This is a great move and will cause me to book UA when I am only 80% sure of my plans instead of waiting till I am 95% sure. Previously I had often booked WN if I was concerned I would have to change my plans.

Maybe next weekend UA will announce open seating policy and two bags fly free?

The way I read that is when a customer is within the 24hr check in window SDC, or whatever it evolves into, allows one to confirm the change as long as the underlying booking class is open, ignoring any fare difference. I am not familiar with WN’s policy, but I don’t think (?) WN offers the same flexibility within the 24hr check in window. In other words even on WN, if you change a flight within 24hrs of the flight taking off, and even if the corresponding fare class is open, you are still liable/eligible for the fare due/fare refunded.

Caught that in the YouTube video. It’s worth a watch. Also agree with your 8 points.


I do think UA’s got an exposure point on the international tilt of the carrier. Setting aside the contentious political climate in the country right now, US / China relations are deteriorating and if the trend continues for dis-integration with China (i.e. supply chains relocating away from China), one of the main drivers of UA’s international network will suddenly loose its luster. If one considers the amount of international lift UA dedicated to PEK/PVG/CTU (and possibly HKG) that may be rendered commercially unviable if the underlying business that supported the routes wanes, UA’s going to be left figuring out where to fly those expensive widebodies too. Maybe domestic picks up some of the slack, maybe new secondary cities open up once we get past the current medical concerns, maybe existing routes are beefed up...who knows. At the risk of repeating myself, the issue here is macro demand. I think UA is well positioned to take advantage of this when things bounce back but at the downside of having to bear the carrying costs of parking planes, RIF’s, etc.

Yeep. Although the carrier may introduce something to a “redeposit to your travel bank with us fee” to do so.

If UA Insider returns to this thread a point to be clarified is what happens at the 24hr mark when the check in window opens?

It seems self evident any change prior to this would be a confirmed change, a/c charged if applicable. However when one is within the 24 hour window and standby / SDC-with-no-a/c is in play, what happens then if someone wants to confirm a change vs standby vs [ ? ].

Remember, UA's pattern has been good news followed by bad news. So, bad news is what I am waiting for.

Argh. Paid redeposit fee on two award cancelations just this morning at 4am. Both over 90 days out.

But it's okay. I want UA to make it through this mess. Don't mind doing my part. I want planes back in the skies.

Huge, and it's hard to see how AA & DL don't match.

As far as the price drop, it seems you could cancel and then use part of the credit to get a new ticket to recoup the difference. Or if they don't allow that, buy the new ticket with new money and save the credit for a later, pricier trip.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...hange-fee.html

No voucher residual.

You will not be able to apply partial credit from these fares until it's exhausted.

Actually, IMO, this is a consumer-unfriendly change, unless you're able to buy a lot of $100 tickets, which never would have had any residual value anyway.

That doesn't really seem to have changed much. Confirmed SDC is going to be a big improvement over same-day standby.

Yes, that's the only way to work the system. Which is fine, as long as you book flights frequently in your own name. But woe to the traveler who books their once-in-a-lifetime trip somewhere only to find that they need to change it. (And, if this is successful domestically, expect to see it extend internationally as well, where residual values are even more common).

There's an entire thread on "how to get residual value from future flight credit" that has just become mostly impossible.

This is the bad news.


I think people are really, really underestimating this no-residual-value thing. The no-residual-value policy is the primary reason that I haven't booked a flight with United in the COVID era, even speculatively. I don't change flights frequently, but when I do, I frequently have some residual value left over. I don't really like the idea of having multiple vouchers sitting around waiting for the next time I find an expensive enough fare to use it on.

Not possible, unless you can convince UA to continue to issue ETCs, which I don't think they will.
Yes, that's the only approach that would work.

Indeed! AA and DL will be forced to match. Now, please block middle seats through the end of the year as many are still not comfortable with airline travel.

If a one-way ticket prices on a half RT basis, is there any reason to book RT? Change fee savings were the only previous benefit I could think of and with the no-residual rules it’ll be advantageous to have 2 cheaper tickets vs. 1 pricier one.

ETC cancel option is officially gone after end of July. If they were to keep it, or (better yet) offer some travel-bank refund similar to Alaska, then this would be truly awesome. Now, with the residual value loss, it's somewhat of a mixed bag as you pointed out (maybe more positive than negative, but certainly some amount of negative).

I hope that's true. The way the statement is worded, I was wondering if they were going to the AA/DL model of only allowing SDC within the same calendar day. The +/-24 hour UA SDC policy is vastly more convenient and a reason I've maintained my status. But it may just be that explaining the (admittedly confusing) SDC system in a general press release is a bad idea.

Good move, just wish it was free date changes to intl awards as well.

Sorry if I missed this, but I read through the entire thread and didn't see this: does no change fee include no penalty for just cancelling a flight outright (presumably as travel wallet funds and not a refund to the original form of payment)?

I'm not sure how the change works on Southwest, but with Southwest you can also just cancel and rebook using the travel voucher you just got for cancelling.

It's mice nuts for most folks.

1. Frequent flyers can easily use it for an upcoming flight of equal or greater value.
2. Infrequent flyers won't care that their $330 flight is now $310 and they're leaving $20 on the table. They're ecstatic they can easily change dates and that they're not incurring the $150 change-fee gut-punch.

Also, if you're making a date change, it's usually close-in. How many times are fares materially cheaper close in...

You can cancel and get "Future Flight Credit" (previous ticket number retains value). Wallet funds/ETC are not an option.
This means the value cannot be used for another person, and you loose residual value if the new ticket is cheaper.

(This is indeed very different than how it works on Southwest. Southwest is very traveler friendly comparatively, whereas this is an improvement for most, but with some downsides.)

It would remain as future flight credit, not aggregated into a travel bank.

That will not be useful in this case, because the residual amount would still be lost.

Everybody has a most expensive flight that they've taken during some particular period of time, no matter how frequently they fly.

Until they try to change destinations from Hawaii to Florida and find that they're still paying Hawaii prices.

If I'm making a date change, I'm often making a destination change also.