I want to change a flight date that I booked before the devaluation...will I have to pay the new points rate or just a $ fee for changing dates??
I have a redemption booking on UA with the below itinerary:
29/7/2018 TG601 Hong Kong-Bangkok
29/7/2018 TG491 Bangkok-Auckland
30/7/2018 NZ623 Auckland-Queenstown
9/8/2018 NZ5386 Christchurch-Wellington
10/8/2018 SQ292 Wellington-Canberra
28/8/2018 TG478 Brisbane-Bangkok
29/8/2018 TG600 Bangkok-Hong Kong (wife and son)
TG628 Bankgkok-Hong Kong(daughter and I)
I have been waiting for 2 more J redemption seats to turn up so that I can bring my wife and my son(who is cuurently booked on Y) to J class. Once the seats become available, I shall look to request a change.
As a result, I rang UA office before their enhancement date last month and asked the same question that you asked. I was told that if the change does not involve a change of the booking reference number, then I only have to pay the change fee but not the additional points required under the new scheme. But if the change causes a change of booking reference number, then I shall need to pay both the change fee and the additional miles.
Then I asked what would cause a change of booking reference number, and the lady from UA seems unsure, and asked what scenario am I talking about. I said it would involve a change of booking class on the same flight, or change of dates for the same flights, but will not involve change of origin/destination. I was told that in this case it should not lead to a change of the booking reference number with my mentioned scenario. Obviously I can't be 100% sure the lady was right(as she didn't sound like she was sure and that she may not have experience with the change) and the braintrust of people of this forum should correct me if I am wrong.