UA Same-Day Travel Change (SDC) Fees/Questions *now with WikiPost* {pre-2015 Archive}
 

Hi all,

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but it looks as if United and Continental have aligned their SDC fees (see hyperlinks). Though it seems that the (differing) SDC time-frames have remained unaltered at both airlines. Specifically, Continental allows SDCs within 24 hours; United only allows SDCs within 3 hours of making the request.

All in all, the fee changes are good for everyone but lower tier elites. For GS, Pres Plat, 1K, Plat, Prem Exec, and Golds, SDC is free. For Premiers, Silvers and non-elites it is $75.

EDIT: these fees also apply to unconfirmed standby at the gate on both UA/CO

Wow, this is a huge change for 1Ps! Note that this affects the SDC and standby fees.

Those of us on the 1P "bubble" have been stuck with the much-lamented $50 standby and $75 SDC. Finally those days are over ^

Another big change is that UA SDC now allows change of routing when done at the airport! I believe this means we can now officially book connecting flights and change to non-stops.

Or the other way around and change non-stops to out of the way connecting itineraries for extra mileage ;)

This 1P says ^ to this change, but does not like it doesnt include Canada

Finally, I want to give ^ to the merge airline.

They're getting closer but the CO policy is still the better version IMO. They have the full 24-hour window for changes and it is not limited to trips wholly within the USA. Still, nice to see them getting closer to a single plan.

This is a good change. Even though I was exempt from the standby fee I thought it was unfair to 1P's. ^ to this.

Mark me another 1P very happy with this change! ^

Now to get the 24-hour window added, too. :D

AWESOME! The Standby fee was my single-greatest pet peeve, by far.

I travel mostly on high-frequency routes and I appreciate getting home a couple hours earlier when I have the opportunity. Before the fee started I estimate 25% of my flights were standby. In my book, at least, this single change outweighs all the negatives from the merger.

It should also be noted that the CO rules for SDC are in the fare rules rather than just a published policy. This means that for CO tickets issued prior to today the old rules still apply. Gonna be plenty of confusion on this one I would imagine.

Glad to see this - I always thought it was ridiculous that UA charged 1P's the same standby fee that GM's were charged.

Finally! The old UA policy was the worst for midtier elites, but now we not only get standby but SDC. I'll be 1K again soon so it wouldn't have affected me too much, but I'm glad they changed it as it was unfair to the 1Ps.

The way I'm reading this is that if you book through CO - CO ticket, you can SDC at 24 hours on United, but on United you can SDC at 3 hours?

Applicable to United and Continental flights - its not exclusive anymore

That's tremendous news. Just last Friday I skipped taking an earlier flight because I didn't feel like spending extra cash on a personal trip. ^

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Good job, and finally some good news! Now let's hope the 24 hr. CO model prevails as well.

Before you guys all go out of your way to praise this move, allow me to dampen the celebration a little...On CO, SDC was free BUT only possible if CO still had seats for sale in the fare bucket you had originally purchased. I can't tell you how many times I was locked out of being able to do SDC. Think about it...with today's capacity in the market and demand, especially in hub markets, how many cheap fares are still being sold close to day oif departure?

I would much prefer a system where I pay $50 and don't have to worry about fining seats in my original fare bucket. But I guess YMMV.