I am actually a bit of a fan the same day change fee and have used it on almost half of my trips since its inception. I think it’s great you can leave early or stay late without the uncertainty of having to go to the airport and hope there is a seat. This certainty is worth the $25 I pay as a platinum.

On the other hand, I think a fee to change connecting flights is a big load you know what. If your flight gets in to IAH, EWR, CLE early and you can get an earlier fight to your final destination you should be able to do that, for free, and without the hassle of the paper (err computer) work involved in collecting this fee.

With flights every hour or so to many destinations from hub cities, I regularly arrive in time to get on an earlier flight home. My daughter flies home from Texas Tech LBB-IAH-CRP on CO express and she cannot book a 25 minute connection, but can always make it. As a silver, she has to fork over $50 to avoid 90-120 minutes wasted in IAH. I guess the fee is a good revenue generator for CO. On the other hand, there has to be some value to CO in opening a seat for possible sale on a later flight by filling what would be an empty seat on an earlier flight. Additionally, the goodwill of getting someone like me home early for free is priceless.