Hi all,

A family member is doing NRT-EWR this month.

I changed the date on it once about 3 weeks ago and was told there is no change fee, and that I can change it as many times as I want because it is a B-fare ticket. No problems there.

Called again this morning and was told that there would be a $250 change fee. Told agent that there was no fee the first time, but she told me that's not what the system says. She said maybe the agent that helped me the first time got it wrong, or there was some promo to waive the change fee.

Sounded B.S. to me but I was in a hurry so I went ahead and paid. I figured I can argue for a refund later if I found out that I didn't need to pay the fee.

My question is, how can I confirm or refute what today's agent told me?

Thanks!

Not all B fares are refundable. Are you sure this one is?

Receipts for refundable tickets purchased on co.com will typically state "REFUNDABLE" under fare rules.

Never buy a "B" fare without checking the fare rules first. As above, there are refundable "B" and non-refundable "B" fares (the non-refundable ones will usually have an "N" buried in the fare. (A refundable fare may be "BL" while a non-refundable one may be "BL15N".) This is more commonly seen on vacation reservations. For example, my upcoming CLE-SJU flight had a non-refundable "B" fare. The only refundable coach fare was the full "Y" fare, which of course went for hundreds of dollars more.

The ticket says:

Reward Rules:
Additional charges may apply for changes in addition to any fare rules listed.
REFUNDABLE/CXLFEE/CHGFEE;UPG UP14 NONENDORSABLE;NOT VALID AFTER 09/23/2011

Did you upgrade the reservation? These do not look like original fare rules to me. What does the receipt for the original transaction say?

Look at the top of your fare rules and see what type of ticket you have. If the fare type has an N in it (as I described above), it generally is not refundable. The info above appears to be talking about rewards, which I do not believe is the same thing as refundable fares (but I may easily be wrong).

Above this there is only a "Fare Breakdown" with all types of surcharges, fees, etc.

I did all this over the phone and there was upgrade inventory available so they processed it on the spot.

I checked my records but I have no other records.

I don't think there's any way to retroactively pull the fare rules in effect at the time of purchase, so it is hard to know who is in the right here. Have you tried doing the change yourself on co.com?

That's generally only the case for domestic fares. International fares are totally different.

You must read (and PDF!) the fare rules prior to purchase, otherwise you have to trust what CO tells you...and they're not always right the first time! Of course this is difficult when purchasing a ticket over the phone, but fortunately Continental.com lets you request mileage upgrades and will process them if available.

That being said, here's my guess as to what might have happened. Generally whenever you make a change to a ticket prior to starting your journey, the ticket is completely re-priced at the current fare, subject to the rules of that fare. Like purchasing a new ticket. This is usually outlined in the Penalties section of the fare rules of the ticket. So when the OP changed the ticket the first time, it was then re-issued as a B fare with different rules -- specifically a $250 change fee. Fares and fare rules change all the time so it would not surprise me that a $1766 Bxxxx fare was refundable a month ago but a $1766 Byyyy fare has a $250 change fee today.

Assuming this is what happened -- you still have a "claim" because the agent should not have rebooked a refundable ticket as a nonrefundable ticket. It's possible the new refundable B fare was more expensive when the rebooking took place, but the agent should have notified the customer of this.

I'd elevate to a supervisor, who should be able to review the PNR history and see the old and exchanged ticket numbers. But of course you risk learning that the first agent incorrectly waived the change fee...