Jan 4, 2015, 2:01 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

This wiki was created to distill SDC (and related standby) down to a set of rules in the hopes of benefiting others.

The official "rules" can be found here. In practice, some of the rules almost always apply, and some are more flexible.

Note there have been reports of SDC to one segment removing confirmed CPU upgrades on downline segments. If maintaining the confirmed upgrade is important then these changes should be handled with care.

Most Frequently Asked Question: When do I call/go online to make the change?
Follow this flowchart:
Question 1: Are you within 24 hours of your currently scheduled UA(*) operated flight that you're trying to change off of? If yes, continue to Question 2. If no, continue to answer 1.
Question 2: Are you within 24 hours of the first UA operated flight you're trying to change on to? If yes, continue to to Answer 2. If no, continue to Answer 1.
Answer 1: No, you cannot call/go online yet to make an SDC.
Answer 2: Yes, then you can call/go online to make an SDC.

General Baseline Rules

These are the general rules that usually apply to SDC's; falling outside these rules usually requires payment of a full change fee and the fare difference:

The departure time of the first segment of the old itinerary and the departure time of the first segment of the new itinerary must both be within 24 hours of the moment that the change is made.
Only applies to UA/UX operated flights, domestic or international. Changing from a non-UA operated to UA operated may be possible.
The ultimate origin and destination airports must remain the same.
Routing can be changed (addition, deletion, or change of connection points) but the routing rules of the original fare usually apply.
All remaining unflown segments in single fared itinerary are considered together (i.e., if you're flying WWW-XXX-YYY-ZZZ, you can go to a kiosk at XXX and potentially fly XXX-AAA-ZZZ or XXX-ZZZ direct).
SDC can be done an unlimited number of times, and can therefore be used to extend a trip indefinitely (pending availability).
SDC costs $75 for Members and Silvers - the fee is waived for Golds and up (plus any applicable fare difference, see below). *G's may also get free SDC, although there is no mention of this in the official rules. Once in-route, fees for an earlier connecting flight may be waived per GG SDC Line 118.
Non-elites on the same PNR benefit from any waived fees for SDC.
No fare difference is charged so long as there is availability on all of the new segments in the originally ticketed fare class. Fare class availability in all classes often opens up after T-24 and almost always opens up at T-3 unless the plane is very full.
SDC on bulk tickets, including United Specials, is not permitted.
SDC is permitted on both domestic and international itineraries.

How to SDC

SDC can be accomplished in a few different places (in rough order of likelihood of being able to get the rules bent):

United mobile app
Kiosk
Phone
On united.com, right now only the "Search Other Flight Options" button during On-Line Check-In (OLCI) works. This has spotty availability, particularly if the change would involve paying an additional fare due to fare bucket non-availability.
Counter/Gate (although reports are that most airport agents are not familiar with the SDC policy and may not allow you to SDC to a valid itinerary--you can try to direct them to look up GG SDC, but they often won't understand that what you're trying to do is permitted by those rules)

Please note that the United.com “change flight” link before checking in within T-24, is broken. The website may not show all available options and will often attempt to collect the change fee rather than the SDC fee (if any).

NB: An SDC where the original itinerary (in one direction) has three or more segments cannot be done online.

Nuances and Loose Rules

Now for the hard part: figuring out where the flexibility is in the rules. This list is compiled from the responses to people saying "Can I do X?" where X is something that is not clearly permitted by the rules. One's likelihood of success here depends a bit on the method used for the SDC.

For each item, the following codes apply:
Y = officially permitted and possible using any method
A = not permitted but perhaps possible using an agent (phone/counter), perhaps having to HUACA
A* = mixed reports of success with an agent (phone/counter),
N* = possible only if you find a very accommodating agent
N = little or no reported success.

Violating various non-routing fare rules (day/time, minimum stay, etc.): Y
Change destination to ultra-close airport (see the old S*FAR/STANDBY): A
Change destination to a co-terminal: N*
Change destination to an entirely different place: N
Change itinerary at the beginning to include illegal layovers (> 4 hours): N*
Change itinerary at the layover point (using kiosk, app, or agent) to create an otherwise illegal layover: Y
Change itinerary at the beginning to add a layover point not permitted by the routing rules: N*
Change itinerary at a layover point to add another layover not permitted (either in terms of number of segments or routing rules) by the routing rules: Y
Change to a flight exactly 24 hours before or after the original flight: N*
Change to a flight exactly 24 hours before the original flight, if the previous day's flight has been delayed: Y (based on one report)
Combining separately-fared segments to do SDC (e.g. XXX-YYY+YYY-ZZZ -> XXX-ZZZ): A
Change UA-codeshare, non-UA-metal segment to UA metal: A
Change from UA metal to UA-codeshare, non-UA-metal segment: N (see post 1813 for one exception)
Change from UA-codeshare, non-UA-metal segment to a different UA-codeshare, non-UA-metal segment: ??
Change on a non-UA ticketed segment: N* (with potential dire consequences)
Change from an upgraded flight into Y on the new flight: Y
Change from a GPU-upgraded flight into J/F on the new flight: A
Change from a CPU-upgraded flight and get confirmed into available R space on the new flight: N*
Change from an instrument-upgraded flight and get confirmed into available R space on the new flight: A*
Non-elite on different PNR benefiting from Elite's waived-fee SDC: A
Change at origin airport after tendering a checked bag: N
Change at layover airport when a bag has been checked: N

If you encounter issues with an agent (phone or counter/gate), you can ask the agent to reference GG SDC. Additionally, GG SDC line 61 specifically references that fare classes are supposed to level out 3.5 hours before departure, so you might be able to use that to your advantage if fare classes have not leveled out and you're trying to ask an agent to open up the correct inventory or force you onto the flight.

Note -- as of 11/27/2017: A datapoint indicates that UA may have updated its GG rule regarding leveling out to state the following:

Code:

EVERYDAY AWARD AND REVENUE BUCKETS ARE TO LEVEL OUT WITHIN 2H OF DEPARTURE

Standby
You may stand by if seats are not available in the purchased fare class. In these cases, the same-day change fee will apply, but will not be charged unless you are assigned a seat on your alternate flight. Changes in routing are not allowed when standing by. Standby may be requested on the day of departure at an airport kiosk or with a United representative at the airport. Once you are added to the flight standby list, you can check your real-time standby status at united.com/flightstatus or on your mobile device at mobile.united.com/info.

Instead of paying a same-day change discounted fee, can I stand by for my desired flight for free?
No. The only time you may standby for free is when the fare does not have any penalties for making changes, or when standing by involuntarily due to a flight irregularity.

Can I pay the same-day change discount fee with cash?
Cash will only be accepted by a United airport representative when the change is available to be confirmed, not for standby travel.

original posting by mgcsinc, initiated by jackal

Previous threads:
UA Same-Day Travel Change (SDC) Fees/Questions *now with WikiPost* {pre-2015 Archive}

UA Same-Day Travel Change (SDC) Fees/Questions (with Wiki) {Archive}

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Nov 6, 2018, 6:27 am

#4531

LarrySinNJ

Join Date: Dec 2017

Posts: 57

Premier Gold - same day changes - please help me fill in the blanks

I may want to change my flight on Friday BUF-EWR, where there are 6 daily flights. While the change fee is waived, I know I can change to other flights for free based on the fare code, which I can check today using the advanced lookup on the United website. My question is, is there a listing of fare codes to see which ones my current flight is above (which I assume I could switch for free), vs. which codes would require an extra cost?

And is there anything else I need to know?

Nov 6, 2018, 6:35 am

#4532

fumje

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2015

Posts: 11,460

The order in which the fare classes appear with expert mode enabled is the hierarchy. They are also listed in the wiki here, although split by revenue and award classes.

You can only change from and to flights that are both departing within 24hrs of the time of the change. A 'flight' in this case is any combination of legs that get you from your origin to your destination, and the easiest way to find these options is to search for a revenue ticket on united dot com and look at whatever it returns.

So if, say, you have ticketed an S fare departing 1130a Friday BUF-EWR, and if you see Thursday's 245p BUF-IAD-EWR flight has inventory S>0, then starting Thursday at 1130a you can change to it. The same applies to any of the other BUF-EWR options you see that are within 24hrs of the time you are making the change.

Nov 6, 2018, 6:49 am

#4533

jsloan

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2001

Location: Austin, TX

Posts: 21,395

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarrySinNJ

My question is, is there a listing of fare codes to see which ones my current flight is above (which I assume I could switch for free), vs. which codes would require an extra cost?

You're overthinking this a bit. If a lower* fare class is available, yours will be too.

So, all you need to do is to look at the Expert Mode results for the flights you're interested in and check to see if the value for your fare class is greater than zero.

Is BUF-EWR your entire itinerary, or are you connecting from EWR? If you're connecting, you need to look for inventory all the way through to your destination; the flights will be treated as a unit.

*note that N, used for Basic Economy, is a special case and should be ignored.

Nov 6, 2018, 7:21 am

#4534

LarrySinNJ

Join Date: Dec 2017

Posts: 57

In this case, my fare class is L, and BUF-EWR is my entire trip. Based in info from the Wiki below, would I be eligible for flights that are any one of these codes (excluding N), or just the ones below? Also as of now, none of Friday's flights show availability of any of these codes. Could this change?

W - Deep Discount Coach (100%/100%)
S - Deep Discount Coach (100%/100%)
T - Deep Discount Coach (100%/100%)
L - Deep Discount Coach (100%/100%)
K - Deep Discount Coach (100%/100%)
G - Deep Discount Coach (100%/100%)
N - Deep Discount Coach (100%/100%)

Nov 6, 2018, 7:41 am

#4535

jsloan

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2001

Location: Austin, TX

Posts: 21,395

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarrySinNJ

Availability can (and does) change regularly. It's entirely possible that space will open up in the discount fare classes. If nothing is available when you look the first time, check again later.

L is the third-lowest fare class (not counting Basic Economy, as discussed) -- it's only higher than K and G. So, a flight which has K or G availability will also have L availability and will therefore be open for a same-day change with at no charge. The others won't help you, as they're higher fare classes (despite the fact that they're all called "deep discount coach" in the wiki).

Excluding Basic Economy, the fares come back from Expert Mode in order from highest to lowest. J/JN/C/D/Z/ZN/P/PN/PZ/IN/I are all first class fares. YN/HN/XN/X are all award fare classes. The hierarchy for economy seats is Y B M E U H Q V W S T L K G. If you look at the results from expert mode, you'll see that the higher fare classes always have at least as much inventory as the lower fare classes. Y ≥ B, B ≥ M, etc.

Typically, when UA adjusts inventory, you can see it creep through the fare classes. For example, right now the first BUF-EWR flight Friday is Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0. If they don't sell enough additional seats, they might next open the W bucket, and then the S bucket, etc.

At one point, all inventory buckets would open a couple of hours before departure. That's still true for most flights that aren't close to being sold out. So, if you're in a position where you can get to the airport quickly if inventory opens up, keep an eye open for that.

Nov 6, 2018, 7:44 am

#4536

fumje

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2015

Posts: 11,460

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarrySinNJ

You need L available on a BUF-EWR flight. If K or G are available, L will also be; if T is available, it says nothing about L.

Inventory levels will change between now and Friday. Are you trying to move your flight forward? Unless heavily sold, it is normal for flights to 'level out' and open all inventory one to three hours before departure. That may be useful to you if you want to go earlier, but not if later.

In any case, start checking for availability at 24 hours, and then check frequently thereafter.

Nov 6, 2018, 9:29 am

#4537

LarrySinNJ

Join Date: Dec 2017

Posts: 57

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsloan

So, if you're in a position where you can get to the airport quickly if inventory opens up, keep an eye open for that.

One of the beauties of BUF...

Thanks all for your responses! Really helped me connect the dots!

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Nov 6, 2018 at 2:51 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member

Nov 7, 2018, 6:28 am

#4538

emcampbe

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: SFO/SJC

Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold

Posts: 14,884

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarrySinNJ

One of the beauties of BUF...

Thanks all for your responses! Really helped me connect the dots!

note that if L is not available on the flight you want to change to at the time you want to make the change (and it is within 24 hours), then you, as mentioned, can check later to see if it does become available, or you can change to the flight while paying the fare difference to the lowest available class. If you’re booked in L, for example, and T is available and you want to just confirm it, you can buy up to it with no change fee, just the fare difference, which could be fairly small. Just depends. Note that to do this, you’ll need to call - the app won’t show those options.

Nov 7, 2018, 6:39 am

#4539

Kmxu

Join Date: May 2012

Location: ORF, RIC

Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum

Posts: 6,958

Standby

Do not forget that you can standby for an earlier flight if there are seats available. Good luck.

Nov 8, 2018, 4:02 am

#4540

chebert999

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: Toronto

Programs: UA 1K, AC 35K, SPG GOLD

Posts: 264

Quick question as I don't SDC very often. If I want a particular flight but the fare (P) is much higher then a flight that is 2 hours later in the same fare (P). Could I buy the cheapest one and SDC to the one I really one at T-24 if it's available without paying any fare difference? I am Plat so I don't pay the change fee for sure.

Nov 8, 2018, 4:06 am

#4541

Kacee

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Apr 2013

Location: PHX

Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)

Posts: 56,450

Quote:

Originally Posted by chebert999

Possibly. The unknown is whether UA will also require, in addition to P inventory, inventory in your underlying economy fare basis. In my experience recently, that has not been required, but others have reported issues with this.

Nov 12, 2018, 8:35 am

#4542

chebert999

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: Toronto

Programs: UA 1K, AC 35K, SPG GOLD

Posts: 264

Quote:

Originally Posted by chebert999

I did this today and it worked fine as there were seats on the flight I wanted. 😁

Nov 12, 2018, 3:40 pm

#4543

diburning

Join Date: Jun 2012

Location: New England

Programs: American Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Silver

Posts: 5,640

One thing I noticed, which might be the way it's supposed to work, is that SDC is free if the flight is booked less than T-24, but as long as none of the legs have been flown. After a leg has been flown, then the SDC fee would apply. I think it might have to do with United's cancellation policy allowing this.

Nov 12, 2018, 3:52 pm

#4544

jsloan

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2001

Location: Austin, TX

Posts: 21,395

Quote:

Originally Posted by diburning

Yes. United allows changes* / cancellations within 24 hours as long as the first coupon hasn't been used. As soon as you start taking the flight, you'd be subject to the appropriate change fee -- either the SDC or the itinerary's change fee.

* Except Basic Economy -- but then, there's no SDC for BE either.

Nov 14, 2018, 12:41 pm

#4545

Zorak

Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jun 2015

Location: WAS

Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, Mlife Plat, Caesars Diam, Marriott Tit, UA Gold, Hyatt Glob, invol FT beta tester

Posts: 18,923

Originally flying BWI-ORD-SFO today, the latter on UA222. When I got to ORD, given the smoke-related delays I was keeping an eye out on the earlier flights, which had been full, but when a seat opened up on UA810, I jumped on it via "switch to another flight" in the app.

I was hanging out one gate away when I got a push notification that departure had been moved up, so I immediately went to the gate, getting there just as preboarding began. It was only now that I noticed the BP in the app still showed my old flight, and I was unable to board with it.

Went to the GA who said I'd forfeited my seat by not checking in.

The app never gave an indication I needed to check in again; my reservation just said "More Options" like it usually does once you are already checked in. She was unmoved by this but offered me E+ with an empty middle, which I accepted.

Bottom line I'm still getting home earlier, so #FWP esp considering people's lives are in turmoil with the fire. But I would like to know for future reference:

1. this is my first time SDCing BBB-CCC after having already flown AAA-BBB (on UA anyway) -- is having to check in again really a thing? (I did make the change close to the original departure time for UA810 in case that matters). If so I am totally prepared to let this go...

2. ... but if not, I was originally in paid F -- do I have a case for downgrade compensation?

And lastly if RIT/R is on FT, you're welcome

Last edited by Zorak; Nov 14, 2018 at 2:06 pm Reason: Clarifying that I was already at ORD