Well that didn’t take long…As expected, United Airlines will join American Airlines and Delta Air Lines in extending its global travel waiver and permanently eliminating change fees on most international flights originating in the United States.
United Airlines Confirms It Is Eliminating Change Fees On Most International Tickets Originating In The USA
United sent me the following statement this morning:
Recognizing that flexibility is more important to our customers than ever, United was the first legacy airline to announce it would permanently eliminate change fees – a policy that included Basic Economy and International tickets booked through the end of this year. Today, we’re pleased to announce two important changes to this policy. First, we’re extending this policy to include Basic Economy tickets purchased through March 31, 2021. Second, this policy will also apply to all international tickets purchased in the United States moving forward.
The last sentence is a bit ambiguous, but a spokesperson clarified that after March 31, 2021 the change fee waiver applies to all international itineraries which originate in the United States.
American + Delta Will Offer A More Generous Policy Than United
It’s not that United’s elimination of change fees is not generous. Quite the contrary, it is a huge improvement over the last two decades. But it is worth noting that American and Delta offer a more generous policy. Both American and Delta will not only waive the change fee, but offer residual credit in the form of a travel voucher if your new itinerary is cheaper than the old one. United, on the other hand, considers a cheaper ticket an even exchange and does not offer any credit for the difference.
A spokesperson confirmed that this policy is not changing:
We don’t have any changes to the residual policy to announce at the immediate moment.
American’s international change fee elimination also applies to all of North and South America, not just the United States.
No Change Fees On Any United Ticket Through March 31, 2021
United also extended its global change fee waiver to cover all tickets issued on or before March 21, 2021. Any ticket you buy, no matter the origin or fare class, can be changed without fee. That explicitly includes basic economy tickets.
Reminder: Tickets Must Be Issued By United
While other airlines are free to set their own change fee polices, this fee waiver policy applies only to tickets issued by United (on 016 stock). That means, for example, if you buy a United ticket on Air Canada, you won’t necessarily enjoy the same flexibility.
CONCLUSION
It took United Airlines just hours to match Delta Air Lines, which itself matched American Airlines in eliminating international change fees. Of the Big 3 U.S. legacy carriers, American offers the most generous policy while United offers the least generous. Keep in mind, at least for now, that if your new fare is cheaper on United, you will eat the difference. Nevertheless, it is great to see United match and U.S. carriers move toward the elimination of more change fees that were never commensurate with actual expense in the first place.
image: United
What if the ticket is bought via UA but includes a segment on another carrier like for LH or BR?
Waiting for a reply on United on this. I asked them this earlier and they said they would get back to me. I’ll update the post once I have this info.
And what about the fees to redeposit miles if you cancel/change award flights?
Nice – they retroactively applied this to a flight credit for an int’l flight I had made back in Jan 2020 and cancelled in March 2020. And I have until Jan 2022 to use it…
“No Change Fees On Any United Ticket Through March 31, 2021
United also extended its global change fee waiver to cover all tickets issued on or before March 21, 2021”
Which date is it? March 21 or 31?
I’m planning to book away from United because they won’t offer residual credit for changes and because of their partner PQP cap.
LOL!!! What did I say on your previous post? United is simply a pathetic company. They should fire all their top executives and just hire interns and say “just copy whatever Delta does.”
I live on Guam we have no choice but to fly United. Does this new policy on International include Guam? The domestic one – except Guam-. When you are on the plane to Hawaii they act like its domestic- have pay for food. Upgrades- then its considered International.
I know, United takes full advantage of its monopoly on the route. I was really hoping Delta would ramp up service there. But you won’t face any more change fees unless you buy a Basic Economy ticket.