How can I avoid airline change fees?

[whalewatcher]

We have 4 tickets on Continental for travel to MCO 11/9 to 11/14. Am thinking about staying until 11/17 now. Ticket prices are higher now and change fee is apparently $100 per ticket.

Does anyone have any advice on how to minimize the cost of extending our stay?

 

[Beverly Lynn]

upgrade to an unrestricted coach tkt and then you can make the change. other than that the only other suggestion I can offer is to contact their customer svc dept and plead your case there. But for the most part now many of the carriers are clamping down on changes this is why they jacked the fee up.

 

[Lewisc]

If you wait until there is a schedule change you might have some negotiating room.

 

[joe.hurley]

Follow up on Lewisc's suggestion,

I agree. With five months before travel, I can almost BET that there will be a change of schedule.

When that happens, call and say, "I'm sorry I cannot make the rescheduled flight." (Make up some reason -- a business appointment, whatever.) Once you've said this, they HAVE toreschedule you. And cannot charge you a change fee. The fee is if you reschedule for YOUR convenience. If they have a schedule change, the rescheduing is at THEIR convenience, and they cannot therefore charge you for it.

Once that's the case, they CANNOT limit your choice of when to reschedule it for, even if the next day, the day after tha,t or whatever.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Joe Hurley

who by the way will be there at the same time! 11/9-18

 

[Beckles]

Originally posted by joe.hurley
When that happens, call and say, "I'm sorry I cannot make the rescheduled flight." (Make up some reason -- a business appointment, whatever.) Once you've said this, they HAVE toreschedule you. And cannot charge you a change fee. The fee is if you reschedule for YOUR convenience. If they have a schedule change, the rescheduing is at THEIR convenience, and they cannot therefore charge you for it.

Once that's the case, they CANNOT limit your choice of when to reschedule it for, even if the next day, the day after tha,t or whatever.

I don't believe this is true that they *have* to reschedule you. They can also just refund your money without charging a penalty. I certainly don't think they are obligated to reschedule you to a different day, though they might.

If they don't want to reschedule you to a different day, ask for a refund and buy new tickets (which you can hopefully get for a reasonable price still).

 

[AllanJ]

I think that, in case of their schedule change ...

It is your choice whether you want the replacement flight to be before or after the cancelled flight.

It is their choice as to how much before or how much after. They must specify which before and after flights are closest and then you make your choice.

Other travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm