How To Get Out Of United Change Fee

Ane positive evolution we've seen in the airline industry as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is the emptying of change fees on nearly kinds of tickets. It's not just that airlines temporarily waived change fees, but the major carriers accept "permanently" eliminated modify fees (whatever that means, because aught in life is permanent).

United Airlines was the first major The states airline to announce it would eliminate change fees permanently during the pandemic, but the carrier'southward policy went from awesome to non very competitive within hours. That has finally inverse.

United now issues residual vouchers for changes

The way the no change fee policy works is that if y'all book an eligible ticket and no longer want to travel, you can cancel your itinerary and then apply the value of the ticket towards future travel. To be clear, tickets aren't fully refundable to the original form of payment, merely rather y'all get a voucher towards a future ticket.

Merely at that place has been one major catch with United's policy up until recently — if you rebooked your itinerary and your new flight cost less than the original ane, you lost the fare difference. This was in dissimilarity to the policies at American and Delta, which result rest vouchers when you lot change tickets.

Just to give an example, say you booked a $500 ticket, you canceled it, and then yous wanted to use your credit towards a $200 flying:

At United you could utilize that credit towards the flight, just you'd "lose" $300 in value
At American and Delta you lot could use that credit towards the flying, and then you'd be issued an additional $300 voucher to use towards future travel

Well, United Airlines has finally updated its policy in this regard — United Airlines will at present outcome a voucher if the itinerary you lot rebook on costs less than your original itinerary. In that location are some things to note:

This feature is only bachelor when booking directly with United, and information technology's initially but available through United'due south app and by phone
The voucher is valid for a year from the original date of issue, and is non-transferable

This is crawly news. United was leading the way when it get-go announced plans to eliminate change fees, and ultimately consumers were still coming out ahead compared to the old policy, fifty-fifty when losing remainder value. However, with other airlines having introduced a more generous policy, United was chop-chop pretty uncompetitive.

You now maintain residual value on United vouchers when changing flights

An interesting travel agent twist

Brett Snyder makes an interesting observation regarding United's new alter fee policy. You're only issued a balance voucher if y'all book directly through United, and not if you volume through a travel amanuensis (travel agents can change tickets without a fee, but can't consequence the balance vouchers).

What happens if you lot book through a travel agent? Well, all non-basic United tickets booked through travel agents are refundable for a fee. The fee ranges from $100 to $400, depending on the fare type:

This is potentially major, and for some people may be an incentive to book through a travel agent. To exist clear, nosotros're talking about tickets being legitimately refundable, in the sense that this will be money that's refunded to your credit card, rather than a voucher towards a future ticket.

Why is this useful? For example, say you're a business organization traveler booking a $5,000 business organisation class ticket that isn't refundable for greenbacks. I'one thousand sure many people would rather pay $400 to get cash back in their pocket, rather than a United voucher towards a future flight.

This is a very interesting bending, as it makes almost all United fares refundable to the original form of payment for a fee, rather than just changeable for free.

Now, I should mention that I have no firsthand feel with the implementation of this yet. In other words, I'm not 100% certain if this applies to online travel agencies in the same manner, and if and so, what the process of getting a refund would be like.

Near United tickets booked through travel agents are refundable for a fee

Bottom line

United Airlines has improved its no change fee policy. If y'all cancel a ticket and rebook on a cheaper flight, you'll now exist issued a voucher for the fare difference, which wasn't previously the instance. This is a great evolution, and ultimately was necessary given that American and Delta had this generous policy all along.

What I find as interesting is that tickets booked through travel agents are eligible for cash refunds for a fee. For those who are willing to pay to get greenbacks dorsum rather than a voucher towards future travel, this could show to exist a reason to book through a travel agent.

What do you make of United's adjustments to the no change fee policy?