The Old Refundable Fare Trick
 

I couldn't find this anywhere by searching so here goes:

Does anyone have experience on United (or would Continental be the proper venue since they seem to manage United's bookings now) with

1-buying a refundable fare in advance,
2-cancelling the fare before the flight and
3-immediately replacing it with an el-cheapo non-refundable fare.

Does this work?

The point of the above would be to permit changes to itineraries without change fees. Also, in the event there was no change, wouldn't this open up a sold out flight if you replaced the refundable fare immediately with the non-refundable one? In essence, would the refundable fare hold your place for you when you wanted to go cheap?

Finally, since the refundable fare is so darn expensive, wouldn't this nearly guarantee you an upgrade, so if you had to keep it, it would be worth it in the end?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

A few things:

1. CO isn't managing UA's bookings yet. If you mean the servers, that's very different from fare policies.

2. That full fare ticket refund will not cause a cheap fare to automatically pop up, as the "el-cheapo" class usually has a 3-day advance requirement.

United or Continental bookings are still very much about who you buy from. Prices are generally the same, but many rules and policies vary quite a bit.

What you describe is certainly possible to do. However, there is absolutely no guarantee of a cheap non-refundable fare available close to departure. Cancelling a ticket on a sold out flight doesn't necessarily open up a seat for sale (and even it does, it's going to be very expensive).

Status still trumps fare (on UA, not always the case on CO). So if you're 1P, while it certainly helps, it's not going to change your upgrade rates significantly.

I'd guess for a very large majority of cases it makes more sense to book cheap nonrefundable fares and pay change fees/forfeit tickets, than what you're suggesting.

Just as far as does this work, if a flight is oversold and you decide to cancel your refundable ticket there is no guarantee that UA would open more seats as they may see it as now they have to bump one less passenger. Your plan could work I suppose in the case where you buy a refundable ticket in advance then the day of the flight, if you know you are actually going to take it, you could price check and possibly lock in a lower fare.

I think it makes more sense to book Southwest (or another carrier that does not have change fees) for this scenario.

You'd still have a difference in fare to deal with, of course...

I've done this on occasion...but I cancel the refundable only after I have checked availability and price for the lower fare. I think I have been able to make the cheaper booking - perhaps without entering MP number - before cancelling the other ticket. Don't know whether that's still possible.

I really have no idea who books what on UA but thanks for the comments. I think holding up until three days or so would be the strategy. Although, wouldn't UA know exactly who's holding refundable fares and therefore make a judgement about pricing people out of the switch? Maybe thats guessing too much about revenue management.

I think that the assumption that turning back a refundable fare will open up a cheap fare that isn't there already is a huge mistake, and you will probably end up either with no seat on the plane at all, or paying more for the seat.

It's much more likely that Inventory Management would make another seat available in the same refundable fare class that you booked (Y or B). If there's any price difference for a fare that is booked at the last minute, it's likely to be *more* expensive than the advance fare you purchased.

If you have reasons to buy a refundable ticket (decent fare, company policy, need the flexibility, etc.), you could still check for cheaper fares closer to your travel date. Sometimes they drop quite a bit. I know this isn't what your original question was about, but it's a pretty good strategy for managing your travel needs.

Regarding your question about upgrades -- Status usually is the most important factor. Fare booked usually isn't, unless you manage to get a fare class that includes a "complimentary" upgrade. I haven't seen reports of these on FT recently, so I don't know if UA is offering them now. However, mileage upgrades for Y and B fares are less expensive in miles (and often don't require a copay). If NC or NF space is available at time of booking, you can secure an upgrade immediately.

This all sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me. I wouldn't refer to it as a "trick"... instead I'd call it the "old refundable fare exercise in futility".

How about another trick?

Buying a refundable ticket to score VDBs?

Seems to me that far more can go wrong than right with this strategy.

This is neither "old" nor a "trick." To think that it's a strategy to buy a ticket at a higher price in hopes of buying it cheap at a closer-in date is convoluted at best. IM doesn't work this way; also you've totally overlooked advance purchase requirements for the cheaper, restricted fares.

I have done this in the past, although just cancelled it a few days before departure after I found what I was looking for, though I booked the refundable fare about 3 months in advance

I have question about another kind of "refundable fare tricK". I'm sure that it has been tried and dismissed in the past, but I always wondered about it.

If one has an airline credit card (Chase MP for instance) and you buy an expensive refundable ticket for, say, six months hence. The credit card payment goes through, and at the end of your billing month, Chase passes the miles over to MP. Once that is transferred, it doesn't seem that they can claw it back. You then cancel and refund the ticket, keeping the credit card earned miles.

There must be something in the T&C to stop this, but as far as I can see from a naive point-of-view, as long as your credit limit is big enough, you could score some free miles. If it is wrong, please point out why. Or if this is a loophole that is being exploited that I don't know about, and you want to keep it secret, let me know and I will delete asap.