Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
Prices for international r/t tickets are rarely 2x one-way. In understand your point that for many city pairs in the US, this may also be the case. However, in the last 5 years, I have never encountered this. There is no need to come up with examples that satisfy these conditions, I am certain they do exist. But for my travel, it is simply not a factor. YMMV, of course, but on a probability based comparison, it is till a very big deal. We can agree to disagree (for whatever reasons), and it is not too hard for travelers to check out, as it does inform different booking strategies.
Sure — check into your specific flight before booking, and this may become a non-issue. I take slight issue with the assertion that it’s not a big deal on a probability basis, though; well more than half of my tickets over the last couple of years had a round-trip discount. It’s just that it’s market based, and you likely live in a market where these discounts aren’t offered, and you travel to places where the discounts aren’t offered.
Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
Using credits for domestic tickets is generally as simple as drawing them down before you use your credit card when booking any new ticket. Internationally, credits are limited to the person on the booking (similar to domestic), and only valid for the identical city-pair of the original booking.
Both of these are false. International credits are generally not restricted to the same city pair (although some are), and partially-used domestic tickets can have the same restrictions as partially-used international tickets. However, under your first point, you’re right that you don’t have to worry as much about the restrictions if a round-trip is priced as two one-ways, because you can reprice it and have an unfettered credit. (I think UA does that for you automatically in some cases).
Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
When trying to use my international credits, even when deploying it to the same city pair, it has never been as easy as taking my dollar credit and applying it to the ticket I am trying to buy. Instead, I believe the system prices the itinerary I would like to use, based on the original rules of the canceled ticket. Invariably, this has resulted in it being more expensive for me to use my credit rather than buying a new ticket, not using my credit. Whether this happens a 100% of the time, as it has for me, or merely 50%, it feels extremely ...... when it happens, and the rate at which it does happens, is astronomically higher than for a domestic ticket.
Yes, the system prices the itinerary you would like to use based upon the original rules. If that’s invariably a bad thing, you’ve had some awful luck, though. I will say that there is a known issue with the online change flights tool, and you may be able to get a better price when calling. In general, if you’re keeping the same cities, you aren’t breaking a length-of-stay rule, and inventory is available in your original class of service, you can do an even exchange.
Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
Last year, when doing a r/t IAD-HND-IAD, I found myself with meetings being canceled for my last day, and so wanted move up my return date by one day, so as to be sure to make a wedding. The r/t ticket was originally procured in J for $14K. Changing it one day earlier, would incur a $10K "change" fee (which obviously was due to the repricing of the ticket, not some random fee just to be allowed to make any change). Buying a completely new r/t ticket going HND-IAD-HND would be in $8K as the front cabin was not nearly full. If this sounds normal/appropriate for anyone, I have a bridge to sell you.
As you point out, there is no such thing as a $10K change fee —it’s a fare difference. Did your change happen to turn a 7-night trip into a 6-night trip? If so, you probably ran into a length-of-stay restriction, and $10K was the correct fare difference.
Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
I called the GS help line, who sympathized with my frustration, and got the approvals internally to do a like-for-like exchange, meaning I got to fly out one day earlier with no upcharge. Yes, I got their department name wrong. It is Rates, not Pricing. Boohoo on me. But this is not a high school debate team. I was merely pointing out that the folks working there can be more human and helpful than leaving your luck up to "systems." I recognize that not everybody will be able to get Rates involved, and I maybe I was lucky. In either case, I was paying them a compliment.
I wasn’t trying to score a point in a high-school debate; I was honestly confused as to whether or not you meant something different, because AFAIK the agents in Rates do not take calls from the public. I’d love to be able to call Rates.
If they called Rates, and “got the necessary approvals” — did the GS agents ever quote you the $10K? Or was that just an online price? Because in this case either (a) you were violating a minimum-stay requirement and you got a break or (b) you ran into the same pricing glitch and $0 was always the correct price, and Rates just did what they do and interpreted the rules correctly.
Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
In my humble opinion, for domestic, it makes a ton of sense to buy two one-way tickets rather than r/t, since pricing is most of the time 2x one-way's (but check for your city pairs). For international, less so, since there is almost always a discount for buying r/t tickets, but caveat emptor:
There is one reason for booking domestic round-trips even if the price is the same as two one-ways — it can make changes to the return substantially cheaper. Despite your experience with international tickets, the fact is that if you change the return of most UA round-trip fares, you get to use the ticketing date of the original itinerary, which means you qualify for advance purchase discounts. If you’re always traveling with no notice, this may not matter, but if you routinely have at least 7 days notice before your trip, this is a huge win.
Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
I have found that changing international itineraries after starting my trip almost always generates significant additional payments, which sometimes (ofttimes) makes it cheaper to abandon original tickets and buy new ones).
I have found that using international credits almost always puts you at a disadvantage from a pricing perspective. I've never been able to use mine, since buying a new ticket has always been cheaper.
I don’t know what to tell you. Your experience is not only out of step with mine, and many board reports, it’s also out of step with the published fare rules. I’ve read dozens — probably hundreds — of fare rules and while I’ve found some ridiculously anti-consumer language in a few of them, absolutely none are close to what you’re saying. I know how Rates operates; I know how to look up historic fare information, and when to do it. I don’t have access to all of the tools that they do, so I can’t find
exact prices, but I’ve been able to find prices in the ballpark on many occasions — generally within a few dollars.
The rule is simple. In nearly every case, the price you pay for the new ticket is the difference between what you already paid and what it would have cost to book a ticket with current inventory levels on the day that you purchased the original ticket. In other words — apply current inventory to historical prices and calculate. That’s it.
Originally Posted by
lessthanzero
So, if you want to feel better thinking international is just like flying domestic, that's totally fine, but it isn't. Maybe theoretically, but we don't pay for our tickets with theoretical money. If you are about to make some flights, and you are not smoking OPM, I find it appropriate to warn people that it requires a little more thought than if staying within the 50.
YMMV
Everybody should be aware of what changes may cost — sure, we can agree on that.
I will say, reviewing the original message again: you mentioned being able to
refund partially-used domestic itineraries. Here, if you do live in a market that uses only one-way fares domestically, you do see a difference in effective behavior — not specifically because of international vs. domestic, but because of one-way pricing vs. round-trip pricing. If you want to refund a partially-used itinerary that was constructed with one-way fare components, it’s easy; they just keep the money for the fare components you used and refund the money for the ones you didn’t.