Star Gold on UA same-day flight change
 

Hey everyone,

I have an evening flight from MSY to LAX, and I wondered if I could jump, without a large change fee, on an earlier flight (which there is) on the same day. I am Star Alliance Gold (Air Canada Elite 50K).
Should I just show up ASAP at the airport? Does *Gold even give that privilege (free/rebate change fee).

Many thanks, my girlfriend will appreciate this :D

Yes you can - Same Day Change (when space is available in your fare bucket) or standby (if space is not available in your fare bucket) for $75.

Either can be done online, over the phone, or at the airport within 24 hours of the flight you want and 24 hours of the flight you're currently on.

*G doesn't get a discount on the discounted $75 same day change/standby fee (normal change fees in your ticket are $200+).

Welcome to FT, eobrousseau!

Sorry, but non-UA *G has to pay the SDC/standby fee.

I think with capacity discipline, UA should offer for FREE the ability to do same day standby for ANYONE on any ticket. I think it would actually save them some money when irrops do occur. If the later flight gets cancelled when you could have put them on an earlier flight or if you can sell the seats on a flight later why not? Why let a plane leave empty? It really seems dumb to me and I think airlines in general are being too shortsighted.

Back before I got status, I wanted to switch to an earlier flight and they wanted to charge me $75. I missed my later flight due to cancellation and got a full refund. UA was out $500 when they could have moved me into an empty seat that left in which they got $0 for.

Sure, and stores should give their products for free to anyone who asks.

This is different.

a) It is spoiled inventory. Once the door closes, the seats are useless. It's not like products at a store. And, at grocery stores, before a product is about to expire, it is regularly offered free or at a significant discount.
b) This isn't just anyone walking in. This is an elite customer who does lots of flying with UA's partner airlines, and it would be decent to do it for free and would incentivize flying UA, but since UA has no competition, they have no motivation to do that.

Then you must think they should offer it free to anyone, right? Make the walk-up fare $0? If businesses start to do this, nobody would ever pay.

I guess you didn't bother to read my post, or more specifically, the post I quoted.

I did not say the fare should be free, I just said the seats become value-less as soon as the door closes.

And, I'm sure it's subject to debate as to whether or not allowing free SDC to an earlier flight only would help or hurt the airline's bottom line, now that flights seem to be priced more similarly throughout the day and the IRROPs situation.

There have been postings that some *Gs have received free SDC. Not what the rules state but some have posted of that experience

such as but would not count on this.

The time spend by agents on free SDCs shouldn't be overlooked. If they were free, a whole lot of people will be asking for them in person at airports or on the phone. Free SDCs should be confined to changes that could be made online IMHO - and that's assuming UA's online capability is conducive.

Actually, that's a good idea. Free SDC to an earlier flight only if you do online for anyone. That's if UA wanted to try and be flyer friendly...but obviously they're not...

UA does offer a no-fee change. It's called fully flexible, generally Y. Absolutely insane for UA to cannibalize it's HVC customer base to keep the deep discounters happier. They bought tickets with change fees. Waiving the fee is nutso, especially for someone with zero demonstrated loyalty.

For the same reason that UA (and other carriers) don't hand out freeloader UG's on international and will send an aircraft out with empty premium seats, they are preserving the brand.

Sure, once in a blue moon someone won't shell out the $75 and his scheduled flight is cancelled. But, that's infintesimal.

Yes, let's not give away seats which are basically worthless once the door closes. Lets try and charge for it, and when it leaves empty, and then some irrops occur, then I cancel the ticket and get nothing. Yes very smart. You must be one of the geniuses that work at UA.

Then just do what they've been doing, update the app so that it can handle it. This could be a perk that in the end doesn't really cost UA anything and in fact might free up seats on a later flight which can be sold at a last minute premium price, especially flights which are otherwise full. Might also save them when they run into an oversold situation.

As an elite, I get same day standby, but the point I was making is by trying to fill as many seats earlier in the day, it gives UA more flexibility later in the day to recover from irrops, less likely to be in an oversold situation which costs $$$ and ticks people off, and gives them a seat on an otherwise full flight that they can try and resell. How much money does it really save UA by having those seats leave empty? Do they collect enough $75 fees to justify this? I honestly can't imagine many willing to pay the $75.

The way they've chosen to implement it for self service is a bit convoluted, non-obvious, not not available in all cases where SDC with an agent is.