emcampbe

bad advice - change tool online is horribly inaccurate - it either a) errs our when trying to complete the change, b) doesn’t show options even when available, particularly on partner carriers (which potentially is an option here with AC), or c) overcharges the fare difference (which can be seen when comparing pricing to a brand new flight search). Add in it’s Friday night, when the UA site is wonky anyway due to updates being done. OP should definitely call for options - in fact, best thing is OP to have specific alternatives they can feed to the agent who can verify pricing and complete the change.

jsloan

There's no fee to cancel; just call United and cancel the trip. When they're ready to reschedule, call United again and reschedule. Give the agent the confirmation number from their existing trip and indicate that they wish to re-use the credit from that flight. They'll be charged $200x2 for the change, plus any difference in fare at that time. Then, go to the United refunds page and submit a request for a change fee refund based upon the illness.

(Obviously, they should secure a doctor's note now so they'll have the documentation they need later).

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

WineCountryUA

No fee to cancel.

However, there is a fee to access the non-refundable credit.

Again, if they qualify for the medical change fee refund, that can be addressed.
They will be responsibility for any fare difference.

Another way to potentially avoid the change fee is if a weather waive is issued -- due to stormy weather at either end of the trip. Note this are usually issued a day or two before the travel days.

Regardless you MUST cancel before the departure time or all residual value will be lost.

Often1

Are you sure that the change fee is $200? It could well be $300+. Take a look at the fare rules (summary before the 15 pages of irrelevant stuff will show the change fee). Bear in mind that the waiver of the change fee is determined later on so, until they rebook, no guarantees.

jsloan

I just took a look at a sample YVR*/BUR fare on ExpertFlyer and the change fee is listed as "USD200/CAD200" (uh... I choose CAD?). But, it shouldn't really matter given that the fees should be refunded due to the illness.

* I'm assuming YRV was a typo, since apparently they only have charter flights and not on UA.

In The 216

I don't fully agree with your statement. The Change Flights options has it's quirks and it can be useless on complicated itinerary's...especially with certain partners. In the situation the OP gave, I am confident it would have given him the information he was looking for. He clearly didn't have any specific alternatives in mind and didn't have any idea of what to expect. For you and I, who are more savvy and may have a specific routing, etc., in mind, then I would probably agree. That said, I still always try and make changes myself as sometimes the United IT quirks work in my favor.

emcampbe

I can't claim to have seen every single fare condition ex-Canada, but fee for re-issues for Canada-US itineraries and vv. are pretty much always the same as domestic - so $200 for any non-refundable Y fare.

Between USD/CAD, obviously, the CAD is less, but I think you don't get the choice, as it has to be charged in the currency in which the ticket is paid.

It may or may not give them the info. they are looking for.

I've seen too many instances, almost every time I use change flights tool, where on a simple, say, XXX-ORD-YYY connection, it doesn't show what should be standard options within the new search criteria - say XXX-ORD-YYY with a 1 - 2 hour connection. Heck, sometimes those simple all-UA connections don't show up in a regular search even though they should, so I always now compare with google flights, or by doing multi city XXX-hub1-YYY and XXX-hub2-YYY, etc. to make sure I'm not missing potential options. Even when the right flights do show up for change flights, it often shows a fare difference where they shouldn't be - where the new flights have same fare-class availability and meet the conditions needed for that class, but still show a fare difference. That is why when changing flights, I always do a normal search from scratch (including using Google Flights and multi-city as mentioned above) to give me the full list of options. Then I'll either make the change online if it allows (which is only sometimes, at best), or give the specifics to an agent to make the change over the phone.

In The 216

I've already agreed that the Change Flights button does not always work as it should. That said, some of the statements you've made are a little misleading. Just because a flight or flights show fare class availability does not mean that those fare classes are available for sale. You might see G9, T9, etc. but that does not equate to a G or T fare being available for purchase.

WineCountryUA

This is an archive thread, the active thread is
How to get residual/"future flight credit" from non-refundable flight ... now 2-years

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator