It would be logical that the one important information needed to change an air ticket is the change penalty penalty. But there are some more aspects, which are important in the case of the flight change. For this reason you should always read the fare rules before buying a flight ticket. They must be visible in the booking engines. For some special fares geared to a local market and sold through wholesalers, the terms and conditions of the fare may be written in the local language, but for the more common published fares, which are under the direct control of the airlines, the rules used to change an air ticket are written in English. In this article I want to discuss some of the key provision, which are used frequently in the fare rules.

Change of Flight Schedule before a Ticket is Issued

As far as I know, no airline imposes a penalty for a change of a flight schedule or a cancellation of a reservation before a ticket is issued. Only in case of a so called “no show”, which means the reservation was not canceled before the flights departure, some airlines charge a penalty to the travel agent, who kept that reservation. We at BestPrice.Travel certainly never charge a penalty before a ticket is issued)

Change of Flight Schedule after a Ticket is Issued

More complicated is the change of a flight reservation if a ticket is already issued. It is rarely possible to change the names passenger in a flight ticket, or even in a reservation before a ticket is issued. In the era of paper tickets this was a security measure to make a flight ticket less attractive to thiefs. And it is a safeguard that prevents a travel agency to block seats on cheap fares in order to sell them later. A name change is a “no, no”. This makes it all important to check the spelling of the names in the reservation before you order your ticket or press the “buy now” button in the booking engine. After the ticket is issued, you may have a chance to cancel it the same day for a small fee. But the next day, full penalties apply without discussion.

The rules used to change an air ticket differentiate between a change before the start of the journey, and a change after you used the first part of your ticket.

Change of the Retur Flight after Reaching Your Flight Destination

A change of the return flight after you reached your destination is straightforward: You change the flight schedule, calculate the fare as if you had this new schedule. You divide the newly calculated fare and the original ticket price by half. Add both together, and you have the new price. Deduct the already paid amount from that new price, and add the change penalty. The result is the bill you get if you a change an air ticket for the return ticket only.

Rerouting

If you want to change not only the time of the return flight, but also the destination of the return flight (e.e. because you started from Frankfurt, but now on the new date for return travel a seat is only available to Munich) you have to consider two provisions in the fare rules: Is an open jaw flight allowed, and is rerouting allowed? if both is allowed, the procedure is the same as in the case of a mere time change. If one of the two, rerouting or open jaw is not allowed in the original fare rules, you may just be not able to change your ticket in that way.
The change of the return flight according to this system is only possible. if you keep the minimum stay provision included in many fare rules.

Change before the Start of the Journey

If you want to change a flight ticket before the start of the journey, the rule of the thump is: The new price is determined at current rates, taking account all rules including advance purchase provisions. The change fee is added to the new price, and the price already paid is applied to the new ticket. You are billed the remaining amount after applying the old fare.

Example:

You booked a flight from Frankfurt to Singapore, and the ticket had to be issued at least 60 days before departure. Now, one week before the originally booked flight, you want to change your air ticket. In this case, you cannot use the old fare any more, even if you want to change the return flight, only. To change an air ticket in such a case, you have to buy a new ticket, and you use the old ticket minus the change penalty to pay for the new ticket. If you want to change the return flight only, you may consider in this case to wait with the change until you reached Singapore. This may be cheaper, but you may run the risk, that after reaching Singapore your desired return flight may be no longer available, because somebody else may have taken the seat.

Changes between the time the ticket is issued and the start of the journey will be considered as a change of an air ticket only if it is not allowed to cancel the ticket, or if the penalty to change an air ticket is lower than the cancellation penalty. In special fares distributed by wholesalers a change before the start of the journey is only in very rare cases allowed. This makes the penalty for cancelling a flight ticket even more important, because you be very well forced to pay that penalty not only in case you stay at home, but also if you need to postpone your flight, or you need to fly a few days earlier.

No Show

This article does not relate to cases, in which somebody does not show up for his flight on time, comes without a needed visa, or forgets his passport. These no show case are governed by a different set of rules outside of the scope of this article

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