If the new flight is priced lower, the customer may change without paying a change fee, and standard fare tickets may be given residual value in the form of a future flight credit.

You can adjust your travel plans without any change fees - including for award tickets - for flights within the U.S., or for international travel originating in the U.S. This applies to most United Economy and all premium cabin tickets. You'll just pay the fare difference if your new flight is more expensive.

Is there a limit on how many changes I can make? No, you can change your flight as many times as you want, but you will be asked to pay a fare difference if the flight you're changing to costs more than your previous itinerary.

Overview of change fees Some airlines charge change fees when you adjust your itinerary. Generally speaking, you'll need to pay a flat fee in addition to the fare difference for moving to a new flight. These fees can vary depending on the airline, destination or even how far in advance you make the change.

1. Change or cancel your ticket within 24 hours of booking. The primary way to avoid paying a change fee on an airplane ticket is to change or cancel the ticket within a day of booking your trip.

You can avoid United checked bag fees by paying more to travel in premium economy, business or first class. Passengers in these cabins receive two free checked bags on domestic flights. Those flying in business or first class have a 70-pound baggage allowance.

Airlines prefer the high change fees for reasons both obvious and less so. The obvious reason is the money. The less obvious reason is that change fees “protect” revenue and help airlines keep their planes as full as possible (achieving “higher load factors,” in the jargon).

The 24-hour rule ensures free cancellations or changes on most flights that: originate in or are going to the US on any airline, not just US-based companies, and. were booked directly with the airline, and. were booked at least seven days in advance.

Ticket Modification

Every major U.S. airline (except Southwest Airlines) typically charges penalty fees to change or cancel an economy fare flight. The fees, however, can vary from as low as $75 on a domestic flight to more than $400 on an international flight.

Of course, if a new flight a passenger wants to book is higher in price than the original, the customer still has to pay the fare difference. No change fees simply means there isn't an extra penalty over and above that fare difference. But what if the fare difference is in a customer's favor?

You can cancel a ticket essentially up until the day of travel, so there's no sense in canceling early and paying a fee. If, for example, there's some unrest in the area or bad weather, the airline may end up canceling your flight altogether and then you can get your money back.