Originally Posted by
jmastron
The thing that isn't clear to me is whether making one change after June 30 would then subject further changes to fees, or if the changed ticket would retain the "no change fee" fare rules and allow multiple changes.
It gets complicated. In general, it's best to assume that you get one change, and that a second change would be under the rules in effect at the time that you make the first one. If you do not change any of the flight details -- same cities, same carriers, same everything except the flight numbers -- there are cases when UA can revalidate the ticket instead of having to reissue a new one, and you might therefore get a second free change. And if you change the return, but not the outbound, there's a good chance that you would be able to use historical fares and therefore probably get a second free change.
Note also that UA will keep any fare difference in its favor. So, if you do manage to make four free changes, and your fare goes from $500 to $400 to $300 to $250 to $500, UA can collect an extra $250 for that last change. You might get someone to waive it for you, but they don't have to do that.