I called the Plat line last night to get an ECV for an $89 fare decrease on an International itinerary. Was informed I would get a $39 ECV due to $50 administrative fee for international flights. After the ECV didn't show up, I called again this morning and was informed that the fee had gone up as of 3 weeks ago. The fee is now $50 for domestic and $100 for international.

Thanks for the heads up.

Presumably it takes more people longer hours to fix the International ticket

Wow, this is an "enhancement."

Still, I couldn't find info that Int'l itineraries would be a $100 deduction?

I remember it wasn't that long ago where there was no "fee" for MCO's issued for reduced fares.

If they hate issuing MCO's/ECV's so much, why don't they just make tickets "unchangeable"? Do low-fare carriers pull these kind of shennanigans?

There is no fee to do this on Southwest. You get the difference in ticketless travel funds that expire one year from the original reservation date.

It looks like Spirit's policy is the same as Northwest's. From Spirit's website:

"Passenger initiated modifications that result in a fare decrease are also subject to the $50 service fee, including transactions to secure a lower fare on an identical itinerary. Some fare restrictions may prohibit exchanges to a lower fare."

Actually, now I think you are subject to the entire change fee on international flights (generally $200). At least that's what it says in the fare rules on my international itinerary. The agent had said that initially, but then mentioned a $100 fee. But I see no mention of a $100 fee in the fare rules, only that you are subject to the entire change fee when the fare is lowered and you attempt to get a credit.

I see alot of different fees refered to in this thread, so the following is my experience today with an international fare decrease:


It was a flight from DTW - BKK, so it is international. The fare difference was $230. I first tried the online change reservation method, but after several attempts the best I could get was to pay the $200 change fee, and get an MCO for $30.

So I decided to call the number on the Elite card, and told the lady that I had a fare decrease on my upcoming trip, and wondered if I could get a voucher for the difference. She repriced the trip, and found that it was indeed a difference of $230. She put me on hold for a few minutes so she could do some "research". When she came back on, she said there would be a $50 administration fee, and I could get an MCO for $180. I said that sounded reasonable, and it was a done deal. There was no mention of $100 or paying the change fee. The voucher was on the website and the ticket reissued before we hung up.

So I guess this is another case of keep calling until you get the answer you want?

This has already been discussed: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=722222

These threads should be merged.

-RM

Just wanted to share my experience with a international fare reduction.
Complicated itn to the SIN DO dropped by $100 but when it did there wasn't any inventory left on a certain married segment so nothing to do. Then inventory shot thru the roof with 9's across(There goes my op-up). So went though the change process on nwa.com and very suprisingly was able to re-price the same complex itn. Nwa.com only had the fare's $200 change fee. No mention of the $50 admin fee. Well at least right now I can make changes for just $100 more.

Being a FT'er and heck $50 is $50 bucks, called the elite line and asked how international fare reductions were being handled while noting the only documentation I could find just referenced the $50 fee. A very nice agent asked when this was ticketed before or after Aug 1st. The agent said that this documentation wasn't very clear and needed to call the rate desk. Rate desk confirmed nwa.com, change fee only on international fare reductions.

So if anyone is looking to go to the SIN DO the long way, send a PM. PPM isn't great unless you have an ECV to throw at it but there is plenty of inventory for those dates.