I'm new to flyer talk. Actually just found it today. Seem's like a great forum.

I have a flight booked for Friday night from IAH to EWR. I'd like to change it to Thursday night. I called CO and they said it would be $150 change fee (which i understand) then another $900 for the new ticket. Is this for real? I purchased the ticket months ago for $390. Any suggestions? U think it would be the same deal to just move to an earlier flight on Friday?

Thanks,
JD

Confirmed standby is available for flights departing within 24 hours of your original flight for $50. However, this can only be confirmed within 12 hours of the departure of the new flight. Confirmed standby requires inventory available in the fare class that you are currently booked into. As long as any seats are available, Continental will open up availability in all fare classes at exactly 12 hours before their flights to allow for confirmed standby changes.

It is free to be added to a regular unconfirmed standby list, but you will be charged $50 if you clear the list ($25 for Continental Gold and Platinum elites.) At least, this is how I understand it.

Since you were making the change today, I'm guessing they charged you the change fee, plus the difference in your fare and the cheapest available fare available for the flight you were requesting. I see a one-way IAH-EWR for Thursday going for $690 on Co.com so maybe she looked up the higher fare class on your entire trip instead of the IAH-EWR segment, then again, she may be forced to reprice the entire ticket, I'm sure someone on here knows how that works.

Same-day confirmed change would work in this case, but the choices are limited. The OP didn't post details but let's assume the original flight is scheduled to depart @ 7:05 PM Friday night. The "same-day" change cannot be confirmed until 7:06 PM Thursday night and only for flights departing between 7:06 PM Thu. and 7:06 AM Friday. This leaves the OP with only 1 departure option Thu. night - the 8:45 PM. This would have to be done at the airport since it only leaves a 1 hour 45 min window between the SDC and the departure time.

Right now it looks like a good possibility since all Thu. PM flights show availability in all fare buckets.

As for the steep add-collect, it does sound like the whole ticket was re-priced since the OP purchased this ticket months ago and probably had a 14 or 21 day advance fare for which he s/he no longer qualifies.

...Oh, and JD3030 - welcome to FlyerTalk!

Welcome to FlyerTalk!!

Sortof. You actually have to "pay" in advance now in the form of giving your CC# to them, even if they cannot confirm a seat for you. They only charge you if you are confirmed on the flight. So either way you don't pay if you don't get on the earlier flight, but you do have to give them the ability to charge you in advance so it isn't being dealt with at the gate.

Again, sortof.

The OP can actually start calling at 12 hours prior to the new flight time, and the new flight time has to be within 24 hours of the original flight. What I'm not certain about is whether the OP can take the same flight the day before or whether they have to take a flight after that one. Assuming that the same flight is actually OK, the OP could start calling at 7:06am on Thursday morning. They don't have to wait until the time of the actual departure.

I will start calling early tomorrow morning. However, if I have to pay for the repriced ticket (~$1200) it's not worth it. Thanks everyone for your help.

I can't change the flight until 5:50pm tonight (24 hours before my originally scheduled flight.

Also, I can only change my flight to one that departs within 12 hours of making the request. (Earliest new departure time: 6:35 AM Friday ).

Kinda confusing. The policy provides very limited options. I guess it's better than nothing though. I still don't know if I have to pay the repriced fare.

I believe that you are interpreting the policy incorrectly. I understand that you are booked on CO 1010 tomorrow (Friday), the 5:50pm IAH-EWR flight.

You can call now (Thursday) and ask to make the Same-Day Change confirmed move to either the 7:05pm or the 8:45pm departures. You are within 12 hours of the new flight time (7:05am or 8:45am today) and the new flight time is within 24 hours of the originally scheduled flight time.

If you want to fly tonight call now. Looking at the inventory from KVS, both CO 410 and CO 310 have 9s across the board so you can have a seat on the plane for the low, low price of $50.

[KVS Availability Tool 3.3.0/Platinum - Apollo: ITN/US-ARL]

Did you call CO? Is this what they told you?

I just called CO. The lady on the phone said this:

I think she's half wrong.

From CO's website in the FAQ for SDC policy:
Either way, in order to fly tonight. I have to wait until after 5:50pm to make the request.

Don't wait tonight. FT motto is keep calling until you get an answer you like.
Just be polite, so agents would not put any remarks on your PNR.

This isn't true. Others have successfully done it. Call again and explain that you are within 12 hours of the new flight and that the new flight is within 24 hours of the original flight. It should work just fine.

Be at the ticketing/reservation desk at 5:50 (or before) with a printout of the policy in hand. With 9s across the board, you will likely get on either the 7:05 or the 8:45 (your choice) for $50.

Just go to continental.com and make the change there. In my limited experience you CAN take the same flight the day before for the SDC fee.

It's not a matter of "interpretation" as the policy is pretty clear:

It's fairly simple.

1. You cannot make a "same-day" change until you are within 24 hours of the original flight. Not the flight you are requesting, the one for which you are ticketed. In this case the OP is ticketed for the 5:50 PM on Friday. He cannot make the change request until 5:50 PM Thursday which precludes him from taking the same flight the day before.

2. At the time the request is made, you can only change to a flight that departs within 12 hours of that time. So if the OP calls, goes online, or is at the airport at 5:50 PM today, he can only change to a flight that departs before 5:50 AM tomorrow.

Clear as mud?

Since SDC is only offered online during OLCI, and OLCI is only available @ 23:59 prior to departure, it would be impossible to SDC to the same flight one day earlier.

On my last itinerary, I changed my return flight CO1521 ATL-IAH from Friday to the same flight on Thursday. I did this through co.com using the "Change Flight" link about 27 hours before my original departure. All co.com wanted was my $25 (plat) SDC fee.

The website did error out when it tried to take my payment, but it did change the flight in my reservation. At that point, I just called the elite desk to take my payment.

I dunno, maybe it was a website glitch and I got lucky that day.