Fare Difference Refund Policy Change
 

It has been reported in the CO Forum that the $100 change fee will now apply. Is this just CO, or are the copycats jumping on the bandwagon too?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/006351.html

Holy cow, thanks for posting this snake.

Please inform us immediately if you've heard of any other carriers doing it.

Thanks!

Delta has always had the fee for refare policy in place for international tickets.

I never knew that! Good thing I never fly Delta internationally (except for Priceline tickets) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

This is almost criminal on part of the airlines. They want to nullify the fare reduction change even if a small minority tries to get a refund on the reduction.

Frankly, the small refund $50 or $75 has always prompted me to fly that carrier for the next possible trip.

[This message has been edited by MSP2000 (edited 10-08-2002).]

But on the other hand, do airlines charge you the difference if the fare rises? No. I guess this for one is simply good business regardless of airline implementing it - you locked in the price, be it in your favour or not.

For UA, the prior (and I hope current) policy was to always charge the reticketing fee IF you choose a CASH refund.

BUT if you chose the travel credit for future use, no charge would be made for the re-ticketing.

Hence, most people opt for the future travel credit!

CO Platinum International agent confirmed that the change fee now applies to these actions to refare to a lower fare, even when accepting travel credits. UA 1K international rez said there is no change in their practice to refare to the lower fare and issue travel credit for the difference without the change fee.

Let's hope no one follows this one!

Does this vary by airline? I have never done it on US, but I had assumed that this was always the case - the diff has to be more than $100 to make it worth doing the change.

I know that this may not be popular, but I agree with rcs8551.

Delta has the same policy as UA. Cash refund requires a reissue of ticket, thus a $100 fee. No fee for 1 year future travel voucher. I just requested a travel voucher for $38.50 3 days ago. I bought a ticket online, the next morning the price was reduced by the same amount as my refund voucher.
This is for a DL CVG-YYZ(Toronto) ticket.

[This message has been edited by freealta (edited 10-08-2002).]

I think this is a dumb policy on the part of CO. I would be more willing to buy from Delta than CO. Why do you think all the large retailers like BestBuy and Circuit City has 30 days low price guarantee?
These airlines do not care about customer satisfaction.

AA has the same policy as CO because I couldn't get a refund from them last year without a $100 fee, and the saving was $98 so no refund. Will I buy from AA again? Not unless it is much cheaper than the others.

I think it is pretty universal that if you request a refund of the fare drop difference, they will deduct the change fee. Also pretty common, until CO just changed, was the ability to opt for a travel credit for the full difference and have the change fee waived.

The agent I spoke with at CO was well aware that this change caused a reluctance to purchase. Stores have "benefit of sale" policies for specified periods as well as return periods. It's in the interest of the merchant/airline to get you to buy now, even if some people ask for a return of the drop in price later.

It is not well known, but most airlines have the fare drop protection clause written in their fare rules. This was a direct result of the "consumer friendly" airline rules (designed to appease Congress a few years ago). However, Continental never went along with this fare drop protection clause in their fare rules. Apparently, they have been making exceptions until recently when Gordo decided that we must pay for our pizza toppings!!