bharat91

Hi,

I purchased a Basic Economy K class return ticket from LHR-SFO for Dec 23 (2020) - Feb 03 (2021).
On Dec 21, United allowed me to change my ticket from Dec 23 to Dec 22 for no change fee, no fare difference. The fare difference waiver was due to the cascading closure of borders to flights from the UK.
I also changed the return portion at the same time to Jan 05.
The new ticket fare class was Q for both the outbound and return journey now.

I am now trying to change the return portion from Jan 05 to Mar 18.
I am being quoted a fare difference of approx. $200. I'm guessing this is because the fare I originally paid was on a K class fare, and Q class fares are more expensive (judging by the price quotes I see on the ITA matrix when I change fare class from K to Q).
Changes to a ticket should not allow a change to the fare class (I think?), and therefore I assume they are trying to rebook me into a Q fare.

Is there any hope for me to get United to rebook me back onto a K class fare, and does my line of thought seem to make sense?

Random ramblings that may be useful:
I've made several changes on previous Basic Economy K class fares over the last 6 months (across 2 tickets - I flew two return flights, but changed the dates multiple times because I'm an indecisive muppet), and never had to pay a fare difference. In part, I'm guessing this is partially due to the fact before I actually booked the ticket, I checked all the various dates I may potentially change too, and checked they were all roughly the same price or lower than the ticket I bought. Therefore, having taken the same precautions this time, I'm ruling out the cause of the fare difference being the changing date. The changes are well within the fare rules for seasonality and length of validity.

Cheers,
B.