Question about change fee
 

I am 1K/Plat, and called CO en route to the airport to change a reward ticket for 2 pax. We were flying CLE-IAH-BHM, and the last leg was headed for a delay. I called CO and asked if I could get an alternate route in light of the impending delay. Was told I could get CLE-CLT-BHM, but that there would be a $50 fee because the IAH-BHM leg was showing on time in their system, so this was a voluntary change. I said OK, and rebooked us into the alternate route.

I was driving in nasty weather and happy to get the flights changed. But now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering whether I really had to pay the $50 fee. Given my status, shouldn't I be exempt from close-in change and booking fees (was about 2 hrs before new flight)? Somewhere in this transaction my OP# was removed from the itinerary, and I'm thinking she may have charged me as a non-Elite (OK, non-Premier). Does anybody know for sure?

...why was your OP# removed?

Platinums and above are exempt from these fees.

No idea how or why it was removed. I only noticed when CO tried to charge me for exit row seats and checked bags.

How did you know that IAH-BHM was "headed for a delay" if it was still showing on time in the system?

The fee should be waived if the miles were pulled from a Plat account.

If someone else bought the ticket, then it wouldn't be a Plat ticket.

I got an alert via my WorldMate app. I was skeptical since CO.com still showed on-time, but I tracked the scheduled AC back and found it left ORF (first flight of the day) almost 90 minutes late. I continued to track my original flight (CO 4116), and the late start on the first flight cascaded into a BHM arrival that was ~2.5 hours late, which was within minutes of the time predicted by WorlMate.


The miles were pulled from my account. I'll call and see if I can get the fee credited back. Thanks!