Originally Posted by
johbeaker
I have the same experience as the OP. I paid the change fee and booked a completely new/different trip and tried to cancel within minutes but was told the 24 hour free change didn't apply to tickets booked using credit from a previous trip. This was last summer with Continental...so things haven't necessarily changed for CO folks at least. I was shocked...
The CSR was correct. If you use a $1 credit from 36 hours ago on a $25K ticket, it's the 36 hours which counts. It's not a glitch and so far as I know, it's always been that way on both CO and UA (although the old UA deducted the $150 from the credit whereas the old CO and new UA give you the full credit and you then pay the $150 in new money).
Haven't heard of an employer which doesn't pick up the tab for fees such as this when they case the disruption, so that may be the best route to go.