pack along with whatever “stuff” they are bringing along a nice packed sandwich or 2. Tuna, pastrami, peanut butter and jelly… whatever floats your boat.
This is not only for delays but simply when you are served something on the plane and you aren’t quite sure what it is. (Is that Chicken Kiev? Or Siamese Tilapia?)
At the very least you’ll have something to munch on w/o having to spend the $20 on something you would pay $1.99 for somewhere else…