Originally Posted by
eurowanderer
Originally Posted by
jsloan
Note that you cannot change the name on a ticket when used in this fashion, so the real question is whether or not OP's spouse would be traveling frequently on United.
Ouch, that does make it more difficult as I am more likely to use it for myself than my spouse, who is unfortunately not that prone to travel.
.....
Originally Posted by
coplatsat
To change the ticket to another travel date/flight you owe the change fee and the fare difference, if the same class is not available. If you cancel the ticket prior to departure, then you get a one year travel voucher/credit in that passenger's name but you will also be assessed the change fee.....
That is very helpful, thanks. I find it virtually impossible to derive that simple description from the fare conditions that United supplied on their website and I am pretty used to dealing with complex text. It is good to hear that there is an option to get a credit for later use if my spouse cannot travel..
The are some details missing in the process to re-use a cancelled ticket credit by someone else.
If yo cancel a trip for XXX , you will get future travel credit that is just usable by XXX.
However, if a ticket is purchased for XXX using that credit and after paying from new money a change fee.
Any unused credit will then be issued as an ETC and that ETC can be used by anyone.
So to maximize the ETC, the new ticket for XXX should be an ultra cheap ticket (typically can be found for less then $100, many times for less than $75 and sometimes close to $50)
See
here and
here for more