ScruttonStreet

I've got a return to Copenhagen coming up this week. It looks like my meeting will finish earlier than I thought, and I can catch the last flight of the day back home, rather than the first flight the following day. I haven't flown the first leg yet. At the moment the cost for changing the return flight to the previous evening is showing as £199, which is fine. Will this get any cheaper/more expensive after I have flown the opening leg, or doesn't it make any difference?

Tobias-UK

Globaliser

As Tobias-UK implies at the end of his post, it seems to me that this is likely to be critically dependent on booking classes - what you're booked in at the moment, what availability looks like now, and what availability will be like after you have flown the first sector.

It also depends a lot on whether you originally booked a sale or discounted fare of some kind, and whether the fare ladder is now different from how it was on the day that you originally booked. Many short-haul fare ladders are pretty stable, and if that is the case, then the difference between being re-fared at today's fares and being re-fared at historical fares could be small. Hence the likely relative importance of booking classes.

ScruttonStreet

Thank you. If it helps. I am currently in R and it looks like I would be switching to D.

It's a plain vanilla J return.

Globaliser

For outbound R, inbound R for a trip on Wed/Fri this week, ITA quotes £673.74 (from which one would have to deduct the GDS fee - but let's ignore that for present purposes). Outbound R, inbound D is quoted at £772.74. That's a fare difference of £99.00, so adding the change fee of £100.00 gives a cost of change of £199.00.

This matches what you've mentioned. And because changing from your historical R class fare to today's D class fare is the same cost as changing from today's R class fare to today's D class fare, that suggests the historical fare ladder at the time of your original purchase is the same as today's fare ladder. So from a fare ladder point of view, there's no difference whether historical fares or today's fares are used. Also, today's R class fare rules have the usual provision that if you're changing the inbound half but not the outbound half, you can use the cheaper of historical fares or today's fares. The fact that the historical fare ladder is probably the same as today's fare ladder suggests that this standard provision is one of your fare rules too.

That probably leaves only availability as the thing that is likely to change if you wait. If, by the time you make the change, D class is no longer available and you have to change to C class, the comparable number is £853.74, ie a fare difference of £180.00 for a total cost of change of £280.00. If you have to go to J class, then the comparable number is £934.74 for a total cost of change of £361.00.

ScruttonStreet

Great thanks. Seems sensible to lock it in now in that case. Many thanks.

startup_salary_servant

When this situation happens to me, I kindly ask at the check-in counter if I can be put onto the earlier flight. If the flight has availability in that cabin, it is often a yes. This has always been free for me.

For reference: I do this long-haul J.

If there is no availability I just continue working in the lounge.

Koru Flyer

orbitmic

ScruttonStreet

Yes that's right. The saving from not staying in the hotel is almost identical to the extra cost of rebooking the flight

Tobias-UK

Unless there is a risk of your meeting running over,, in which case more change fees!