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Change Fees "Gone For Good"(WW ex-USA,non-BE), credit for lower fare!, Intl&BE waiver

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View Poll Results: What do you think of the recent UA changes in Changes fees?
Good idea: No Domestic Change fee w/ no rebooking residual AND No Standby fee/Free SDC all elites
148
64.35%
Good idea: No Domestic Change fee w/ no rebooking residual but NOT No Standby fee/Free SDC all elite
25
10.87%
Good idea: No Standby fee/Free SDC all elite but NOT No Domestic Change fee w/ no rebooking residual
18
7.83%
Neutral /don’t care about either
30
13.04%
Don’t like / think either is a good idea
9
3.91%
Voters: 230. You may not vote on this poll

Old Aug 30, 2020, 2:32 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: DELee
Latest Update: 23 December 2021:

"Change fees are gone" (change fee waiver): https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html#changefeesaregone
We've permanently gotten rid of change fees for most Economy and premium cabin tickets for travel within the U.S., or between the U.S. and Mexico or the Caribbean. There also won't be change fees for other international travel originating in the U.S. Learn more

For all other standard Economy and premium cabin tickets, change fees are waived through January 31, 2022. Basic Economy tickets can only be changed if they’re issued by December 31, 2021, for travel commencing by December 31, 2021. See terms and conditions
(change fee waiver) Terms and Conditions: https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html#ChangeFeeTerms

Tickets: Applies to standard fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and January 31, 2022, and Basic Economy fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and April 30, 2021, or Basic Economy tickets issued between May 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 for travel commencing between August 11 and December 31, 2021.

Changes/Cancellations: Customers with Basic Economy fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and April 30, 2021, or between May 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 for travel commencing between August 11 and December 31, 2021, or standard fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and January 31, 2022, will be permitted to change without paying a change fee. If the new flight is priced higher, the customer may change for no change fee but must pay the fare difference. If the new flight is priced lower, the customer may change without paying a change fee, and standard fare tickets may be given residual value in the form of a future flight credit. If you purchased your ticket from a third-party agency, please check with the issuing agency for the rules of your ticket. Contract fares such as special bulk fares sold by travel agencies (e.g., opaque) may not be eligible for free changes. Any changes or cancellations must occur prior to ticketed travel date.

Please note: As of August 30, 2020, we no longer have change fees for most Economy and premium cabin tickets for flights within the U.S., or between the U.S. and Mexico or the Caribbean. We also no longer have change fees for international travel originating in the U.S. For more information visit united.com/changefee.

Fare validity: This applies to all standard fare tickets issued through January 31, 2022, all destinations, all points-of-sale, all travel dates available for sale, provided ticket number starts with 016. It also applies to Basic Economy fare tickets issued through April 30, 2021 or Basic Economy tickets issued between May 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 for travel commencing between August 11 and December 31, 2021, all destinations, all points of sale, provided the ticket number starts with 016.

Miscellaneous: Fares, fees, rules and offers are subject to change without notice. Seats are capacity-controlled and may not be available on all flights or days. Some fares are nonrefundable except during the first 24 hours after purchase. Other restrictions may apply.

New fine print (1 April 2021)
  • You can change Basic Economy tickets without change fees if the ticket is issued by April 30, 2021,
  • and all other international travel without change fees if the ticket is issued by May 31, 2021.
  • If the new flight is priced lower, the customer may change without paying a change fee, and may be given residual value in the form of a future flight credit.
Updated 30 Sept 2021
Tickets: Applies to standard fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and December 31, 2021, and Basic Economy fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and April 30, 2021, or Basic Economy tickets issued between May 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 for travel commencing between August 11 and December 31, 2021.

Changes/Cancellations: Customers with Basic Economy fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and April 30, 2021, or between May 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 for travel commencing between August 11 and December 31, 2021, or standard fare tickets issued between March 3, 2020, and December 31, 2021, will be permitted to change without paying a change fee. If the new flight is priced higher, the customer may change for no change fee but must pay the fare difference. If the new flight is priced lower, the customer may change without paying a change fee, and standard fare tickets may be given residual value in the form of a future flight credit. If you purchased your ticket from a third-party agency, please check with the issuing agency for the rules of your ticket. Contract fares such as special bulk fares sold by travel agencies (e.g., opaque) may not be eligible for free changes. Any changes or cancellations must occur prior to ticketed travel date.

Please note: As of August 30, 2020, we no longer have change fees for most Economy and premium cabin tickets for flights within the U.S., or between the U.S. and Mexico or the Caribbean. We also no longer have change fees for international travel originating in the U.S. For more information visit united.com/changefee.

Fare validity: This applies to all standard fare tickets issued through December 31, 2021, all destinations, all points-of-sale, all travel dates available for sale, provided ticket number starts with 016. It also applies to Basic Economy fare tickets issued through April 30, 2021 or Basic Economy tickets issued between May 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 for travel commencing between August 11 and December 31, 2021, all destinations, all points of sale, provided the ticket number starts with 016.

Miscellaneous: Fares, fees, rules and offers are subject to change without notice. Seats are capacity-controlled and may not be available on all flights or days. Some fares are nonrefundable except during the first 24 hours after purchase. Other restrictions may apply.

Originally Posted by spartacusmcfly
I just went through the process on a post-April 1st itinerary and was issued the new FFC vs ETCs. The agent tried to explain the new FFCs in detail:

The Bad:
1. No more ETC
2. No transferability
3. No combinability
4. Given there is no combinability, there is no more date-pushing (meaning new expiration date is most favorable of combined cert dates)

The Good:
5. Can use multiple towards a single itinerary (up to 10 she said)
6. Can pull from multiple accounts (3 from yours, 3 from spouse), so you don't have to split the locator to use from multiple accounts
7. Can be used on partner itineraries as long as one segment is UA
8. The FFCs show up in the account of the recipient and the booker. So I can see my spouse's FFCs if I booked the itenerary
9. FFCs now show up as a payment method in the app booking flow. For multi-passenger FFCs, both passengers show up!

I can live with all this, in exchange for no change fees, and reclaiming residual!
The fine-print on the change rules:
  1. If the new ticket costs less, the residual value from the old ticket is lost
  2. Multiple cancelled reservations cannot be combined to pay for a more expensive ticket
  3. Strictly U.S. and Mexico or the Caribbean only (excludes Canada) and excludes Basic Economy and International flights
    1. Worldwide until Dec 31, 2020
United Airlines Permanently Eliminates Change Fees
Applies to all Economy and Premium cabin tickets for travel within the U.S.;
Airline also announces complimentary standby travel, becomes only U.S. airline that will let all customers in all classes of service fly same-day standby for free
With these new options, United gives more flexibility than any other U.S. carrier when customers' travel plans change
Video(1) Photos(1)

CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The only thing constant is change and at United Airlines, some of the fees associated with changes related to flying are gone for good. The carrier announced today that it is permanently getting rid of change fees on all standard Economy and Premium cabin tickets for travel within the U.S., effective immediately. And starting on January 1, 2021, any United customer can fly standby for free on a flight departing the day of their travel regardless of the type of ticket or class of service, a first among U.S. carriers, while MileagePlus Premier members can confirm a seat on a different flight on the same day with the same departure and arrival cities as their original ticket if a seat in the same ticket fare class is available.

United is also extending its waiver for new tickets issued through December 31, 2020, to permit unlimited changes with no fee. This policy applies to all ticket types issued after March 3, 2020 and is valid for domestic and international travel. With these improvements, no U.S. airline gives their customers more flexibility when booking – and changing – their travel plans than United Airlines.

"Change is inevitable these days – but it's how we respond to it that matters most. When we hear from customers about where we can improve, getting rid of this fee is often the top request," said Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, in a video message to customers. "Following previous tough times, airlines made difficult decisions to survive, sometimes at the expense of customer service. United Airlines won't be following that same playbook as we come out of this crisis. Instead, we're taking a completely different approach – and looking at new ways to serve our customers better."

The new change fee policy applies to all standard Economy and Premium cabin tickets for travel within the U.S. 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and customers will not be limited in the number of times they adjust their flights.

Additionally, United is giving customers more flexibility to change their flights on the day of their travel so they can head home if a meeting ends earlier or enjoy a few more hours on vacation. With the ability to list for same-day standby for free, customers will now have an option to take a different flight with the same origin and destination airports as their original itinerary if space is available at departure. This enhanced option will be available to all customers for travel within the U.S. and to and from international destinations beginning on January 1, 2021. Customers who want to switch flights will be able to add themselves to the standby list through United's award-winning mobile app, on united.com or at the airport no later than 30 minutes prior to departure for domestic flights and one hour before departure on international flights.

The carrier is also improving the travel experience for its MileagePlus members including waiving all redeposit fees on award travel for flights changed or cancelled more than 30 days before departure and allowing all MileagePlus Premier members to confirm a different flight on the day of their travel. As a way to thank MileagePlus Premier members for their loyalty, beginning January 1, 2021, all Premier members will be able to confirm a seat for free on a different flight with the same departure and arrival cities as their original ticket. This expanded option will allow MileagePlus Silver members and above to confirm a new seat in the same ticket fare class if space is available. Earlier this year, United announced that it will extend status for MileagePlus Premier and Global Services members through January 2022. United also reduced thresholds for Premier qualification by 50 percent for each status level, to make reaching an even higher status tier easier.

For more information on United's new flexible travel policies, visit https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...hange-fee.html.

......
Related Threads
AA Eliminates Many Change Fees, Other Benefits 31 Aug 2020
Delta to Eliminate Change Fees on Domestic Tickets [Consolidated Thread]
Alaska Eliminates Change Fees (9/1/2020)

UA will extend BE/International change fee waiver (In response to AA?)
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Change Fees "Gone For Good"(WW ex-USA,non-BE), credit for lower fare!, Intl&BE waiver

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Old Jan 30, 2022, 9:56 am
  #766  
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Originally Posted by eng3
Well one flight is originating outside. The RT itn will originate in the US
If the first segment of RT is originating from the USA+, the entire trip trip, even segments outside the exempt area, are exempt. It is just a problem where the first segment of the PNR starts / originates from outside the exempt area.

Makes purchasing two OWs instead of a RT a problem for some itins -- but that had problems on pricing already.

Originally Posted by SuperFlyBoy
I think it's quite ridiculous that only US-originating itineraries are given this benefit...

Does anyone know why, exactly? ..
Likely a competitive issue -- few non-USA based carriers have gone to no change fees.
Additional this may be to placate *A partners, as not to place pressure on them to waive change fees

Originally Posted by SuperFlyBoy
What if you are buying tix out of USA with a PoS in USA?
The exempt just refers to the departure location of the first segment .

This applies to all standard fare tickets issued through January 31, 2022, all destinations, all points-of-sale, all travel dates available for sale, provided ticket number starts with 016
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Old Feb 2, 2022, 9:46 am
  #767  
 
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Just to clarify, do code-share int'l flights originating in the USA booked via United also qualify for no change fees, or is it only on UA metal? I have two TATL trips I need to book for the summer, and UA options out of LAX are dismal.
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Old Feb 2, 2022, 10:26 am
  #768  
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Originally Posted by downinit
Just to clarify, do code-share int'l flights originating in the USA booked via United also qualify for no change fees, or is it only on UA metal? I have two TATL trips I need to book for the summer, and UA options out of LAX are dismal.
It just need to be booked on UA 016 ticket stock.
One caution if the first flight on the ticket is originating outside the USA (or Caribbean & Mexico) there may be still be change fees. Same for Basic Economy tickets.
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Old Feb 4, 2022, 2:01 pm
  #769  
 
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If I made a booking originating in the US, could I then change it to originating outside the US without change fees? And once I've changed it to outside the US, could I continue to change it without a fee?
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Old Feb 4, 2022, 2:23 pm
  #770  
 
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Originally Posted by nendres
If I made a booking originating in the US, could I then change it to originating outside the US without change fees? And once I've changed it to outside the US, could I continue to change it without a fee?
Once you change a ticket the rules applicable to the new ticket apply. So if you change it from a "no change fee" fare to a "change fee applies" fare, the fact that the original ticket was penalty free is irrelevant
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Old Feb 4, 2022, 5:04 pm
  #771  
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Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
Once you change a ticket the rules applicable to the new ticket apply. So if you change it from a "no change fee" fare to a "change fee applies" fare, the fact that the original ticket was penalty free is irrelevant
I’m guessing the question is ‘what will actually happen’ vs. ‘what the rules say should happen’. And also, not true for everything. If you book a non-refundable fare, and change to a refundable fare, at least the original paid remains non-refundable. So there is the chance that the system may not realize that it is supposed to charge for changes.

I’m not saying that would happen, but saying it’s possible. I’d believe, with a couple of pieces of real-life evidence, that the system might not charge for additional changes, even if the rules say they should. Anyone want to be a guinea pig on this?
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Old Feb 4, 2022, 5:49 pm
  #772  
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Originally Posted by emcampbe
... I’d believe, with a couple of pieces of real-life evidence, that the system might not charge for additional changes, even if the rules say they should. ...
What evidence leads you to believe this ... as the fare rules of the ticket determines the change fee. So, why would that not be enforced?
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Old Feb 4, 2022, 5:56 pm
  #773  
 
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I'm just surprised that United would go back to charging change fees. Especially in Europe and Asia, where travel is well below pre-pandemic levels, who would buy a United ticket that cannot be changed without a fee?
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Old Feb 5, 2022, 12:57 pm
  #774  
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Originally Posted by nendres
I'm just surprised that United would go back to charging change fees. Especially in Europe and Asia, where travel is well below pre-pandemic levels, who would buy a United ticket that cannot be changed without a fee?
No one ever said that UA is smart.

David
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Old Feb 5, 2022, 1:25 pm
  #775  
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
What evidence leads you to believe this ... as the fare rules of the ticket determines the change fee. So, why would that not be enforced?
the system is not always programmed like it should.

Take SDC before the changes this year - UA premiers (Gold+) have this benefit for free. *G don’t - at least as advertised, though in practice, this seemed to be SOP. Upgrade lists are also likely not ordered as advertised all the time - no way for laymen like us to verify 100%, but evidence points to many situations that lead many to appear it’s not.

Like I said, I don’t know that this kind of precedent applies here - just saying that theoretically, the system may not be programmed as the rules are listed. YMMV.
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Old Feb 7, 2022, 2:07 pm
  #776  
 
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If I buy an Air Canada ticket via United, whose change/cancellation policies apply to the ticket, Air Canada's or United's? And does it matter if it's a codeshare, vs a purely Air Canada marketed flight (there's a mix of both available for purchase on routes YVR-LAX)?
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Old Feb 7, 2022, 2:44 pm
  #777  
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Originally Posted by Eurynom0s
If I buy an Air Canada ticket via United, whose change/cancellation policies apply to the ticket, Air Canada's or United's? And does it matter if it's a codeshare, vs a purely Air Canada marketed flight (there's a mix of both available for purchase on routes YVR-LAX)?
If Issued by UA, UA's rules. This a bit interesting as a partner's fare rules may include change fees but UA has been using UA's policy for those situations

Note As YVR-LAX orignates outside UA's no-change fee zone, a newly issued ticket will have change fees
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Old Feb 8, 2022, 9:38 am
  #778  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
If Issued by UA, UA's rules. This a bit interesting as a partner's fare rules may include change fees but UA has been using UA's policy for those situations

Note As YVR-LAX orignates outside UA's no-change fee zone, a newly issued ticket will have change fees
But LAX-YVR or a round trip LAX-YVR-LAX would have no change fees, right? So would the following work the way I'm expecting it to?

1. Book a round trip on United metal using Travel Bank.
2. Immediately modify the booking to LAX-YVR-LAX (step 1 necessary since otherwise you couldn't use Travel Bank to book Air Canada flights directly, but I tested and confirmed a book-and-modify works). This trip is governed by United's rules regardless of whether it's United metal with a United flight number, AC metal with a United codeshare flight number, or AC metal with an AC flight number.
3. A few days before the trip, if I've decided on a different outbound flight, cancel just the outbound LAX-YVR leg and get a refund of that portion of the ticket back to Travel Bank. Or if the event I'm going to winds up not happening, be able to cancel the entire itinerary back to Travel Bank.

Basically I want to lock in the YVR-LAX flight now while it's cheap, but want to retain the flexibility to cancel back to Travel Bank in case the thing I'm going to gets cancelled again; it's already been pushed back from January to July because of COVID restrictions in British Columbia. If it happens I know exactly what YVR-LAX flight I need, and I can guesstimate which LAX-YVR flight I'll want, but may want to book a different LAX-YVR flight, potentially not on a *A airline, depending on when other people are getting in. So I'd want to both 1) be able to cancel without a fee and 2) have it go back to Travel Bank with the 5 year expiration period and not just wind up with a travel credit with a 1 year expiration period, I'd rather just wait and potentially pay a little more later if I'd be getting back travel credit upon cancellation. Especially since who knows if the event winds up getting delayed again.
Eurynom0s is offline  
Old Feb 8, 2022, 9:54 am
  #779  
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Originally Posted by Eurynom0s
But LAX-YVR or a round trip LAX-YVR-LAX would have no change fees, right? ...
Those no
Originally Posted by Eurynom0s
3. A few days before the trip, if I've decided on a different outbound flight, cancel just the outbound LAX-YVR leg and get a refund of that portion of the ticket back to Travel Bank. ...
That would lead to a new ticket with the YVR-LAX (and new cancellations terms) being repriced based on prices at the time of rebooking.

Any "refund" after 24 hours or non a refundable ticket will be a FFC, not travel bank
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WineCountryUA is offline  
Old Feb 8, 2022, 10:43 am
  #780  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
Those no
That would lead to a new ticket with the YVR-LAX (and new cancellations terms) being repriced based on prices at the time of rebooking.

Any "refund" after 24 hours or non a refundable ticket will be a FFC, not travel bank
Oh that's annoying, I would have thought the ticket would just get split and each half of the ticket would retain the original pricing given that the prices do get presented to you in terms of per-leg pricing while booking, I wouldn't have expected a repricing in that scenario. There's no way to do it that doesn't involve repricing the YVR-LAX leg? Moot in this specific situation between the fact that I'm not willing to take a FFC instead of a Travel Bank refund and if there's truly no way to avoid the repricing, but that's an unexpected gotcha so good to know how that works for the future.
Eurynom0s is offline  


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