Upgrading ticket question...

[schlepsnort]

We currently have 4 nonrefundable tickets on TED flying from Chicago to MCO at the end of sept.
We also have a few 'things' up in the air that if they land correctly we may have extra money and would like to extend our WDW trip by a day or two. Is it possible to 'upgrade' our plane tickets from non-refundable to refundable so that we can change our flight plans if needed. Right now if I want to make any changes I have to shell out $100 per TICKET and any difference in ticket price.
TIA for any help you may have!

 

[ducklite]

We currently have 4 nonrefundable tickets on TED flying from Chicago to MCO at the end of sept.
We also have a few 'things' up in the air that if they land correctly we may have extra money and would like to extend our WDW trip by a day or two. Is it possible to 'upgrade' our plane tickets from non-refundable to refundable so that we can change our flight plans if needed. Right now if I want to make any changes I have to shell out $100 per TICKET and any difference in ticket price.
TIA for any help you may have!

Refundable tickets generally cost a lot more than $100 more than non-refundable, so even if you can it's not going to save you money in most instances.

Anne

 

[kaytieeldr]

IF you can, you'd have to pay the change fee and any price difference NOW. And what you'd be doing is cancelling your existing tickets (change fee) and upgrading to "lowest refundable" fare (price difference).
If, on the other hand, you haven't bought anything yet, you CAN purchase refundable fare tickets now. There are two levels: economy/lowest refundable and economy/no restrictions.

Sample - Chicago to Orlando, leave 9/30 return 10/7:
- - Economy/lowest refundable: $617.10
- - Economy/lowest available (nonrefundable): $175.90

So right now, it would cost you $441.20 per ticket to change them to refundable tickets. Even if the nonrefundable fare were to double by the time you make your decision, you'd have only saved $10.60 per ticket by making them refundable - and of course the sooner you make your decision, the less chance there is of the fare going up that much.