United is permanently getting rid of its $200 fee to change flights for most Economy and premium cabin tickets for flights within the USA. The airline also is dropping its $75 fee to fly stand-by.
The fee changes also applies to flights to and from Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
In some cases, the $200 fee to change a flight has been higher than the price of purchasing a new one-way ticket.
Also, you can change tickets for Basic Economy or international travel issued by December 31, 2020, without change fees.
That is pretty standard for all airlines, in response to the COVID-19 crisis which has caused airline travel to drop.
Simply, airlines are bleeding cash and want you back. Dropping add-on fees is one way to do that.
But don’t hold your breath that checked baggage fees will drop any time soon. According to Upgraded Points, baggage fees are a prime revenue source for U.S. airlines, which collected a record $5.1 billion in charges over the past year.
Flyers uniformly hate flight change fees. United is the first to drop these charges, and we predict American and Delta will follow soon, to keep up with the competition.
Same-day standby
If you want to take an earlier United flight on the same day, you’ll be able to join the standby list for free, departing from anywhere in our network.
If a seat is available, we’ll assign you one before departure.
Same-day changes
MileagePlus® Premier® members have even more flexibility and may be able to confirm a seat on an earlier flight for no cost at all.
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