koroleon

I had a (domestic) trip I wanted to move to an earlier date and I tried to do this online. I found some flights with a lower fare than the one I originally paid, so I tried to book these to mitigate the change fee. I chose my reservation and then "Change/Cancel" and searched for the new flights. When I chose the cheaper flights, I got an error message and the flights disappeared from the list. I realized I was searching by schedule, so I tried again, searching by price this time. There was a nicer interface this time with flight pairs and the total fee I'd have to pay, but I could only see more expensive flights this way (i.e. the fee would be $150 + fare collect).

In the end I bit the bullet and called reservations. The agent could change my flights to the cheaper ones, but required the whole $150 fee. When I mentioned I was expecting to receive the fare difference, she called the rate desk and indeed they did this.

What's your experience with this? Has anyone been able to change to cheaper flights online?

beerup

I have been able to do it seamlessly online; but haven't tried in the last couple of months.

koroleon

Out of curiosity, was it on refundable/changeable tickets? Mine was a cheap Q fare, changed to an even cheaper Q fare. Now that the changes have been confirmed, I tried changing the same reservation to other dates with the same price and I still cannot do that.

beerup

I've been able to change Q fares online and even get a refund (by voucher) when the fare had dropped by more than the change fee.