If you’re handed a meal voucher from an airline for a delay or disruption in service, there’s an easy trick to save it for a later date.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Summer in a Bora Bora Paradise
• United Polaris SFO Lounge: Is It The Best?
• Quick Hit: Pocket That Airline Meal Voucher for Later (this post)
• Review: United Airlines 787-9 Polaris Business Class SFO-PPT
• Review: Boutique Kon Tiki Tahiti
• Air Moana: An Enjoyable But Brief Experience
• St. Regis Bora Bora Review: A Beautiful Hard Product
• St. Regis Bora Bora Review: Paradise with Service Flaws
• Delicious Breakfast and Lunch at St. Regis Bora Bora
• St. Regis Bora Bora: Unforgettable Gourmet Dinners in Paradise
• La Villa Mahana: A Special Treat in Bora Bora
• Saint James Bora Bora Review – Great Food, Slow Service
• Fabulous Activities and Amenities at the St. Regis Bora Bora
• Kids at St. Regis Bora Bora: A Good Idea?
• Bora Bora Snorkeling: Loving the Big 5 on the Loveboat
• Perfect for Younger Kids: Underwater Scooter in Bora Bora
• Tupuna Safari Bora Bora: An Awesome Off-Roading Adventure
• Air Tahiti: The Popular Way to Explore French Polynesia
• Intercontinental Tahiti Review: One of the Best Resorts on the Island
• Delightful Dining at the Intercontinental Tahiti
• Fabulous Dinners Await at the Intercontinental Tahiti
• Activities and Relaxation at the Intercontinental Tahiti
• Tahiti with Kids: Basking in Island Love
• Air Tahiti Nui Lounge Review: Can Be Too Crowded
• Comfort in the Sky: Air France A350-900 Business Class PPT-LAX

Airlines hand out a meal voucher for delays or other reasons

We’ve all been there. Sometimes your flight suffers a mechanical delay or other issue typically caused by the airline’s operations. It can be a frustrating experience, especially if it results in a cancelation or an unexpected overnight stay. But let’s save the overnight scenario for another day. Instead, let’s explore what airlines can do to help during a lengthy delay.

If you pass a certain threshold on how long the delay will be (and it can vary by airline), you might end up receiving a meal voucher. Briefly, you might end up with vouchers for the following reasons:

• A delay that doesn’t require an overnight stay but lasts for several hours
• A delay that requires an overnight stay (also can include a hotel voucher and a taxi voucher)
• When a lounge is unavailable (this happened to us before)

No immediate need? You can sometimes save the money for later

Sometimes the amount provided doesn’t cover the cost of your entire meal. And sometimes it does, but you end up with extra cash after your purchase. The remainder could be unused. Or you have lounge access and don’t feel the need to buy food. So there is a fair likelihood that some of the food voucher will end up unused.

On top of that, there’s usually a use-it-or-lose-it deadline with these food vouchers. They may only be valid at a certain airport, which can be tough to use after you leave that airport. Or, there might be a time limit (typically 24 hours) to use up the credit.

This credit can generally only be used at restaurants. So you can’t just go up to any vendor and use the credit. But hotel restaurants might work (if coded properly) and I’ve heard success with liquor stores.

But did you know that you can typically use the meal voucher to load onto your account?

• Loading the credit onto your Starbucks account is a popular choice
• Chick-fil-A also works for loading to your digital wallet
• Other food apps can work for purchasing gift cards (like Panera or Chipotle)
• Purchasing certain restaurant gift cards can work, like on United MileagePlusX or perhaps via Toast, as those are typically processed by the restaurant.

This works best if you’re given a virtual gift card as a meal voucher. If it’s a physical voucher, you might be limited to the chains that exist in your airport or terminal.

Our experience with United meal vouchers

On our United flight from San Francisco to Tahiti, we got hit with a four hour delay due to a mechanical issue. United offered us each a $20 food voucher, which we received via email. It was nice that we didn’t need to stand in a line to receive it.

The meal voucher came as a virtual Mastercard with a QR code. The directions as shown below provide some direction but don’t make it obvious the voucher could be used online.

Our plan was to load all of our credit onto our Chick-fil-A app as we tend to eat there with some regularity. Plus, with access to the United Polaris lounge at SFO, there wasn’t a need to eat right away. Loading the card required us entering the billing zip code shown in our virtual Mastercard (60173). If you need a full address, just google a random address at that zip. We were only able to load $60 in credit to the app. The last $20 we ended up loading to Starbucks.

What if the voucher isn’t issued as a virtual gift card?

Sometimes you just aren’t given a meal voucher in the form of a virtual gift card, like the Singapore Airlines-issued voucher shown at the top of this article. Are you out of luck?

Some of the methods discussed here are not going to work since there is no “code” to use online to make the voucher usable more broadly. Instead, you still might have luck going to a restaurant, like a Starbucks, and just ask them to reload your account. However, you might need to find a willing employee to make the transaction work. Or, you could also purchase something and return it for store credit.

In our case, we generally just consider buying non-perishable snacks and water to use on our trip. The kids will naturally just ask for them anyways. Yes, it’s at a mark-up compared to non-airport locations, but it beats not getting any value out of the vouchers if we otherwise have lounge access available.

Don’t let that credit go to waste!

Suggested reading:

• Quick Hit: Earning Amex Resy Credits
• PSA: Register Your Global Entry Cards
• PSA: Don’t Waste Your Money on Carnival Drink Packages