Originally Posted by moondog

With full fare tickets, you can do anything you want (including refund). In fact, most discounted fares permit a limited number of free schedule changes and the option of refunding for a modest fee. I suggest you call ctrip and tell them what you want to do. If you stick with the same city pairs, you can switch to any open flight, regardless of carrier (a new ticket might get issued if you change airlines, but that will happen behind the scenes insofar as you're concerned). What's more, you might get some money back if lower fare classes are available.

The same goes for changing routings. In essence you have cash locked up in the tickets you already booked, which can be applied to new bookings. If the new tickets cost more, you'll need to figure out a way to give ctrip more money (worry not about this; they will offer suggestions).