Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
This is awesome detail, and without having read all the finer print, here is my my observation
Fully refundable on international itineraries means before you start your trip. I have not been able to get a refund on any of my trips to Europe/Asia, after I have used one leg of the itinerary. Since on my domestic itineraries this is not how it works, it is worth calling out. A typical scenario is that you go on a trip, and then want to change your return. Unless managing to get to the muckety mucks in Pricing, I’ve been getting my “change fee” at the cost of a one way ticket (which we know is often/usually higher than getting a r/t ticket).
International and domestic itineraries work exactly the same. In both cases, if you attempt to refund a partially-used ticket, it will be repriced based upon the coupons you actually did use.
I'm not sure what you mean about getting to the "muckety mucks in Pricing" -- I'm guessing you mean Rates, but generally the agents who work there are not consumer-facing -- but for most UA itineraries, the correct fare difference (independent of any change fee) is the difference between what it would have cost to buy your itinerary originally and what you actually paid.
That means that if all you're trying to do is change the return date, it may be zero, or negative, if inventory is sufficient. It may also be positive, and even large, if inventory is limited. On the other hand, if you're trying to change cites, then it can get very complicated -- but in all cases, the correct price depends upon what you already flew and what you're now adding.
Examples:
- book EWR-MXP / FCO-EWR, change to round-trip EWR-MXP. This should combine just fine and I wouldn't expect anything outrageous.
- book EWR-MXP RT, fly the first leg, ask for a refund. This will price as if you purchased EWR-MXP. This can lead to a small, non-existent, or negative refund due to the cost of international one-way tickets.
- book EWR-MXP RT, fly the first leg, try to apply the credit to EWR-SFO. This will probably cost you more than buying EWR-SFO outright, because EWR-MXP / EWR-SFO is not a valid open jaw, and most EWR-MXP fares won't be combinable with a EWR-SFO fare.
To reiterate, though, this is all theoretically true domestically as well. There are still many, many domestic routes where UA charges more than half the round-trip price to book a one-way ticket, and in those cases you'll see this same kind of behavior also.