carnivaltime

I saw a really good deal on one way flight to las vegas for $133 and booked it because there was only 1 seat left. Although 2 days later when I checked there was now 5 seats available and the fare went back up to $177. Then came news of snow storm(I am flying out of PHL) but intended to drive and visit family in SC for Thanksgiving and returning sat night to fly out at 7:45am on sun. Nov 30. Not sure what the weather would be like and could I make it back to Philly in time - I called US airway to try and change flight to later time. She informed that the change fee is $200- I was shocked it was that much-I remember when it was $75 and she said that my only option is to book the later flight which was actually reasonable at $177. She said I should cancel my earlier flight and the ticket will be good for a yr. Isnt this a losing proposition whichever way you look at it?-even with a $40 ticket I will still have to pay the change fee of $200. I am thinking to just walk away from it and call it a loss.

Centurion

Call it a loss....All of the legacy airlines are playing with fares and fees to extract as much money from you as possible. I would call it a loss if you already purchased your ticket. If you are thinking about purchasing a ticket on the next flight you can hope a gate agent lets you invoke "flat tire rule" which all airlines officially have dropped. In the old days if you missed your flight just by a little bit and showed up out of breath from fixing a flat tire on the way to airport they would put you on the next flight for free. This rarely happens anymore.

CPRich

Same as above - change fee has been $200 for awhile, so tix under $200 are throwaways if you can't use them.

When you saw 1 seat remaining, that actually meant 1 seat at that price/fare. That's why you later saw 5 seats remaining - different fare bucket/price.