This my very first time trying to SDC and I'm not sure how to go about it. I did read the wiki and last 5 pages of the thread which may not have been enough, thus please excuse the beginner question.
My spouse has a flight tomorrow 3/11 from TPA to EWR at 8:09 p.m. in First class P fare. I would like to change to the earlier 5:15 pm flight that has 1 seat C fare available. I always thought that SDC within 24 hours in the same cabin you don't have to pay anything but now I did understand from reading the wiki and posts that I had thought wrong, and if P fare is unavailable then I do need to pay the fare difference which in this case is to the tune of over $1200.
Is there any way we can change to that flight without paying this ridiculous amount? We will wait the extra 3 hours for the later flight if there is no way to do this but I figured I'll ask the pros here.
Thank you.