WineCountryUA

Yes BUT if you request a refund, the outbound flight will be repriced as a OW and then you get the reminder (if any), So you will likely get much less than you expect.

Another approach is to schedule the return -- what that can be changed to will depend on the fare rules.

Baze

Is the client paying for the new ticket and did they pay for the original ticket? If nothing out of YOUR pocket, who cares. Sounds like the client is willing to eat the return of the original ticket. Or am I reading too much into it?

channa

It's a function of the original fare rules.

But IN GENERAL, a RT INTL fare requires a RT purchase or open jaw to/from an allowed market.

So if you want to change it to a different date, same route, it will probably be just the change fee, assuming the bucket is avialable.

If you want to change it to something that would have matched up with it (e.g., if it were SFO-LHR RT and now you fly SFO-LHR and want to make it CDG-SFO), it would be the change fee and any fare differential between those markets, provided they are combinable.

If you want to change it to something completely different (e.g., it was SFO-LHR RT and you want to change the return to SFO-HNL), it would probably be cost prohibitive -- it would be the change fee + difference between what you paid and the one-way fare of the original SFO-LHR ticket + the cost of the new ticket.

Again, it's a function of what the rules are/were, but in general, this is how it would play.

If it was a one-way fare, and you just happened to buy two one-way fares, it's really easy to split off the return value, pay the change fee, and use it for something else. But generally INTL fares are RT.

1k-all-the-way

I paid the original, he'll buy the new.

pshuang

Real world example on UA from West Coast to Europe a couple of years ago. Round trip coach ticket about $1700. I flew the outbound. But then I had to change my plans for return and stop over on the East Coast. Company travel agent decided that buying a separate one-way ticket on Icelandair back to the US (and then another separate one-way ticket from East Coast to West Coast) would be much, much cheaper than any option on UA or codeshare flights for the next day. I notified UA to cancel as a courtesy and asked the phone agent to figure out the residual fare. Took 20 minutes for her to come back with the answer of about $450. There would be a $300 change fee, so net value would be about $150. But, if I were to be able to make use of changing the remainder of this ticket in the future to travel from Europe back to the US, that travel could be priced as being part of a round trip instead of being a one-way.

Needless to say that went unused.

TA

And note that in order to retain any value that is left after flying the outbound, you must cancel the ticket *before* the return flight occurs.

cbn42

Call the airline and ask how much residual value would be left on the ticket if you cancel the return flight, after deducting the change fee. If it's >0 then take it, and use it towards your next flight on that airline. If it's <0 then just no-show the return.

garykung

My 2 cents.

The only way not to trigger a repricing is IRROPS.

1k-all-the-way

There's an idea! Although I tend to only get IRROPS and waivers when I really need the flight to be on time!

Michael D

Even if it isn't a refundable ticket??

WineCountryUA

Yeap -- just no change fee.
Given the likely smaller spread between refundable RTs and OWs, the outcome will be better but the process is the same.

physioprof

Don't do anything until you fly the outbound. Then cancel the return. The only way you'll get a real answer to what value is left in the ticket is to try to change it to a new flight, and get the rate desk involved.

Michael D

So for instance if I flew the first half of the trip below and called and canceled, I would have $1,301.91 minus the cancelation fee to apply to another ticket within a year of canceling?

Fare 1: Carrier UA TAA7AWKN DFW to CHI (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code A
Covers DFW-ORD (First)
$226.05
Fare 2: Carrier UA PLE0ZGM4 CHI to BJS (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code P
Covers ORD-PEK (Business)
$1,034.00
Fare 3: Carrier UA PLE0ZGM4 BJS to CHI (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code P
Covers PEK-ORD (Business)
$1,034.00
Fare 4: Carrier UA SAA0AWKN CHI to DFW (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code A
Covers ORD-DFW (First)
$267.91

UA YQ surcharge (YQ)
$350.00
US International Departure Tax (US)
$17.80
US September 11th Security Fee (AY)
$11.20
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF)
$13.50
China Airport Fee (CN)
$13.50
USDA APHIS Fee (XA)
$3.96
US Immigration Fee (XY)
$7.00
US Customs Fee (YC)
$5.50
US International Arrival Tax (US)
$17.80
Subtotal per passenger
$3,002.26
Number of passengers
x1
Subtotal For 1 adult
$3,002.26
This ticket is non-refundable.
Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee.

channa

No. The P fare you quoted is a RT fare.

The ticket would be refared to the one-way, which is more than you paid, and your residual would likely be nothing.

jsloan

Right. Without knowing your travel dates, and the date that the original ticket was booked, the best I can do is provide a current example.

Understanding that this is a broken fare at ORD, it's the ORD-PEK fare that's interesting. For a 1/19 departure, returning on 2/17, I see a fare of $2800 (PFX0ZMM0). For a 1/19 departure with no return, I see a fare of $4700 (DFX7OUTC). Believe it or not, this is fairly standard pricing for international fares.

In theory, if you cancel the return after flying the outbound, UA could attempt to bill you the difference. In actual practice, I doubt that an individual doing this once would get flagged, but if a travel agent has this happen too often, that agent will likely get a debit memo. This is considered throwaway ticketing and is expressly prohibited by the CoC, Rule 6(J)(2); UA reserves the right to bill the passenger in Rule 6(K)(5). In general, airlines understand that people's plans can change legitimately; they're really only out to punish repeat offenders.