Originally Posted by
aacharya
This is absolutely true. In that instance, there is no benefit, since UA doesn't offer this perk.
I would recommend (if you're Plat?) to cancel the reservation, and perhaps pay for the award ticket using the Explorer Card that is in your mom or sister's name. That will give the free bags.
Otherwise, it's not worth the change fee to get a free $25 bag each.
At this point it was more of a bummer, the $25 isn't that big of a deal in the scheme of things. I guess I'll consider it a convenience fee, since it was more convenient to have them take the UA flight and use a (surprisingly) small amount of miles to fly down for the holiday. They are flying out of a small airport, so the security line and boarding order aren't that greatly missed. Thanks for the advice!