Change Fees and Fare Differences

The change fee

This is a charge for the act of changing, set by the fare rules. It may be a fixed amount, it may vary by route, and on many fares it no longer exists.

Where it does exist, it is often lower for changes made well in advance than for changes made close to departure.

The fare difference

This is the gap between what you originally paid and what the new flight costs when you make the change. It is the part people underestimate.

If your original ticket was bought cheaply months ago and you are moving to a peak date next week, the difference can easily exceed the original ticket price. That is not a penalty, it is simply the current price of the new flight.

What happens if the new flight is cheaper

Policies differ. Some airlines return the difference as a credit, some keep it, and very few return it as money. Ask before assuming a cheaper flight means a partial refund.

This is one reason it is worth checking several candidate dates: you may find one that is genuinely lower cost overall.

• Ask for the fee and the difference as separate numbers
• Check whether taxes change with the new routing
• Confirm what happens if the new fare is lower
• Recheck baggage, because it can differ between fares

Ways to keep the total lower

Change early rather than late, since both components tend to grow closer to departure. Be flexible on the day of the week. And consider a nearby airport where ground transport is straightforward.

If you are changing several passengers, ask whether the difference applies per passenger, because it usually does and the total can be surprising.

When it is worth not changing

Occasionally the cost of a change approaches the cost of a new one way ticket. In that case it is worth pricing both, and asking what happens to the unused ticket if you leave it.

That is not always the better option, but it is a comparison worth making rather than assuming a change is the only route.