Originally Posted by
mjh00008
I called United to inquire about switching to the earlier flight and two reps stated I would need to pay a $75 change fee per ticket.
Two and a half hours is generously above the Minimum Connect Time for a UA domestic to UA international transfer at Newark. That's why UA asks for a change fee.
Don't drive yourself crazy looking at performance of unrelated flights. (Yes, if today's EWR-VCE is delayed much, tomorrow's VCE-EWR is likely to be delayed, but yesterday's MSY-EWR may be a different aircraft from today's MSY-EWR.) Check now for alternatives on other carriers for MSY-VCE and EWR-VCE, then check flight status early on your day of travel. If you're shown to be heading for a misconnect, quickly call UA and asked for your preferred routing. Trying to keep this to two segments, think about AA (US-operated) MSY-PHL-VCE departing from MSY at 12:50PM or Delta's MSY-ATL-VCE departing as late as 2:15PM.