anc-ord772

I have a flight tonight.

On the phone earlier I was seeing one or two $0 options, no change fee. Online I saw more options with different prices (fare difference) and no change fee. Interestingly enough, online UNITED wanted to charge me $84 to SDC to my current itinerary. Those whacky kids.

Now I see no options via the mobile. On the website there are some options with fare difference and change fee, and others with just the fare difference.

Bonehead

I bet that the reason I saw some at $0 plus change fee is because I had a fare class that could still be purchased.

haddon90

all i do is check the fare buckets on the flights i want. if there is availability, i just call and have them do the SDC.

anc-ord772

That's one way to do it. Assuming your flight/route changes, if any, don't violate the fare rules.

mgcsinc

Yup, that's probably it. It's been this way for a number of months -- maybe a year? Over in the SDC thread, we thought it was a bug at first, but it stuck. It will usually leave out the change fee, but not the (inapplicable) fare difference.

blug

DL's problems are
- non-medallion companions on the same PNR cannot SDC for free
- no international SDC
- no more access to fare bucket via EF

And more importantly,
- I may be wrong but I don't think DL opens up fare buckets close to departure like UA does. So, at 3 hours before departure, a DL flight can be Y6 B0 M0... while a UA flight is Y6 B6 M6...K6 G6 N6.

davidviolin

UA's SDC is the main reason im scared of switching to DL. I've heard mixed reports on DL's SDC.
But last time I called UA to SDC, the agent told me he couldn't help because they could only change to the exact same fare class. I always thought one could SDC as long as the same fare bucket, or class of service was open.

xkr0p

can you SDC to a different city or is it times only? like if im flying into fll can i change to tpa

emcampbe

Agent was wrong. That's a good time to HUCA. You can change to next available fare class, however, in addition to the SDC fee (if applicable), you also need to pay the fare difference. And you can only do this with an agent - the app/kiosk/web site will only show options if available in the same fare class.

No, you can not change cities. The exception is if there is a weather waiver for your airport or flight, you'll get additional options that include nearby airports. However, not that far apart. For example, if flying to FLL and you get the irrops tool, it may offer flights to MIA and PBI as well. But not to TPA.

Agents also may be willing to be more flexible in using co-terminals - i.e., JFK instead of LGA, DCA instead of IAD, etc. However, that's YMMV.

davidviolin

Theres a thread on this, but unless irrops, theres not much hope of that ever happening.

EmailKid

Looks like merged into said thread now @:-)