Use of $500 Certificates/Low Cost Air Carriers

[cruisinred]

Can the $500 gift certificate be use to book "a la carte"?

[omegaet]

travel2fun wrote:

Have any of you VIP Contributors utilized on of your $500 Certificates yet? Have you experienced any difficulties using them?

t-2-f...just used our first $500 VIP Certificate with the winning auction bid for four nights in Prague. No problems using the certificate.

[claassenam]

How long did it take you previous quarter VIPs to receive your $500 certificates? I don't want to seem greedy, but I've been waiting to book a trip to Vietnam (I have the plane tickets, just need to fill out the itinerary!) - and I'm ready to go ahead and take advantage of the certificates! Also, that $200 extra certificate that's been available this week has been so tempting.....

[lhbrown]

Hi C,
Last time the $500 certificates were sent via e-mail the week after the announcement and we were able to download them. The certificates are numbered, so basically all you need is to inform customer service, Nancy Taylor, that you wish to use the VIP $500 certificate no. xxx to be applied to the auction you are bidding on. However to avoid confusion, if you have your credit card on your LL account, take it off. LL will contact you that you won the auction, and then you can call Nancy Taylor, and give her your credit card info and your certificate number. This procedure avoids that the auction is going to be deducted in full from your credit card, and you not being able to apply the certificate towards it. This has happened to one of our VIP members, and she was told to use the certificate on the next auction, etc. So take your credit card info off for the time being and put it back on after the auction you want to use any certificates on. This is a safe way to avoid problems with certificates not being credited.
As to the $200 certificates, they are great, but unfortunately, they cannot be combined with any other certificates, the purchase price of the auction has to be $1000 or more and they have a time limit attached to it.
Good Luck

[bonniejoy03]

Claassenam: FYI. My last certificate was dated January 10, 2007. Hope that helps with an approximate idea as to when the $500 GC will be received. (PS- We had just booked our LL trip when we got the GC. I was at first bummed but then realized I could bid on another trip and use the GC!) Don't despair, you can always find another trip! Have a great time in Vietnam! Have you ever been there???

[claassenam]

Travelfan and Bonniejoy - thanks for the feedback. That's not too long to wait, I can definitely hold out to take advantage of the GC! Bonniejoy, I'm sorry you missed your chance to use your GC with your first trip but it sounds like you'll have plenty of chances to take advantage in the next year.

Yes, we are thrilled to have finally made a decision regarding our big August trip (thanks to the help of so many here!) - after considering So. Africa, Bali, Morocco and other parts of Southeast Asia, we came to the conclusion that our first trip Vietnam/Cambodia sounds the best, also we found a great deal on business class plane tickets so that helps a lot. Plus LL has excellent sounding packages at the Evason Hideaway in Nha Trang and the Furama resort in Da Nang. We're spending a few nights in Cambodia just to see Angkor, and LL has a good deal at the Raffles hotel there. So, we're thrilled!

[lhbrown]

Hi C,
Sounds like you have a good trip planned for August... What is the weather like in August in Vietnam/Cambodia?

[claassenam]

I have to admit we're a little nervous about the weather - supposedly there are a bunch of different microclimates so really anything can happen. It is monsoon season, so we can expect about 1 hour of heavy rain each evening. Plus, it's hot (85-90 degrees) and humid! But that's the time when we can go and hopefully the crowds are thinner. It's also supposed to be green and beautiful. We're doing a 4 day bike tour through the Mekong Delta so just hoping we can survive the heat and rain during that time!

Thanks for asking...

[lhbrown]

Hi claassnam,
I thought it was going to be monsoon season that time of the year, but I didn't want to say anything as not to worry you. I hope the rains will be mild for you, especially if you intend to go biking. The heavy rains can leave the roads quite hard to bike, but the rains will be short and warm so you should be ok. We too are bikers, although we have never been that far away from home. We do our biking mostly in Europe, France, Germany and Austria in particular. We are off on a bike trip from April 18 to May 22nd doing Southern Germany and Austria and then for some hiking in the Dolomites from June 2 to 22. Keep us posted how your trip is coming along.

[claassenam]

Your bike trips have taken you to some fantastic places! If you can believe it, this will be our first long-distance bike trip (just 4 days), although I'd like to think that we are both physically fit enough to handle it (plus it's not one of the more difficult trips available). We keep telling ourselves - "if it rains a lot, we won't melt!" so we're keeping our fingers crossed that we're not in for an unpleasant surprise in terms of more rain than we can handle. Thanks for the input, and yes I will keep you posted.