Hello,

I booked a deal flight (Economy Special) on Cyber Monday, IAD-TRV. Roundtrip January 13-March 9. Total cost was $889. I wanted to change it to August 8/September 13, same routing. The cost of that flight is $1116, or a $227 difference. I realize there is a $300 change fee for my original ticket, so the expected 'credit' I should expect from my $889 ticket is $589. So the total difference I should expect to pay is ($1116-589=$527). However, when I plug the change into Manage my Booking, the total difference I'm told I have to pay is $685, or $158 additional to what I expected.

The taxes and carrier fees for each flight are $120 and $666, respectively. The fare for the first one $102, and the second is $329 ($227 difference). So the $300 change fee+$227 difference=$527 that I should expect to pay. Any idea why it is asking for $685 instead of $527? I've attached screenshots of the fare details and change fee breakdown. Thanks.


Original January 8/March 9 Fare Breakdown $890

New August 8/September 13 Fare Breakdown $1116

Change Fee Breakdown $685

Update: Called Emirates and they agreed that it was an error and should have been a total of $527 and said they will manually do it at that rate. Unfortunately this far out I don't know if I'll actually be able to make that August 8 booking, and all other fares in March/April/May were equally or expensive. Even doing TRV-DXB-TRV required another $361, as the agent needed to book me at an equal or higher price than what I paid before. I think I'll just cancel the ticket. I'll only get $120 back in taxes and fees but there's no real other good option for me. Chalk it up to a lesson to never book the Special/Deal fares unless you absolutely know you will be able to make the flight or are willing to eat the cost. Coupled with the fact that they are reducing baggage allowances on February 4, ie they will no longer will offer 2x23kg bags from US/Canada and it is reduced to 1x23kg on Special/Deal fares (Saver fares are generally $20 more an include a second bag) and there's no real good reason to book those Deal tickets, unless they are significantly less expensive.

Don't cancel yet, wait for schedule change or something that will get you a full refund. August + TRV = monsoon and possibly flooding so even weather waiver at the last minute could happen. Refund will be the same then as it is now if you end up cancelling without a waiver


I never book Special, they're too restrictive and usually Saver is barely more expensive (though even then I still prefer Flex)

I mean.. I have to cancel. The flight is is 7 hours. If I don't show up to the first flight I'll be a no show and definitely can't get anything back. If I change it to August I have to pay $527 out of pocket right now

Oh right then yes obviously. Thought the original was in August

I canceled, but what's really annoying is that the refund isn't automatic. I called, canceled it so they I was taken off the right, but had to fill in a form online and request a refund. There's no receipt or indication that I'll even get the $120 in taxes end fees back. I worry as by the time they read it it'll be past the original flight time. Another thing to worry about besides definitely losing the other $769 in fares and airline surcharges.

It's annoying but shouldn't be an issue, it can take a few weeks, they do a manual calculation but generally should match what you worked out

Update: Got an email from Emirates stating that my refund has been processed. It comes up as a plain text email, no Emirates logo or anything. The address is [email protected]. But it came up in my spam filter in Gmail, so I'd hope Emirates would make it more 'professional' in the future. The writing is all garbled, as you can see below. As expected, it was just the $120 in taxes and fees that was refunded. The flight was delayed by 2 hours due to weather though, perhaps I could ask for more (the $666 'Airline Surcharge) as a weather waiver, though I think there's a 1% chance of that happening.


We are pleased to advise that your refund request has been processed by Emirates.

The total refund amount due to you is USD121.03.
An amount of USD121.03 will be refunded to your Credit Card(s) 4***
Fare refundable value : USD102.00Taxes and Surcharges refundable : USD121.03Total refundable amount : USD223.03Less refund Charges : USD102.00Residual refund value : USD121.03

The flight that you'd canceled? I think 1% chance is a gross over estimation

Oh for sure . At this point nothing left to lose, so may as well put out a hail mary. I don't think it was a full weather waiver on that date, at least for emirates, but some of the US airlines were giving waivers then.

Given that you had already cancelled, it doesn't matter what the reason for the delay to the flight was ; since you were already cancelled off of the flight, then you will not get any compensation for it