[International] Change Fees No Longer Need To Be From "New Money"
May 6, 2010, 8:58 am
#1
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[International] Change Fees No Longer Need To Be From "New Money"
Maybe this is old news, but its news to me!
For years CO required a change fee to be "new money" to CO. In other words if you were changing from a $1,000 international ticket to a $250 domestic ticket you had to pay a $250 fee to make the change and get a $750 ETC.
Yesterday I called the elite desk to do exactly that and the agent said I now have the option of taking the $250 out of the forthcoming ETC. Today I got that ETC for $500 without having had to actually pay the $250 with "new money."
Nice change CO!
For years CO required a change fee to be "new money" to CO. In other words if you were changing from a $1,000 international ticket to a $250 domestic ticket you had to pay a $250 fee to make the change and get a $750 ETC.
Yesterday I called the elite desk to do exactly that and the agent said I now have the option of taking the $250 out of the forthcoming ETC. Today I got that ETC for $500 without having had to actually pay the $250 with "new money."
Nice change CO!
May 6, 2010, 9:01 am
#2
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In the immortal words of George Costanza, "This is huge!!!"
Hope that it wasn't simply a rogue agent, but I don't see how it could be...I wouldn't think that the system would allow such shenanigans if this wasn't official policy.
This may be a further alignment with UA...I seem to recall channa saying that UA doesn't require new money when making such changes.
Hope that it wasn't simply a rogue agent, but I don't see how it could be...I wouldn't think that the system would allow such shenanigans if this wasn't official policy.
This may be a further alignment with UA...I seem to recall channa saying that UA doesn't require new money when making such changes.
May 6, 2010, 9:02 am
#3
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Hopefully this is a real and permanent change - definitely an improvement.
I could never understand the 'new money' requirement for the change fee - just deduct it from the new ticket's credit balance or collect it if the new ticket is priced higher.
I could never understand the 'new money' requirement for the change fee - just deduct it from the new ticket's credit balance or collect it if the new ticket is priced higher.
May 6, 2010, 9:07 am
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Didn't agree with it or didn't understand it? Understanding it is easy: the company gets more money.
May 6, 2010, 9:17 am
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Yup, I was quite pleased-I sure hope it is permanent and a sign of good things to come!
Of course as Channa would say, with CO even if a few people report that they had to pay new money it won't prove whether I got a rouge agent or not. It would just prove that the agents are so ingrained in doing it one way for so long that they don't even bother to see if there is another way...
Of course as Channa would say, with CO even if a few people report that they had to pay new money it won't prove whether I got a rouge agent or not. It would just prove that the agents are so ingrained in doing it one way for so long that they don't even bother to see if there is another way...
May 6, 2010, 9:18 am
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If I have a 700 ticket I want to exchange for a 500 ticket, I see the following scenarios:
1) pre-paid - I charge 150 to my credit card for the change fee, and receive a credit of 200
2) post-paid - I don't charge anything to my credit card, but only receive a credit of 50
CO gets the same net either way and so do I...I just avoid having to pay out to get my full credit back.
May 6, 2010, 9:26 am
#7
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Maybe I'm missing something - but whether they collect it up front or deduct it from any refund, don't they collect the same net fee?
If I have a 700 ticket I want to exchange for a 500 ticket, I see the following scenarios:
1) pre-paid - I charge 150 to my credit card for the change fee, and receive a credit of 200
2) post-paid - I don't charge anything to my credit card, but only receive a credit of 50
CO gets the same net either way and so do I...I just avoid having to pay out to get my full credit back.
If I have a 700 ticket I want to exchange for a 500 ticket, I see the following scenarios:
1) pre-paid - I charge 150 to my credit card for the change fee, and receive a credit of 200
2) post-paid - I don't charge anything to my credit card, but only receive a credit of 50
CO gets the same net either way and so do I...I just avoid having to pay out to get my full credit back.
May 6, 2010, 9:31 am
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When did this take effect? Is there a published start date? I paid a change fee and a ticket reissue fee last week.
May 6, 2010, 9:31 am
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That makes sense...I hope the policy change is real.
May 6, 2010, 9:36 am
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May 6, 2010, 9:40 am
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Um, not cool. If there was a policy of "no new money" that CO quietly instituted, and it happened to be before I made my flight changes, those fees should not have been collected.
May 6, 2010, 9:54 am
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Meanwhile, frequent travellers or those who change tickets frequently and were hurt by this policy took their thousands of dollars of business elsewhere.
But at least the innovative beancounter got to enjoy his staff award and $50 gift card to Red Lobster.
May 6, 2010, 10:09 am
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Called the Elite line, and this is for a certain subset of Intl. fares only.
May 6, 2010, 10:31 am
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