swampwiz

So I am ready to do a transatlantic flight, LED-MSY. The outbound part (early November) will be no problem, but depending on circumstances, I may want to do the return clustered around dates that are about 1-1/2 months apart (i.e., return in mid-February vs. late March), and would be quite open as to the *exact* dates for that return (basically, the question is whether I am to return early enough to go skiing for a few months or not). I have a lot of things I need to get done at my destination, but if I am successful by early February, and my finances come through as I am hoping they will (although not guaranteed), I would prefer to take the February flight, and otherwise take the march flight.

So, my options are to book a flight with a return in mid-February or late March. I am not sure how it works in extending a flight rather than shortening it (I am under the impression that it is easier to shorten rather than extend). If it means anything, I would be making the decision in late January or early February, and perhaps because late March would be much farther out, it would be easier to do with the original flight for February.

Of course, I want to get the low-fare. non-refundable flight, but as the ability to change the return is an important consideration, I want to know my options. I am using Kayak and all the websites that flow from that; it would appear that Kayak simply funnels customers to the airlines' websites. An important factor in my decision would be that Airline X charges only $50 to change whereas Airline Y charges $200, etc. I wonder if there is a list of what airlines charge for these changes; I don't want to have to look up all this info. I also understand that using a service like Orbitz could actually add a fee, although maybe my understanding is inaccurate.

On a side note, I can only use Discover Card, which I would presume will limit my options greatly!

Anyway. that's it. I am open to all suggestions.