ContinentalFan

I don't disagree that it's a silly policy, but it is the policy of the airline, so if you want to fly with CO, you're stuck with it. The policy is clear. I don't see how it matters that CO differs from its competitors.

Bonehead

A measly 4 e-certs per 10,000 miles means that I generally have to pay to fly up front on AA.

My point is that to single out this one issue (the change fee) and ignore the complimentary upgrades (OP is a Plat, after all) is to cherry-pick benefits. Besides, the fact that paying the $150 up front is essentially a wash (pointed out in a number of posts above) makes the OP's logic questionable. I initially hated having to pay the change fee with new money, but after thinking it through, I realized that it made no difference in terms of the money that I laid out for flying CO.

channa

Your argument is based on an assumption that CO's Elite program is generous, which is debatable at best. There are countless threads about upgrade rates, last-minute award fees, and same day standby/confirmed fees that CO charges their Platinums that other carriers waive for their top tiers as a matter of policy. Then to get stuck with this silly up front change fee policy is just another ding making CO uncompetitive.

You also seem to be comparing your experience as an AA Gold (bottom tier, Silver in CO's world) to your experience as a CO Plat. Theoretically, a top-tier should do better in terms of upgrades vs. a bottom tier, though frankly, 4 x 500 milers for 10K flown is a 25% upgrade rate, which isn't much lower than the 33% upgrade rate I got as CO Plat last year.

In my situation, comparing just upgrades (if want to do that same comparison, but top-tier to top-tier), 40 x 500-milers + 8 x confirmed regionals + 6 x SWU's on UA for this 1K nets some like 90% upgrades vs. a measly 33% upgrade rate as CO Plat. AA EXPs also report very high upgrade success with their free upgrades and VIPOWs. Using your logic, perhaps CO should be more generous with its policies to make up for its poor delivery on Elite benefits.

HeadInTheClouds

Agreed that this is annoying, but as stated it all (usually) comes back to you if you use CO again at some point.

BUT...

Pity the poor folks at US... where you pay the fee with new cash AND lose the residual balance. That is why I simply never risk booking US tickets ever; as a result, they are about the only airline I will not book on at all.

FLLDL

This policy is obviously in place solely to try to make it more difficult to use the residual balance, so CO can reap some easy money when the balance expires. Same idea as having non-combinable travel vouchers. I've seen people recieve DL compensation of $250 in five $50 non-combinable vouchers, the ATL special! For an occaisonal traveler, some of those will likely expire uncashed and convert into pure profit.

+1 to the poster upthread about splitting round trips into one-ways to utilize the vouchers.

For a frequent flyer it doesn't really matter, as it will end up a wash. But for an infrequent flyer this is just easy fee money for CO. The policy should be changed. Not sure why there is such hostility in the thread.

username

Exactly. US is the worst. Having some understanding of the CO culture, I can totally see why they do this. Easy additional revenue for them!

I have only had experience making changes on UA. I am starting to learn CO rules as I really look forward to CO joining Star. 2 questions on this:

1 - if the original ticket is domestic CO/commuter flights, can it be reused on CO codeshares? (UA does not allow it.)

2 - is the expiration date of the residual - is it 1 year from the original ticketing date or 1 year from the date you receive the residual?

Thanks.