which airlines allow free date changes to award tickets?
 

looking to get some award tickets for a friend, but the return needs to be changable, so i started checking to see which airlines allowed changes. so far i found out:

ua (free for ua metal awards)
dl (free for dl metal awards, not sure about partner awards?)
aa (free for c/f awards on all awards)
co (free for co metal awards for plat members, not sure about partner awards)
nw (???)
us (???)
if anyone has any other info or if anything above is incorrect, please post.

I'm not a US expert, but just having booked a couple of awards on US metal to SJU, I know that changes are free provided that routing stays the same.

UA awards are similarly qualified -- changes to awards booked wholly on United are free provided that the routing stays the same. That means that not just the origin and destination must remain the same, but if you're booked on a non-stop you must stay on a nonstop or if connecting you must follow the same connecting path.

Note also that when making changes to award tickets you're generally going to need to find award availability on the flights you want to change on to (though one can generally also standby at the airport for new flights independent of award inventory on those flights).

Any itinerary on Southwest can be changed with no fee, and if it's a paper award, can be changed to another passenger's name.

I recently changed an F award on BA. I thought there would be a charge for this but the agent said it was free.

You can change NW award tickets for free as long as they're on NW metal and the transaction takes place online or at an airport SSD (meaning no NWA employee helps you in the process). For partner award tickets booked with NW's WorldPerks (WP) miles, you can't use a SSD or the internet and must pay a change fee.

aloha

Based on my experiences, I know you could change travel dates on award tickets on UA and AA, as long as the departure city and destination remain the same for no fee.

The same was true for me using a UA award ticket on Air NZ, a member of the *A.

[This message has been edited by esofina (edited Jan 06, 2004).]

US does have the typical change fees for their standard awards. However, their premium awards are pretty much treated as if you were on a full-fare ticket. There are no change fees, Saturday night stay requirements, blackout dates and the premium coach awards are upgradeable at time of booking.

DL-no change fees for DATE changes only; applies to both DL & NWA routings. I assume the same applies to DL issued CO routings. DL charges a $100 redeposit fee if you don't use the award or need to change cities.

Slippahs:

Does that mean if you have an NW award ticket to Europe with a KLM intra-Europe segment, you cannot change it online and must pay the change fee? Thanks, Paul

The above statement is valid only for NW Platinum Elites, and for others making a change online 30 days before the trip. For all other cases there is a $25 fee for changing award travel, whether online/kiosk. See full details at:
http://www.nwa.com/freqfly/travel/unused.shtml

Deleted...duplicate posting

[This message has been edited by santo (edited Jan 07, 2004).]

HP, free as long as you are only changing the dates and times and subject to space availability.

Yes you can on UA awards pretty much regardless of actual carrier. I believe however it must be the same routing (not just destination). for example my understanding is you can't change an OAK-DEN-CMH into an OAK-ORD-CMH

Is this new? I did an NZ award using UA miles, LAX-AKL-LAX, last year and was told absolutely no changes once I departed. IOW, I was locked in to the return flight and date once I left LAX.

I'm pretty sure a $50 fee applies unless you are a NW Plat Elite.

Whenever using BA miles for awards on their travel partners (AA etc) once ticketed the award ticket's travel dates are not changable at all, NOT EVEN FOR A FEE.

You were hit with the current rule.

On an award ticket issued with UA miles, you can freely change dates at any time on itineraries that are completely on United flights.

If there is even one segment that is a non-UA flight, free changes before departure, but once you fly the first segment, no changes. None. Period.

My experience is that DL has been very easy to work with date changes. I try to use DL when booking my son's flights to college and back, because the return is so far away there are usually changes in circumstances and/or availability to make a date change helpful.

More recently I had a DL award ticket to Hawaii that involves three different metals! CO, DL & NW. I have made two changes in the segments as availability has changed and not been charged!

If you do online, it is 'Free' if done 30 days before the trip, $25 otherwise. If you call and make changes it is $50.

CX awards are date change free and only $30 to completely reroute.

I'd be careful and speak directly with an award-travel res agent for your chosen airline. You might even ask to see the actual rules that apply. For example, I just booked a C itinerary on AA to the UK and was told that once booked, a change in date of the last leg of return travel on American Eagle out of LAX to my home airport would cost $100. This must be a recent development since my previous experience was always no change fees w/o itinerary change in F and C.

Great thread. I love to see consolidated info about the different airlines here in one spot.

Once the answers are all in it would be nice to edit the origonal post with the answers.

Not a recent development. They started the $100 time/date change fee in August 2001. I was surprised to see incorrect info above. I thought maybe AA had turned back their awful change fee schedule (a matter that I wrote to Randy Petersen about, and he said that he thinks it's fair of AA to charge $100!).

I've emptied my AA account and won't fly them.

I'm currently flying on a QF reward with CO miles, so I'm sure of the current rules....no changes on the outbound, $150 to change the return. But you have to make the change at a CO airport counter or CO city ticket office, so if you're in a country without a CO presence (such as Australia), you're screwed!



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