The good, I was able to make a change at 24 hours prior to my flight when a morning meeting cancelled and allowed me to fly in later in the day instead of early in the morning for $50. I like that feature.

Today, I tried to go standby/move up to an earlier return, but had to pay $25. Previously when flying home from IAH, I was able to standby to any flight at no charge whether or not I was confirmed for the flight at the kiosk.

I had a very discounted ticket ($330 vs typical $750 r/t price for MCI to IAH), so not sure if that made a difference--or has the policy now changed for *G customers with elite on another *A airline?

I asked the ticket agent at IAH, and of course she responded "if the computer tells you to pay, then you have to pay", I don't know about any changes. Another way to make a profit thanks to the United merger?

There has not been a *G SDC benefit ever that I know of. You maybe got lucky previously but the official rules are pretty clear. Any non-flexible ticket pays the fee unless you are CO or UA elite (and UA is only a recent addition).

In fact, the $25 rate is a discount over the $50 that it should have been. The agent trusting the computer may be frustrating, but the computer applied the rules correctly based on what you've posted.