Song - does this sound right to you?????

[kimisabella]

I checked the prices for our upcoming trip on song's website, and I saw that our flight coming home from MCO to LGA on 10/7 was reduced from $69 to $59. I thought I saw somewhere that they would credit you the difference, so silly me, I called there and asked about it. I was told that they would have to charge me a $25 fee for each person, even though they weren't changing anything, so it would end up that I would owe them money???? Does this sound right, I kept asking the woman are you sure, but she was adimant in telling me that even though it was the same flight, time, ect.. I would still be charged a $25/fee for each person. Can anyone tell me if this sounds right to them? I know it's only $10/person, but it's the principal of the matter.....Thanks

 

[bicker]

Changing the fare is a change to the reservation, and often warrants imposition of the change fee for discounted fare classes.

 

[kda]

Almost all airlines charge a change fee for everything except full fare tickets, and $25 is very low. Song's policies are described on their website, and are as you were told. When tickets are booked on line, there's usually a link to describe the 'rules' of that ticket.

Southwest is one of the few airlines that don't charge a change fee.

 

[kimisabella]

OK then, I guess I was just a little misinformed. I thought I saw somewhere they would just credit me. It's no big deal, I'm just glad we're going to WDW, I'm not going to complain over $40.00!!

 

[cigar95]

This change happened maybe two years ago. "Free" vouchers used to be the norm, but now it only makes sense if there's a *major* price change.

Most airlines are $50 or $100 for changes, so Song is actually a bargain.

Moral of the story is - from now on, don't buy until you're satisfied with the fare.

 

[magsmom]

Same thing happened to me last week and I posted my situation here

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=877324

When originally booking I was unaware that a fare reduction amounted to a change in the reservation. I don't like this, not one bit.

On top of it, all of the flights that I have booked through Song now have changed - in some cases up to 2 hours.

As I have said, I am spoiled because I usually fly Southwest and have asked for credits with fare reductions in the past, and I have even changed reservation information and have never, ever been charged a change fee.

Because of this, Song has probably lost a repeat customer. That's fine, I am very happy to give my money to Southwest. On top of it, Southwest has now doubled the amount of time for me to obtain my rapid rewards, from 1 year to 2. Who do you think has the better policy?

 

[bicker]

It's hard to say. Only time will tell. Southwest doesn't have the same situations as Delta/Song does. It could that none of the airlines, except for Southwest, have a viable business model, and folks will have to deal with the poor service Southwest provides (no advance booking, more than a few months ahead of time; no seat assignment reservations; no interline agreements to cover schedule interruptions; no international partners; no service to or from several major airports; no business class; no passengers needing oxygen; more draconian "passenger-of-size" policies; no on-board television service; etc.)

Southwest is good for what it is, but all airlines are only good until they do something you don't like, and Southwest does that as much as Song, and both as much as any other airline.

 

[karrit2000]

My experience with Song is hat they will nickel & dime you for every little thing. I've flown them twice & will never ever fly them again. SWA has become much easier for me to deal with and they give you a credit if you are able to rebook a lower fare with them.

 

[MKCP5]

it's southwest that will issue you a credit if this happens. Often if you call customer service they will give you a refund to your credit card instead of a credit. Most other carriers charge a change fee though. SOrry!

 

[pumpkinboy]

As far as I know, Southwest is the ONLY major airline that will allow you to get a credit for a lowered fare without some sort of transaction charge. Most of the old-style airlines had change fees of $100 per ticket, but when they created Song, thay made it $25 on Song, and $50 on Delta. Even JetBlue has a similar change fee ($25 if over the phone, $20 if on-line).

Yeah, it would be nice to get a credit when the price goes down, but then again, none of us is going to offer to pay more when the price goes up.

We have flown Song five times in its 2 1/2 year history (and Delta Express before April 2003), and have two flights booked for coming trips, so clearly it works great for us. I like JetBlue too, but I am used to Song, so we stick with that. I wish all of Delta would go on the Song model. I just paid a $25 per ticket change fee to move my October flight one day later (same price, so no change there, just the fee). It was in the terms of the original ticket, right there for us to read; that didn't stop me from trying to weasel out of it, but in the end we paid it , since that does still give us an extra day in WDW.

Maybe you prefer the Southwest system of charge-free ticket changes but "cattle-call" seating. Others will prefer the Song and JetBlue model of assigned seats, individual entertainment units at each seat, but a fee when you take advantage of lower fares. To each his/her own.

 

[Bunny/2]

We bought our tickets in July for trip in February with Jet Blue. Prices went down this week and we called and got a credit with them and they did not charge us anything for the change. So now we have $150.00 towards our tickets for our next trip.

 

[goofy4tink]

Now that I've flown both SW and Song, I have to say that I'll pay the slight increase in fare with Song. Only 2 weeks ago was I able to grab one of those terrific on-line fares at SW. All other times I have found Song to be cheaper for the flight times I needed. I also didn't like the 'cattle call' seating. And since we are 'nervous nellie fliers' we usually aren't too hungry before a flight. So, we like to be able to eat on the plane. Yes, it costs extra, but I'll pay for that terrific cheese and fruit plate on Song. I like being able to get the seats I want, rather than worry about being in section A, which got me 3 rows behind the wing both flight last week!! And I was about 8 people back in the A line, with my dd. So many families traveling with kids that they took up the front of the plane before anyone else got on. But, you get what you pay for.

Yes, there is a charge for any changes. It says that on all ticketing. I never even think about getting a refund voucher unless the difference in fares is more than $35. As someone else said...I'm not expected to pay more if/when the price goes up. And as far as Song/Delta changing times...sure they do. But, if there is an issue I have other options with Delta/Song. They can put me on a different airline, which SW can't do easily. They fly into more places. Only thing I don't like about Delta/Song is the fact that so many flights stop in Atlanta..yuck. So, I fly non-stop if at all possible. Just my opinion. But after flying SW, I think I'll stick with Song. I love my Music Trivia game, I love being able to track my flight's progress, I love being able to watch the Weather Channel, Animal Planet and such. For that I will pay a little bit extra.

 

[kaytieeldr]

As far as I know, Southwest is the ONLY major airline that will allow you to get a credit for a lowered fare without some sort of transaction charge. Most of the old-style airlines had change fees of $100 per ticket, but when they created Song, thay made it $25 on Song, and $50 on Delta. Even JetBlue has a similar change fee ($25 if over the phone, $20 if on-line[/FONT=Lucida Sans Unicode][/COLOR=DarkOrange]

Actually, Song would originally simply credit you the fare difference at no charge.

Delta/Song has changed a number of its policies, most likely July 26, 2005 (I know that's when they stopped "holding" a fare/reservation for 24 hours as of that date; I'm sure their other disappointing changes were made then too.