Originally Posted by
yonajon
Thanks.
I now understand that the "fully refundable" is effectively worthless unless both segments are "fully refundable" (pretty disingenuous presentation in the booking path if you ask me).
yes, but it’s been like that forever. For change fees, etc. also. Domestically, you can book two one-ways to work around this, which often are the same as a roundtrip, though I’ll admit the fares I’ve been looking up ex-SFO recently (mostly to SEA/PDX) we’re not, so always YMMV.
Originally Posted by
yonajon
With respect to whether or not there will be a change fee if I make changes, United's web content is fairly consistent in saying that free changes are only for international flights originating in the US. However, when I read the fare rules (which admittedly are almost impossible for me to understand), under voluntary changes for TLV-EWR it says:
If I understand correctly, there is no fee for changes. Am I reading it right?
Ill admit to not reading the whole thing In detail, since it’s really hard on the eyes (IME) to read fare rules when it’s soo much text in all caps, which is of course standard, but I see this in several places:
NO CHARGE FOR REISSUE OR HIGHEST FEE OF ALL CHANGED
FARE COMPONENTS
that essentially means no change fees, unless another fare component on the itinerary has them, then it’s like the refund ability thing, where typically the highest change fee applies to the whole ticket. This is because when you make a change, the whole thing, segments you are changing, as well as those you are not, need to be re-fared and re-issued.
Originally Posted by
lhrsfo
I’m glad I came across this thread as I was about to book a return trip to SFO from DUB and I was offered AC or UA as places to book. Clearly I will do so on AC. BA doesn’t have change fees either so I am not sure what this reimposition of change fees will do to UA’s competitive position. The website is completely silent on what the fees will be.
UA is charging what it thinks they can get away with. If they thought waiving ex-international change fees (whether the competition does it or not) is more beneficial than charging them, they’d drop it. I am at a disadvantage for this too - for years I’ve been booking two one-ways to Canada instead of an RT since it’s generally $30-40 cheaper to do so. Pre-pandemic I rarely made changes, so I wasn’t worried about the fee, but with all the uncertainty of potential entry changes, etc. it’s too hard to predict whether changes will happen now. So I’m coughing up the extra for my next trip so if I need to change, it’s easier.