www.CostaRicaTicas.com

The company i work for gave me a $1000.00 voucher for UAL for meeting goals.
it was purchased w/ a company credit card, so i can't cash it in.
from the research i've done, UAL has limited flights to SJO, and are very expensive.
the dates i was looking at would cost $1105.00 on UAL, the same dates were $260.00 on AA.
Has anyone used one of these? What is the best way to get the most out of it?
i would be coming from chicago.
Thanks,

Cash it in! Buy a ticket on CO airlines. There is a current thread that is talking about the prices being $195 is, for a coach seat. (plus $85 in taxes) Use the extra $700 cash you have to enjoy your time in SJO. Check out the threads on Continental Airlines.

(I wish I knew how these guys attach the links, can anyone tell me how you do that?)

I wish it was that simple.
But thanks for the input.

CR is about to enter the low season for tourism. I've found that airfares in general start to drop in April/May. Give it a couple of weeks and check the UAL fare again. If I had the voucher, I would prolly go ahead and pony up the extra $105 for the fare.
Cheers,
CH

I am confused? You say it can be cashed in? Why is it not so simple ??? What is the issue? maybe some one will have an option for you?

So sorry read it twice and didnt see CAN'T be cashed in

Me english no so bueno

DUH!!!!!

as said by my hero Homer J. Simpson

Check to see if you can use it on a partner airline - if so I would check US Airways.

Agree with Kentucky, USair is a partner and you could get 3 trips out of it. UAL absolutely sucks for CR. I have 200K miles on UAL and I can't use them for CR but they did let me contact USair. The last time I tried it, $25 service fee plus taxes (but that was miles, a voucher should pay your taxes too). Did I mention UAL sucks for CR. Personally, I would try to sell it to someone for $550 (ie 2 trips on CO or AA) but it has to be transferable (which I would imagine it is not). But, you can book for someone else and have them pay you 50% (or whatever you like) of the ticket cost.

Dean

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my first wingman sent me this, how true

" most of the girls down here, lie as a self defense mechanism and to not have to face the truth, thinking most men couldn't accept them knowing the whole truth. Simpler, they may just want men to think they are as perfect as they want to appear to them, trying to hide what they consider to be the ugly truth about themselves. And I may be reading more into it than is there, but I do believe they consider the basis of the lies to be justified."

If it's transferable, put it up for sale, get the cash & buy yourself a reasonably priced ticket to San Jose. Many of those vouchers are, I've bought a few Continental vouchers on e-bay for varying discounted prices. Hell I may buy it from you & buy myself a ticket to Thailand, let me know!

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"cuz I'm a back-door man" Jim Morrison-1969

UAL doesn't fly to CR, it's a codeshare with Taca, with a huge surcharge.

Out of JFK, the nonstop Taca flight costs $377. If you book the same flight through United, it's $1202.

United has a non stop on Saturday and Sunday to Liberia? It's expensive but will get you in country.

I would suggest that you use your $1000 UA voucher to fly to BKK.

That would be the best value for the money IMHO.

I've been booking CO fares to SJO in the 250$ to 350$ range. Which is about $100 to $200 less than US.

As others have posted, UA doesn't fly to SJO themselves. They codeshare with TACA. The flight times are mostly redeyes. I do not recommend.

Take CO, which has multiple departures per day in and out of SJO from IAH and EWR.

I'd avoid US. They only have two (or three on Saturdays) flights in and out of SJO per day. As some others have reported, if the flight is canceled or goes mechanical, you could be stuck in SJO a few extra days. Which may or may not be a good thing.