I canceled a ticket to PHX the value was $601.86. I looked at changing it to a trip to EWR and got a price of $610.23 + change fee of $150. I did this online using the "change flight" path from the original ticket. That seemed a little high for EWR... so I priced it without mentioning the original ticket. The EXACT flight dates and times and flights was $418.00! Whoa, something stinks here. I called elite line and explained what I found. He priced it using the original ticket and said it is $610.23 + $150 change fee. I told him to price the same flight without the original ticket information. I heard him say "hmmm". I told him I found the same thing. He had no idea why it was doing that, but said he would set up the lower priced ticket and use the original ticket to pay for it. I told him fine, but I wasn't going to pay "real person assistance" fee. He got a chuckle out of that and said he wouldn't charge me. But I had to pay the change fee - and couldn't use the extra $200 left over. He would send me that in an electronic payment certificate. I knew he would say that and wanted to know why they can't use the $200 left over - instead they have to send me $200 and I have to charge another $150. One of the mysteries of life...

I wonder how many may have been taken by paying a higher price when using a canceled ticket balance.