A friend of mine has a JFK-HKG round trip award ticket with no stopover in July issued by Continental before the merger. He wants to add a stopover at PEK for a week on his return leg. Both flights HKG-PEK and PEK-JFK that he wants still have saver award seats.
He has no status on UA. Is it free to add a stopover as mentioned? He was told from UA Reservation Hotline that there is a charge of $150 for the change because it is a "major change".
However, I cannot find any supporting documents for either side. The closest option among the
rules is "Adding, changing or deleting a connection, 21 days or more prior to departure" and "Changing your origin or destination city". The former is free while the latter costs $75.
Thanks for all answers in advance!