zrs70

While I don't like the policy, it does guard UA from a huge loopehole.

How?

If I have a restricted ticket that I know longer need, and I upfare it to an unrestricted ticket ... I can then take the new ticket and change it to whatever itinerary I want.

No penalties paid at all.

If the new ticket is lower, I will get the residual back in a voucher (and in some cases a refund).

This is why UA stopped allowing free upfares on international ticket many years back. People were taking advantage of that workaround.

GBadger

Seems that they should be able to work out some sort of policy that allows you to up fare but keep the more restrictive cancellation policy. It seems that this might get them quite a bit of revenue for those who decide they'd like to upgrade after buying the ticket (maybe that amount of money isn't worth the effort...).

skimthetrees

I wanted to upfare from K to P to go from coach to BusinessFirst. P was not available at time of booking. Both are non-refundable fares. I went through pain and suffering trying to get an agent to do this without a $150 change fee, waiting to talk to a supervisor and I was still denied. $150 plus the change fee would have been more than I could purchase a new fare outright on the website. It was a short flight, SAN-SFO, so I could tough it up if I had to.

I probably should have called again but didn't feel like wasting more time on the phone. I sent an email to Martin Hand, United's SVP of Customer Experience, explaining my trouble upfaring and why I thought it was bad policy not to allow it. I was not expecting a reply but I got an email from his assistant later the same day saying that he had asked her to help me complete the transaction. The next day she called me and took care of it. It obviously can be done even though the phone agents have a script that reads "NO" - not possible and never allowed.

I'm a nobody to UA. I have lifetime GM status (ha) but this year I'll hit Silver. I was impressed that Mr. Hand would read my email and offer to help me. It makes me feel like there is hope.

uastarflyer

That workaround is Southwest baseline

Very easy to work around though - old money sticks with old fare basis, new money with new

PanAmWT

Not really. UA always put the initially nonrefundable portion in any new ticket. Even if this is cabin upgrade (Y to C/F).

There is, however, a reason for this policy. UA wants you to buy the lottery for upgrade before you have better information on your odds. If you do not want to buy the lottery initially but then change mind because later you see R>0 or a sparsely occupied C cabin, you will have to pay the change fee to gt your lottery ticket. Otherwise many people will not bet when the odds are less clear.

destinio

Earlier today my employer booked me a flight on T fare on a routing that has no upgrade availability (institutional policy only allows the cheapest fare type). Within 24 hours of the initial booking, I want to change it to a different routing with upgrade availability, and buy it up to W so that I can apply GPU.

United.com gave me an error when I tried to change online. So I called. The 1st phone rep spent ~30 minutes understanding my needs. A lot of times it was difficult for me to understand him due to his accent. Then he said he needed to call his support desk for this change to happen. After another 30 min wait, he came back and told me he can change to my requested routing at the lowest fare type (still T), but not W, because W is not available! The next higher fare would be H.

By then I was confused and very frustrated. I wasn't sure how the UA fare type quoting works, so I searched and found this FT thread.

I began typing this post initially to ask about this. But while I was typing, I called United again. This time a much more competent phone agent, even though also having a distinct accent, fulfilled my request in 10 minutes (without the "support desk"!), and didn't charge me a phone service fee. No change fee, of course.

Happy ending. Though I wonder now, are most UA phone agents having an accent now? Or is it because I'm calling at night?

zrs70

While the non-refundable portion was always non-refundable, the loophole still worked.

Example:

If I had an international nonrefundable ticket for $500, I could buy up to any other fare on any international routing. Let's say I bought to a $2000 flexible ticket....

I could then take the new ticket and change it to a $50 domestic. I would get $1500 back to my credit card (because the original non-refundable $500 fare was still in the and $450 back as a voucher).

Thus, I would save any change fees.

Used to do it every once in a while. This is why the loophole was closed.

SFO_Flyer

Currently have one of my segments in S and would like to change it to W. It appears that the change for the class difference is about $100 but then they said I would have to pay a $300 change fee penalty.

I have searched the forum and have read various posts indicating that they had to pay for the change fee and others that didn't. Alot of the posts are older and just wanted to see if you always have to pay the change fee or if there are ways to get around it. Thanks.

mduell

As the rules read, you have to pay the change fee for any change. Some agents won't charge it when you're upfaring.

alex_b

Just got quoted $192 upfare and $300 change fee for an upfare T/K to W. Said no thank you. Is it worth a HUCA?

anc-ord772

Yes. although change fees are charged for upfaring now, you can get around it by finding the right agent. if you have a woe as me story (itin change, etc) it can help your chances. Worth trying a couple of times.

sabbasolo

However you look at it, people are changing their ticket and buying up because of a benefit to them (e.g. W allows GPU use). So UA is quite justified in charging the change fee.

Next posters will say no change fees should be charged if changing to a flight that has lots of empty space.

Kacee

It's pointless to try to rationalize these sorts of rules. They are purely revenue driven. UA charges the fee because it can, not because it makes any kind of rational sense. In this case, it's a lousy rule. UA should encourage pax to upfare (i.e., pay UA more money) by allowing these changes without incurring a change fee.

transpac

Can I buy up to a W fare, from an L fare, for just the return segments of a round trip, in order to use a GPU?

Would I have to wait until after I have completed the outbound segments before I can initiate the buy-up?

Assuming there is W inventory, on the int'l segments anyway, would I have to pay a fee, or just the incremental fare increase.

I am a 1K.

WineCountryUA

yes

no

In addition to the fare change you will likely be asked to pay a change fee. A few, but rarely, have reported the agent waiving the change fee but the rules are clear a change fee should be charged.