bestbet33

I changed my flights that are all on the same itinerary months ago when my company changed their minds about when they wanted to fly me home. When I called, the agent told me about the standard $150 change fee plus fare difference (about $400). Was not a problem since I can get it reimbursed. I expected the charges to show up on my credit card bill, but they never did. Needless to say I was not surprised when I checked in online and it asked for the $150 change fee. For some reason it would not let me pay it online or at the kiosk at the airport. A ticket agent finally charged it and gave me a receipt plus my boarding pass. Now fast forward to now, I am getting the same message that I need to pay $150 change fee. At first, knowing I never paid my fare difference I just tried to pay it thinking that was it. Again, it did not allow me to pay online. So I called united.com customer service. They said that I never paid the $150 change fee, which I have and have a credit card statement to prove I did. When I asked who I needed to talk to, they said go to the airport. I am afraid that since I am checking in at a little regional airport that only has one United checkin agent employed by Skywest, I am going to run into problems. I will also note that I still have not been charged the $400 fare difference. Anyone know how I can get this settled today rather than at the airport?

GoingAway

You can try web support, but you might need to wait for the airport and they'll override the request somehow at the ticket counter.

mherdeg

A few options:
1) Try Web support @ 1-800-589-5582: "It says I need to pay a change fee, but I already paid a change fee at the ticketing counter at my outbound airport days ago. I am no longer at my outbound airport and cannot visit them, but I have the receipt right here. I haven't changed my ticket since I commenced travel, so obviously I've already paid the change fee. Can you make it so that I can check in?" If you have some free time to kill, this might work, and you can always call and try again.

2) Spend an extra 30 minutes at the airport. With your receipt in hand, explain that it says you need to pay a change fee, but here you have already paid it on the outbound and it must not have registered properly, and can they help?

3) Pay the bogus fee and get a receipt. Then after you fly, call United's customer service line and ask them to transfer you to the "refunds desk". (Is this a real thing? I've definitely talked to a "1K Refunds Desk".)

Describe your problem concisely -- you changed your ticket before travel, paid a $150 change fee before taking the outbound, but for some reason were told you also had to pay another change fee when you began the return segment. You have receipts for both transactions and your e-ticket number is 016xxxxxxxxxx. You would like your fee back. They will probably say "yes" and issue a refund to your credit card.

4) Same as in 3), but they say "no". Dispute the second $150 charge with your credit card company and concisely explain the situation (you were erroneously billed twice for the same change, you asked them to fix it, and they were unresponsive). Easy!

Dinky SAN

Happened to me once: paid the change fee when I called CSR on the phone. At the airport, they asked for the change fee again. I argued that I paid but 1) I didn't have the documentation with me and 2) the airport agent said it's in the manifest that he's to collect another $75 or $150, can't remember. So I had to pay and disputed this later. I was refunded promptly.

bestbet33

Thanks for the replies. Took the advise to play phone roulette and call again. This time the CSR noted that there was a button that said "No Thanks" at the bottom of the screen requesting the $150 fee. I tried that and was able to print out my boarding pass without any fee. Now just wish that the "No Thanks" button always appeared whenever United asks for money.