From Tom Parsons - It Can Pay To Change Your Ticket
Jul-03-2015

Of the many fees the airlines charge these days, change fees are one of the worst.

Years ago you could make ticket changes at no cost and if your fare went down, you'd get the difference back in a voucher. When these fees were introduced, the airlines started out by charging $25 for changes on non-refundable tickets and prices have increased over the years. Today the legacy airlines typically charge $200 to change a domestic ticket and fees to international destinations can be even higher. Although I am no fan of these fees, there are times when it makes sense to pay the fee and change your ticket.

When you plan a trip abroad, it's common to buy your ticket early. After you purchase your ticket, I suggest continuing to check the fare, because it could go down enough to make it worth changing. A few weeks ago we saw some rock bottom rates on summer and fall fares to Europe in a sale that only lasted 72 hours. This major battle of the airfares included $750 fares from Dallas to Amsterdam, Madrid or Paris and $830 from Dallas to London. Some of these fares were down from $1,700-$1,900, so the difference was $870 and up, which is a huge savings.

Airline change fees can be very expensive and many airlines charge $300 on flights to Europe. While those are hefty fees, it can be worthwhile if the fare goes down significantly. In the example above, the savings after deducting the change fee would be $570 or more, so it is a scenario where it would be well worth making a change to your ticket. Typically you will get the difference back in an airline voucher which can be applied to the cost of a future ticket.

Sometimes a sale is only offered by one airline, but it could be the airline you booked on. We recently saw another quick sale on Delta to multiple cities in Central America for travel August 19 through October 31. The fare from Dallas to Liberia, Costa Rica was $300 roundtrip during the sale. We looked at prices at press time, and the fare averaged $750, so while the savings isn't as dramatic as the Europe itinerary above, you could still get a voucher for $250 if you changed the ticket.

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Posted by Ken at 6:49 PM - Link to this entry  |  Share this entry  |  Print