mac84

I'm quite concerned that I've lost my mind and would appreciate your take on this.

I had a round-trip to HKG booked in October that I've had to change to an open jaw a couple of months later (YYZ to PEK and back to YYZ from PVG). Had to call in to change because it's an open jaw. Agent was very friendly and we had a nice chat about travel - perhaps too friendly (!) as I'm worried I got caught off guard here.

Anyways:

The original flight was about $2450. The revised flight, if booked new, is about $2400. All flex fares, which on this route is ordinarily a $200 cancellation fee and $50 change fee.

The agent kept insisting that it was cheaper for me to change instead of cancel and book with a new PNR. On the surface, that made sense, given that the fare difference (which is lost) plus change fee is less than the cancellation fee.

But then as she was processing the transaction and we looked at the breakdown, there was, of course, some additional YQ and local taxes that I had forgotten about as I was changing destinations. Bottom line: the additional cost to change was about $205. So, added to what I originally paid, this is now a $2655 ticket.

I asked again about cancelling and re-booking instead. I haven't done this in awhile (usually don't have to change or have a fully flexible ticket), so maybe I'm a bit rusty, but would I not have been left with a $2250 credit? That plus the $150 fare difference for the new flight would effectively make this a $2600 ticket. Seems like I'm out fifty bucks.

The agent said I was still coming out slightly ahead by doing the change because of something to do with taxes or surcharges not being refunded on a cancellation (which still doesn't make any sense to me to be honest).

What am I missing here? Perhaps you can enlighten me?

EDIT: The only explanation I can think of is that, when cancelling, you lose more than the $200 fee (i.e. some taxes, surcharges, etc.) Is that the case?