Originally Posted by
Often1
UA does offer a no-fee change. It's called fully flexible, generally Y. Absolutely insane for UA to cannibalize it's HVC customer base to keep the deep discounters happier. They bought tickets with change fees. Waiving the fee is nutso, especially for someone with zero demonstrated loyalty.
For the same reason that UA (and other carriers) don't hand out freeloader UG's on international and will send an aircraft out with empty premium seats, they are preserving the brand.
Sure, once in a blue moon someone won't shell out the $75 and his scheduled flight is cancelled. But, that's infintesimal.
As an elite, I get same day standby, but the point I was making is by trying to fill as many seats earlier in the day, it gives UA more flexibility later in the day to recover from irrops, less likely to be in an oversold situation which costs $$$ and ticks people off, and gives them a seat on an otherwise full flight that they can try and resell. How much money does it really save UA by having those seats leave empty? Do they collect enough $75 fees to justify this? I honestly can't imagine many willing to pay the $75.