Decreasing cost of flights.

[HizMinnie2015]

We bought our flights for our October trip via United flying out of O'Hare Chicago. What are the chances that pricing would decrease? Do I need to watch the flights for that decrease?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Your flight price would have to decrease by at least $200 to make a change worthwhile, because that is the change fee you'd pay per ticket.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I wouldn't worry about the decrease. If they do, it will be minimal at best. I wouldn't even look at prices once I have paid for them.

 

[rwdavis2]

United has very high change fees which makes it not worth even looking. I think the $200 quoted abive is correct.

 

[bumbershoot]

I wouldn't even look at prices once I have paid for them.

Yep. If booking with the majority of airlines, don't even look later on. If booking with Southwest and Alaska (and WestJet I think I read a few days ago?), however, check, because you CAN get credited for price drops with them. But United? Not unless the airfare was tremendously high and a drop might cover the fee.

 

[macraven]

We bought our flights for our October trip via United flying out of O'Hare Chicago. What are the chances that pricing would decrease? Do I need to watch the flights for that decrease?

i think you should occasionally check in september for time changes of your flights instead of price decreases.

i have flown out of ohare to orlando for years.
too many times they have had a time changes on the early morning flights for the period i go in the fall.
(late sept thru mid oct)

i have seen in past years fares dropping in early summer for fall flights.
but, as others have said, the fees involved in changing your reservation, is costly
not worth it.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

Of course, I just put my foot in mouth. We are thinking of going to WDW in July. Wife was checking prices last night and found them out of Detroit for $173/person. Last month they were $230. Maybe they could drop quite a bit by then.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not enough to justify a $200 per ticket change fee, though.

 

[dis_guy]

i think you should occasionally check in september for time changes of your flights instead of price decreases.

This is right on. While I'm fine doing business with and flying on United, they do "change things up" quite a bit, especially if you book very early like we tend to. Usually, it's just flight numbers or small time changes of a couple of minutes here and there but once in a while it a biggie and the earlier you get it fixed, the better your choices.

As an example we had a 9:00 am departure and the flight was dropped to add a 11:55 pm flight to the schedule. We were put on a 6:00 am flight by their system. I called right away and because the change was fairly big they were fine letting us change to the late flight- for the night before. That got us to MCO about 10 hours earlier than our original reservation could have and saved us the cost of a hotel room (we live a couple of hours away from the airport).

Other weird things can happen too, so checking your reservations regularly will be a very good thing. BTW don't expect any notification of changes even if you sign up for email updates. I certainly have never gotten one and neither have most United flyers.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

United has very high change fees which makes it not worth even looking. I think the $200 quoted abive is correct.

I agree that their change fee is outrageous, but it's pretty much the same for most legacy airlines. And this is a domestic ticket change fee; the international ticket change fee can be more than twice this.

 

[bumbershoot]

Of course, I just put my foot in mouth. We are thinking of going to WDW in July. Wife was checking prices last night and found them out of Detroit for $173/person. Last month they were $230. Maybe they could drop quite a bit by then.

But it would have to drop *to* $30 to even meet the change fee, assuming you're talking about a normal airline. That seems unlikely.

If you're thinking of going, I'd buy that ticket...

 

[deedisneydream97]

A few days ago, for the first time ever, I received an e-mail from United informing me of time changes for my October flight. But not a word from them about our upcoming flight in a month...it also had a big change. Continental never did this...United will constantly eliminate my favorite 6:00 p.m. flight home and make it much later or earlier.

I would grab that $173 price too! If you have the United chase master card you can hold your reservation for 24 hours for free and then keep or cancel. Don't like paying the fee for that card, but the free checked bag makes it worth it, along with one pass/year for the United lounge.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

A few days ago, for the first time ever, I received an e-mail from United informing me of time changes for my October flight. But not a word from them about our upcoming flight in a month...it also had a big change. Continental never did this...United will constantly eliminate my favorite 6:00 p.m. flight home and make it much later or earlier.

I would grab that $173 price too! If you have the United chase master card you can hold your reservation for 24 hours for free and then keep or cancel. Don't like paying the fee for that card, but the free checked bag makes it worth it, along with one pass/year for the United lounge.

UA informs you of flight changes on their website when you look at your reservation. Otherwise, I've only been notified of flight changes via email/text within 24 hours of flight time.

If you have a UA Mileage Plus Chase Card, you get two club passes per year (for what that's worth; United lounges are nothing special). You don't get to hold a flight reservation for 24 hours before purchase (although you can put a 3 or 7 day hold on tickets for a fee).

 

[HizMinnie2015]

We aren't changing flights as we are happy with what we have; unless of course United changes them... which then I'll be calling and asking questions. I do not want to be arriving later than what we already are. I was just thinking of getting a credit should prices go down on our current flights or even a refund if it was a big difference.

 

[HizMinnie2015]

This is right on. While I'm fine doing business with and flying on United, they do "change things up" quite a bit, especially if you book very early like we tend to. Usually, it's just flight numbers or small time changes of a couple of minutes here and there but once in a while it a biggie and the earlier you get it fixed, the better your choices.

As an example we had a 9:00 am departure and the flight was dropped to add a 11:55 pm flight to the schedule. We were put on a 6:00 am flight by their system. I called right away and because the change was fairly big they were fine letting us change to the late flight- for the night before. That got us to MCO about 10 hours earlier than our original reservation could have and saved us the cost of a hotel room (we live a couple of hours away from the airport).

If they change us to an earlier flight from the 10:40am flight we are on, I will be estatic! LOL

 

[nacho113]

I was just thinking of getting a credit should prices go down on our current flights or even a refund if it was a big difference.

United does not have a price protection policy. If the price drops, they will NOT give you a credit or refund for the difference.
The only way that a price drop will be of ANY benefit is if it were a HUGE price drop. You can cancel and re-book the lower price but the cancellation/change fee is $200/seat so the price drop would have to be more than $200/seat before you would even save any money.
Save yourself the aggravation and stop checking prices, the chances of a drop of more than $200/seat is pretty much non-existent.

You have your flight booked, now focus on the rest of the details of your vacation. Perhaps you can save some money in different ways. If your renting a car, checking frequently can save money on the rental by cancelling and re-booking when lower prices or discount codes come out, check for discounts on your hotel or resort, look into pre-purchasing attractions tickets or purchasing them as part of the package to save some $$$.

Alternately if you travel with Southwest on a future vacation, then it's in your best interest to check for price drops after you have booked because they WILL give you a credit if you find a new lower price for your flight

 

[deedisneydream97]

This is hidden somewhere on the United website, it is called United's 24-hours flexible booking policy. I took this from their website...although I am not sure you HAVE to be a United credit card holder. The way I am reading it, you can purchase tickets and have a 24 hour time frame to change or cancel. I've done this many times and never had a problem....but that doesn't mean anything. Things change constantly:

United's 24-hour flexible booking policy allows the flexibility to make changes to your reservations within 24 hours of purchasing your ticket, without incurring change fees. This includes canceling your reservation and requesting a 100% refund of the ticket price.

Terms and conditions

• Applies to tickets booked at united.com or with the United Customer Contact Center.
• The 24-hour timeframe begins at the time your ticket is purchased.
• Requests for refunds will be credited back in the original form of payment, with the exception of purchases made with a United Gift Certificate, which will be credited back in the form of electronic travel certificates.
• Group tickets and tickets purchased using Western Union, cash or e-certificates are excluded.
• Reservations that are being held but have not yet been purchased are excluded.
• Any FareLockSM fees paid to hold a reservation will not be refunded.

 

[Gracie09]

OP unless you bought fully refundable tickets, you pretty much pay the price and don't get credit if it goes down (just like you don't have to pay more if it goes up).

 

[dis_guy]

OP unless you bought fully refundable tickets, you pretty much pay the price and don't get credit if it goes down (just like you don't have to pay more if it goes up).

Yup, this is just the way it is with the legacy airlines. You pays your money and you takes your chance! I pride myself on getting the best fare I can and we usually fly with United to MCO but that doesn't always happen.

For our fall trip I watched fares like a hawk and decided what my "trigger" price would be. The fares stayed high for weeks and I feared that was what I was going to have to pay. We are very constrained on our travel dates so we couldn't fly on another day. So one day the fare dipped down a hundred dollars per ticket and I bought them. Sure as anything, the fares came down another hundred a few days after that but it was too late. Then one day, I was checking our reservation for changes and there at the bottom was an offer to upgrade to first class for only a couple hundred more. We often upgrade to Economy + seats because we have a long day's flying (8 hours travel time) to get to Disney, so I did the math and sure enough, we could get the first class upgrade for about the same cost as the E+ seats would cost and get priority boarding, meals, and free checked luggage in the bargain. So at the end of the day we got burned a bit with the higher fares but got first class tickets for about 500 dollars less than a first class regular fare.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

This is hidden somewhere on the United website, it is called United's 24-hours flexible booking policy. I took this from their website...although I am not sure you HAVE to be a United credit card holder. The way I am reading it, you can purchase tickets and have a 24 hour time frame to change or cancel. I've done this many times and never had a problem....but that doesn't mean anything. Things change constantly:

United's 24-hour flexible booking policy allows the flexibility to make changes to your reservations within 24 hours of purchasing your ticket, without incurring change fees. This includes canceling your reservation and requesting a 100% refund of the ticket price....

This is true for every US airline - you can get a complete refund if you cancel your ticket within 24 hours of booking.