Originally Posted by
jsloan
Whether or not there is a fare available is irrelevant. For free SDC, you need inventory in the correct fare bucket, but there does not need to be a fare that covers that inventory.
no, not really.
SDC is basically a waiver of the change fee, though fare difference still applies. As long as there is Y>0 on the flight one wants to change to, and is within the time limitations (within 24 hours of both current and new floghts), gold or above can
SDC for free. Any additional $ needed is a fare difference, which really applies for any change. SDC itself is still free.
The app/site will only show options without a fare difference, but any gold or higher can SDC into a higher fare bucket by calling an agent and paying the fare difference. SDC remains free.
Originally Posted by
ISTFlyer
What I mean by Economy non-flexible is the column that I have squared the header in
red.
Flexible vs. non-flexible is irrelevant for SDC purposes. As mentioned, it’s fare class availability that matters.
Its going to vary, but you can have certain S fares, for example, that are flexible, and others that aren’t. For SDC, and in order to not pay a fare difference, all that matters is that you are booked in S and there is S available on the new flights. Flexibility or not makes no difference. This goes on any (non-BE) fare class, from G all the way up to Y (though there probably aren’t many flexible G fares, or non-flexible Y fares, but the point still stands).
Originally Posted by
aricane
sdc requires same fare bucket to be available on the flight you want to change to. United typically opens all fare buckets few hours before departure if there are seats open.
again, it does not require same fare bucket.
Per above, app will only
show options with no fare difference. But an agent, either on the phone or at the airport, can process an SDC into a different bucket, but again, that requires payment of a fare difference.