And another "one post wonder" miraculously appears out of nowhere.
Sorry, the fee seems fine to me. If you can't commit to certain travel times and dates, don't buy the ticket yet, or buy a fully changeable fare.
I have posted on this topic before and have been GOLD for several years. It is not the question of having change fees, CO was charging $35 before, but the increase of $115 to $150 is outrageous. I can live with an increase to about $50 or $60, but not $150.
It is quite difficult to book several months in advance since the inventory is not available (especially for international) or a multi leg award is the only thing available. But the awards get released as the dates get closer and with this high fees, it prevents GOLDs like me to change.
I am sure that you will not sing the same tune, after CO copies NW/DL program and start the same fees for plats as well. In fact I wish they would do that, then everyone will be in the same boat.
Wrong.
Many airlines like AA and UA allow FREE date changes on award tickets to all members.
$150 is highway robbery.
I wouldn't go singing the praises of UA award tickets just yet... try to make a change on one after you've flown the first leg... you can't do it! At least CO, NW, and DL allow you to totally change the ticket after you've used the first half... something I consider priceless since once I take off on one of those trips I really don't know when I'll come back and may change my departure and connection (read stopover) cities as well on the return half.
I do think that $150 is too much for elites if general members are paying that... it should be a tiered fee structure leading down to free for platinum's but the tradeoff is that at least you can make changes mid trip.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dvs7310
I do think that $150 is too much for elites if general members are paying that... it should be a tiered fee structure leading down to free for platinum's but the tradeoff is that at least you can make changes mid trip.
For me, the no change fee thing is probably the single biggest benefit of being Platinum.
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I've never tried this before...I think one can do it on UA but I've never tried on CO. Can one book one of these 'suboptimal trips' using miles and waitlist for the more optimal trip...and if availability opens up, it changes your itin for free? I suspect not. Sure, one would have to call and likely pay the fee. I remember doing it with a reward ticket on UA and it worked wonderfully....now this was a few years ago so I'm not sure how this would work on them today.
While booking a sub-optimal ticket and waitlisting for better flights, I don't think I paid a fee. There was no change in departure and arrival cities and the date stayed the same. Obviously, you can take my memory for what it's worth.
This change fee is one of the main reasons I didn't push to make gold this year. I just don't see that many advantages over silver for me on the routes I fly. That would be a big one if it were adjusted to something more reasonable. I would not have done it with MRs either. I would have taken several more trips and bought H or Y tickets to get double segment credit.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hyho61
I have posted on this topic before and have been GOLD for several years. It is not the question of having change fees, CO was charging $35 before, but the increase of $115 to $150 is outrageous. I can live with an increase to about $50 or $60, but not $150.
It is quite difficult to book several months in advance since the inventory is not available (especially for international) or a multi leg award is the only thing available. But the awards get released as the dates get closer and with this high fees, it prevents GOLDs like me to change.
I am sure that you will not sing the same tune, after CO copies NW/DL program and start the same fees for plats as well. In fact I wish they would do that, then everyone will be in the same boat.
When CO was charging $35 in highly competitive LCC markets the regular change fee was $100. You really can't say the change fee increased from $35 to $150. The $35 discounted change fee was eliminated first. Then the standard DOM change fee was raised from $100 to $150. These were two separate and unrelated events.
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There are two different debates going on in this thread. One is about revenue tickets and the other is about reward tickets. I'm pretty sure that the OP was referencing reward ticket changes as those are the only ones that any program has ever had a sliding scale for. While I do not like the $150 for revenue tickets either (and I'm about to need to pay it for my Do flights), the real issue is on reward tickets.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xyzzy
For me, the no change fee thing is probably the single biggest benefit of being Platinum.
If you want to see what happens when Platinums are suddenly required to pay a change fee on award tickets, don't miss this brouhaha over in the NWA forum!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonehead
If you want to see what happens when Platinums are suddenly required to pay a change fee on award tickets, don't miss this brouhaha over in the NWA forum!
Wow. That is pretty egregious. I love that they are trying to justify it by claiming it is good for their customers since it means seats won't fly empty. Yeah, right.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xyzzy
For me, the no change fee thing is probably the single biggest benefit of being Platinum.
The only reason it is the biggest benefit is because they're r*ping the lower level elites with a ridiculous fee that you don't have to pay. If they dropped the change fee for Gold/Silver to, say $50, and maybe allowed free date/time changes a la AA, then it wouldn't be the "single biggest benefit", IMHO.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ijgordon
The only reason it is the biggest benefit is because they're r*ping the lower level elites with a ridiculous fee that you don't have to pay. If they dropped the change fee for Gold/Silver to, say $50, and maybe allowed free date/time changes a la AA, then it wouldn't be the "single biggest benefit", IMHO.
I disagree. It would still be the single biggest benefit, even against a $50 fee for the others. The reason is that it is the fee I am most likely to incur. If they had an AAesque policy then it wouldn't be as big a deal, but in the current program structure (even last year when gold/silver were still discounted) I felt it was an enormous benefit.
