Originally Posted by
cepheid
Unfortunately, you are. The
united.com award fee page specifically mentions the close-in fees under the "flight change" and "date change" sections... while the wording seems ambiguous, the fact that they explicitly included mention of the fees under those two sections clearly indicates their meaning - that the fee is charged for any changes made within 14 days of departure.
Now, note that it says "departure." This also suggests that the return flight could be changed in the middle of the itin without a fee, but that changes made prior to the outbound flight would incur the fee.
cepheid tells it exactly as the United rep explained it last week. There is now a fee if the OUTBOUND is changed less than 14/7 days prior. It seems that the return can be changed at any time, with no fee. Of course, any change is based on availability. As well, these fees only apply to 1P and below. As I see it - United is taking the advice of someone that's not looking at the bigger picture. I'm not happy with this recent change.
Aloha