Best fares: Changing ticket will cost you
Most leisure travelers buy nonrefundable tickets when they fly because the fares are cheaper. But if you need to change the tickets, you may have an unpleasant surprise.
If you cancel a nonrefundable flight, you usually will get credit toward a future flight, minus change fees. You’ll also have to pay a difference in fares if the price goes up.
You typically must travel within one year of the original departure date or sometimes the date of issue. Airlines have varying rules on when you must book a new ticket.
On most carriers, you’ll be looking at a change fee of $100 on domestic flights. If you think there’s a good chance you’ll need to change a ticket, book on Southwest because it doesn’t charge change fees. Other cheaper options for change fees are $30 charged by JetBlue, $50 charged by Alaska and Delta, and $60 charged by AirTran and ATA.
Most airlines charge $200 to change international tickets.
I recently had to cancel a flight due to family illness. I was subject to a $100 change fee. Then, on my original departure date, we had major storms and hundreds of flights were canceled, including mine. The airline ended up waiving change fees for those passengers.
What I learned from this experience is that I should wait until the last moment allowed by the airline to cancel a flight. If I had done that on this flight, I would have had the full value of my original ticket to use toward a future flight.
You need to know what the deadline is for canceling a ticket because this varies by airline and itinerary. For example, on many carriers you must cancel a flight before the check-in deadline for the scheduled departure time or your unused ticket will be worthless.
Many airlines charge an additional $10 to $15 when you change tickets by phone or at a ticket office or airport counter. Sometimes you have the option of booking a changed ticket only through a person; be sure to complain if the airline tries to charge for this if you don’t have an online option.
With all of these change fees, you may ask, “Why not buy a refundable ticket?” But when you look at the fare difference between refundable and nonrefundable tickets, you’ll think taking the $100 hit on change fees is well worth it.
For example, we priced flights on American from Dallas to San Francisco for departure May 15 and return May 22. The nonrefundable flight cost $249, while the cheapest refundable flight was $799. From Dallas to London on the same dates, the nonrefundable fare was $789 vs. a refundable fare of $2,177.
Since planes are expected to be packed this summer and cheap fares will be hard to get, you may find yourself buying an expensive ticket. Keep checking fares. If they drop enough, it will be worth paying the change fee.