United Mileage Plus (Pre-Merger) - Decoding of UA fare rules? (CHG BA FOC??)

Hi FT!

I'm going to be booking a flight to Europe on UA for early January. I live near SNA, so my general preferred route is to fly through ORD en route to Europe. But...the trip will be in January, so I'm a bit concerned about irrops at ORD as I need to do my darndest to be in Europe on my specific dates irrespective of irrops. So, I'm looking at a business class ticket which has the following "penalty" clauses on united.com:

Penalty: CHG BA FOC/CNX BA FOC

I *think* this means it is unrestricted (FOC == free of charge?; what is BA though?), but I'm hoping some other FTer can confirm. (I used Google and FT search and came up with nothing.)

My thought is that if the weather looks shaky before my flight I'd switch to a non-stop LAX->LHR/LAX->MUC/LAX->FRA flight - but - for a lot of reasons - I prefer SNA and the connection in ORD...as long as I don't get stranded in ORD.

Thanks in advance!

CHG - Change
BA - Before or After Departure
FOC - Free of Charge

CNX - Cancel
BA - Before or After Departure
FOC - Free of Charge

So yes, this is basically an unrestricted fare.

If you are flying in paid business, take LH on the LAX n/s routes to Europe. LAX-LHR is a 777 with no new business class. If you are however committed to United, try SNA-SFO-FRA-final destination. SFO-FRA, I believe, is still a 747 which has the new business class.

CHG - Change
BA - Before or After Departure
FOC - Free of Charge

CNX - Cancel
BA - Before or After Departure
FOC - Free of Charge

So yes, this is basically an unrestricted fare.

Perfect! Thanks!

To clarify, does this mean the fare is refundable or that it's changable/cancelable without a change/cancel fee? I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of travel vouchers if I do have to cancel.

If you are flying in paid business, take LH on the LAX n/s routes to Europe. LAX-LHR is a 777 with no new business class. If you are however committed to United, try SNA-SFO-FRA-final destination. SFO-FRA, I believe, is still a 747 which has the new business class.

If you fly SNA-SFO-FRA, be sure to plan extra connection time for SNA-SFO just in case SFO has "weather."

If your fare class is C, D or J, it is most likely a fully refundable/changeable ticket. If the fare class is Z, be sure to check the penalty clause carefully.

mine has Penalty: GEB VLD UA ONLY , whats GEB?