FlyerTalk Forums - Are all flight changes really "changes" ?

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Are all flight changes really "changes" ?

I'm booked through United Reservations here in OZ on a trip to US in a couple of weeks. With the demise of Ansett I'm ticketed on Qantas for the BNE-SYD-BNE legs.

When the ticket was booked a few weeks ago Qantas weren't giving up much space to United and consequently I got lousy connections - a 4 hour wait each way.

Now there are plenty of seats available on more reasonable connections but United says that will incur the A$100 change fee as per the ticket rules (VLAU202).

That seems unfair. Their argument was that they have to reissue the ticket but I've travelled on changed domestic legs (both in OZ and US) without changing the ticket before. In fact on this itinerary I've already had a UA flight change from 761 to 1699 and that didn't require a ticket reissue. Heck when Ansett first went under last year they switched me to a QF flight and that didn't need a ticket reissue either.

The SYD RCC is ok but 3.5 hours is a bit much even for me. On the return there ain't no more GoldenWing to retreat to for breakfast :-)

Dont worry about it - Qantas will put you on the earlier flight when you arrive - if you ask nicely. They have been quite flexible of late - I think they just dont want the terminals crowded and will get people out of them as quickly as possible.

I am on a LAX - Mel - Syd and Qantas ticketed me arriving into Mel at 8am and flying to Syd at 9am (leaving from different terminals (one International and one Domestic!). I pointed out the illegal connection and they just said dont worry about it, we will just put you on the next flight you can actually make.

Quote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BrisbanePE:
[snip]
Now there are plenty of seats available on more reasonable connections but United says that will incur the A$100 change fee as per the ticket rules (VLAU202).

[snip]</font>

A$100? That's a bargain (about USD52)!

Mike

Quote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by OzFlyer:
Dont worry about it - Qantas will put you on the earlier flight when you arrive - if you ask nicely.</font>

I'll try that of course (as I've done in the past with Ansett), but it doesn't help for the outbound leg. I really don't fancy the extra couple of hours wait at the start of a trans-pac.

As for A$100 being cheap - well that's relative and not the point. I understand a charge for reissuing a ticket, but no such reissue should be necessary. Why is it ok for UA to change my flights to suit them, but not allow me to change them to suit me?