From Tom Parsons - Changing An Airline Ticket Can Be Costly, But It Doesnt Have To Be
Mar-21-2014

My brother who lives in Atlanta recently had a friend visit from NYC. That friend had paid $138 for his roundtrip ticket from Newark to Atlanta on Delta, which was a super Snooze-You-Lose airfare.

Before that friend even left Newark, he decided to extend his stay by an extra two days. If he called the airline to make the change, he would have to pay a $200 change fee, plus an additional $145 because the ticket price had gone up, so at the end of the day, he would have to pay an additional $345 to change his ticket, when the original ticket was only $138. When you have a non-refundable ticket, you have to pay the change fee, plus the difference in fares to change a ticket.

My brother has heard me talk about air travel since 1982, but he was still outraged at the cost to change the ticket. Since the friend still wanted to keep the same departure flight from Newark to Atlanta, the problem with this ticket was the return. We priced a one-way ticket from Atlanta back to Newark and Delta wanted $398, but on Southwest, a whole new ticket was available for $141, with a connection. This was over $200 cheaper than paying the change fee and fare increase on the original ticket. He threw away the return portion of that original ticket and paid $279 total for the original ticket and the new one-way return ticket.

People ask me all the time about buying open ended tickets when there is a good chance their travel plans will change. An open ended ticket gives you the flexibility to come back anytime you want, without having to pay a penalty. To get that kind of flexibility, you'll have to buy a full fare ticket and instead of paying $300 to fly to New York City on a non-refundable ticket, you could be paying $1,400 to have a fully refundable ticket.

American, Delta, United and US Airways all charge a $200 fee if you have to change or cancel a ticket for a domestic flight. Any airplane ticket on those airlines that's $200 or less is a throw away ticket if you have to change or cancel because it will cost you more than buying a new ticket. You can fly from Dallas to Houston, New Orleans or Corpus Christi for under $200 roundtrip, so if you have to make a change or cancellation, it would cost you more than the ticket value.

If you fly on an international ticket, the price to change the ticket could be even higher, with many airlines charging $300 and some as much as $450, depending on the itinerary. Even the $1,700 roundtrip fares we are seeing to Europe this summer have change fees.

There may be times when it's worth paying the change fee, like if you have a $500 ticket, or if the fare hasn't increased, or increased by much, and a new ticket would cost you more than the change fee and fare increase. You'll definitely want to do the math to decide whether to throw away the ticket and start over.

One thing to note is that you can make a same day change for a much lower fee, as long as your origin and destination remain the same. These fees are $25 to $75, depending on the airline, and you don't have to pay an increase in fares.

There is one airline that doesn't charge a change fee, and will be offering tons of nonstops in and out of Dallas beginning October 13. That airline is Southwest. One thing to remember is that you do have to contact the airline prior to departure to change or cancel your non-refundable ticket, or you will lose 100% of the value of your ticket.
Southwest will let you use the value of the ticket for a future trip as long as you cancel at least 10 minutes in advance. Other airlines also require that you contact them in advance when changing or cancelling.

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