Dear fellow FT'lers,

I have bought a W fare through dl.com for travel with AF for obvious reasons: SWU. I applied the SWU immediately for the fixed-date inbound but there were big issues. They did some magic to the ticket in order to be able to apply the SWU. Anyway, so I tried to change my outbound and that's what happened:

• KLM (DL-outsourced CS for EU pax) - "W fare is unchangeable by default, thank you and good bye"
• DL reservations (Germany) - "that fare is unchangeable because you have applied some certificates, call Atlanta's reissue department"
• DL reissue - "I have issues accessing and changing that reservation, call DM desk"

The kicker was the DM desk though - the agent was more than happy to change my flight, informed me about the change fee that I was happily accepting and then ... took a serious deep breath. I was told the fare difference I had to pay in excess to the 2k I had already paid is 3k€ (~$4k).

Is there something seriously wrong with my reservation? Or is it normal to be hit with such insane fees? Or has the W fare any hidden catches I am overlooking here?

A funny fact: I can buy a business class ticket for the flights I want for 2k€.