How to Avoid the Increase in Airline Change Fees

United was the first in line to increase its change fee from $150 to $200 on a domestic ticket and from $250 to $300 on most international tickets.  US Airways quickly followed suit, followed by Delta.  American Airlines has now jumped on board by increasing its domestic change fee to $200, which includes flights within North America and the Caribbean.  American has not, however, increased its change fee for flights to/from Latin America, Europe or Asia.   Additionally, American recently created a three tier category called “Choice Fares.”  Under this program, passengers can avoid paying a change fee by booking a Choice Essential or Choice Plus Fare.

Consumers may feel powerless to stop this practice of price gouging in an industry that is largely deregulated.  However, one step consumers can take is to patronize domestic airlines that have less expensive, or no, change fees, these include:

• Alaska Airlines ($75 change fee if made online, $100 if made at the airport or via telephone).
• Frontier ($0 change fee).  A discussion on how to avoid other recently implemented fees can be found here.
• JetBlue ($50-$100).
• Southwest (No fee to change the ticket, but you will still pay the cost of any fare differential).
• Virgin America ($25-50 for same day travel if change is made at the airport, otherwise $100).

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