Lower fare - any risks
 

Hi. I am flying in a few weeks for a meeting paid for by my company through our travel agency. I was playing with the features on united.com and found that I could get a voucher of 130 dollars due to a lower price in the system for the same flight. Now, I can't miss this flight or I am hosed. If I go ahead with the change in itinerary and they send me the 130 credit for a future flight, do I jeopardize my reservation. I wouldn't mind getting the 130 for a future flight - but only if I will go to my destination. Thanks.

If you desire peace of mind, you should call UA to confirm that you won't screw up your current administration. I've done these type of changes with the resultant credit voucher a least a dozen times with no problems.

Since you have booked thru your company travel agency, they should be able to tell you any difference in the flexibility of the two fares. Since this is company travel, the voucher should go to the company if you go ahead and make the change.

How can you get a credit for a cheaper flight online.

Do you have to go to the change itinerary section, I have always been worried that I might mess up the ticket but I assume at some point it tells you any extra cost and asks for creditcard details prior to changing the ticket?

That's exactly right. You go to the change itinerary, there's a link that says "check the price" or something like that -- it's a link, not a button. You're asked to confirm the details before moving on. You can click cancel or simply close the browser, without doing anything. If you do decide to change the ticket, however, be sure to check the booking class, if you are interested in upgrading.

Same flight/ Same everything
 

Thanks for the response. I've actually checked the on united.com and the fare is that much cheaper for the exact same flight on a lower fare class. My ticket is a restricted fare and since its not an international flight - upgradable fares is not an issue. Actually, when I do the change itinerary link, it states that I will save that amount and would I like a voucher sent to my address and not the travel agency.

Just wanted to know if anyone has done this before? I guess I'll just call united.

i've done the "change itinerary/check for lower price" option on several domestic flights and the process is/was quite simple. i requested the vouchers and now i'm waiting for them to fill up my mailbox (10 out of 11 flights so the mail box will be full. ;)

as a side note regarding the "re-price feature". if the fare goes down a 2nd time, you'll get a "sorry, we can't check..." error message so the only way to have a 2nd voucher issued is to call. just make sure that the 2nd re-price is treated as just that and not a change or they will hit your cc for the $100 change fee. i learned that as 1/10 of my 2nd phone re-prices was done that way by mistake. no big deal as they simply refunded it all back to the cc


hope this helps and btw, the total for all my vouchers is approx $428 so it does pay to check often :)