Originally Posted by
whipwhitaker
Canceling the nonrefundable ticket or changing it into a refundable V-fare seems to be the best option here. I can waitlist my GPUs, and if they don’t clear on the outbound we’ll just cancel the whole thing and stay in Colorado. While the $300 change fee per ticket are gone in this scenario, and the originally paid $535 would be a flight credit which I can use two weeks later on my next business trip, the difference in fare would be refundable. So no real risk involved other than the $300 change fee per ticket, which I would incur anyway if we canceled the trip as-is.
^ That makes sense. I would just check two things:
1 - Make sure that your original flight credit can be used toward a domestic flight. Most of the time, that will be possible, but there are sometimes weird restrictions baked into the fare rules. I'd use ExpertFlyer for this; if you're not a member, they offer a five-day free trial that would be perfect. Pull up the fare rules, as of your ticketing date, and look at the voluntary changes section.
2 - If you decide to try to buy up to V, as opposed to cancelling and buying a fresh ticket, make 100% sure that the agent issues you a refundable ticket. Don't say "V fare," say something like "refundable, upgrade-eligible fare." You should know if the agent got it right by the fare difference. This is important, because it's entirely possible for UA to publish a non-refundable V fare and a refundable V fare for the same route. Also, understand that "refundable" doesn't necessarily mean what you might think. I took a quick look at a V fare for DEN-SYD, and it's refundable with a $300 cancellation fee. So, if you have to cancel, you'd be out another $300 per ticket. The original amount would stay non-refundable, and you'd get back the fare difference less the $300 fee.