Change Penalty
If the change occurs before a ticket is issued, the airline will not charge a penalty, although the travel agent working for you may ask for a service fee. If the change occurs after a ticket is issued and you are responsible for the need to change the ticket, a change penalty as specified in the fare rules of the original ticket applies. If the airline is responsible for the need to rebook a flight, no change penalty will apply.
Different Rules for Different Changes
There are different types of changes of a flight reservation and ticket. Important is the time of the change. A flight may be modified
- before departure
- after departure
- after a no show
The scope of the change is also important. There may be a change of the
- flight date
- flight route
A change of the traveler's name is generally not allowed.
Change before Departure
If you change your flight before the departure date, a new ticket will be issued according to prices and rules in place at the day of the change. All conditions for the new fares must be met, including advance purchase requirements, ticketing time limits etc. You will pay the price difference between the old fare and the new fare plus the change penalty specified in the rules of old fare. If there are restrictions in place regarding a refund, the nonrefundable amount of the original fare remains nonrefundable. The last flight of the new ticket must be completed within the maximum stay as specified in the rules of the original ticket.
A change before departure is pretty complicated. For this reason many special airfares carry a rule saying "change before departure not allowed." In this case you need to cancel the original ticket, the fare minus the cancel penalty will be refunded and a new ticket will be purchased.
Change after Departure
If you rebook a flight after starting your journey, the fare rules in place when the original ticket was issued will be used. If you do not change the routing and find a suitable space allowed for the original fare, you pay only the change penalty and a service fee charged by the travel agency or airline help desk for handling the change. If you need to use a more expensive fare for the return flight, or if you want to change the route of the return flight, and the new combination is allowed according to the original fare rules, you will pay the price difference on top of that. The fare for the already used part of the ticket will not be changed.
Change after No Show
If you did not show up for a flight on time, or if you were responsible for the reason preventing you from boarding the plane, and you did not cancel the reservation before the plane started, a no show has happened. Many airlines decline to honor or refund a ticket after a no show. So, if you are stuck in a traffic jam on your way to the airport and you see that you cannot reach the plane, it is important to call the airline and/or your travel agent to cancel the reservation and avoid a no show.
Change Procedure
If there is a need to change a flight, two steps need to be done:
- The reservation needs to be changed.
- The ticket needs to be changed.
Sometimes you will not realize that two steps are done, because the travel agent or customer support representative reissues the ticket immediately after the reservation is changed. Some airlines demand in the fare rules that the ticket must be changed immediately after the flight schedule is modified. If you rebook a flight through the airline website, the ticket will be changed automatically.
Delayed Change of Ticket
Some airlines allow you to change a reservation without immediately changing the ticket. This can be useful if you know that cannot use the return flight as booked, but you are not yet sure when you will fly. Your travel agent could enter a return flight and wait with the change of the ticket until you are sure. But, again, this is not always possible, and there may be a short time limit for adapting the ticket to the new schedule after you rebook a flight.