Has anyone ever changed their airline tickets and if so was it expensive?
We purchased three tickets for Florida at the end of this month. Well, unexpectedly my nephew wants to come with us and we are willing to take him. I got online yesterday and there is room for him to fly with us there but we would have to change our whole flight coming back because the one we have already booked is full. Does anyone know how this works? Do I call the airline direct or the website where i purchased the tickets? I have not really looked into this yet just want to get some feedback first. TIA!
thank you. I will call the airline direct. My nephew is 11, i wont let him fly alone and i am sure his parent wont either. thanks for the advice.
UPDATE:
thank you all for the advice. Yes, it was very expensive. I purchased my tickets off of travelocity so i had several different airlines for my arrival and departure.... when the price got to $500.00, I just stopped, because i had initially paid over 1000.00 for three tickets. yikes! Oh well, maybe next time. thanks.
I think SW only charges you the difference in ticket prices. Most other airlines charge the price difference plus $100 per ticket change fee.
Yes, it's expensive. Most airlines charge a change fee plus the cost of the difference in the ticket. If you paid $200 for the ticket, but the ticket on the new flight costs $350, you'll pay $150 plus $100 change fee--per ticket. I like the idea of just changing one adult to fly with your nephew. Also, sometimes it's just easier to get a brand new ticket.
If it's terribly expensive then have one adult fly with the nephew. That way the other tickets won't go up too. It seems it would be easier to buy one ticket home and change one ticket to another flight rather than change 3 tickets and pay extra while buying one ticket home for the boy.
How old is your nephew? It may be more cost-effective to buy him a ticket that leaves at a similar time to/from the same airports and have him fly as an unaccompanied minor. My SD was 14 when we had to do some finagling and she and her older brother flew on a flight that left within half an hour of ours and landed at the same airport later. If he's comfortable, you might see about him flying back on a similar but different flight so you all leave the airport together.
If you do change the tickets, call the airline.
ETA: You could also consider switching just one ticket so that one adult flies with him and one with the other kids. Or you can tell him you're sorry, but it's too expensive to change it now.
ETA: Never go through discounters. In the end you are no better off, especially if you need to change something. Dealing directly with the airline is the best route because you are their customer and they have more leeway with pulling strings to help you when needed.
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It depends on your ticket, how you purchased it and with what airline. Some airlines are easier to deal with than others.
I have 2 tickets I recently purchased from Southwest and we ended up changing the return flight because some family we haven't seen n years is coming in on the day we were to leave. I cost me the difference of the tickets at the time which was about $ 150 total for the 2 tickets.
I made my changes online because that is how I booked the tickets from the start. I work directly the specific airline website and do not go through discounters.
We fly a lot and Southwest is by far the easiest I have dealt with when making changes. We get the fare that can be changed at any time. Even so, with SWAir, if you can't make a flight an let them know ahead of time, they bank the funds in your account and you can use them for any ticket at a later date for anywhere.
Unlike American, the unused tickets can only be used by the same person to the same location within year.
I would call the airline directly to se what your options are. Expect change fees and updated airfare fees.
Good luck
The only time I changed airline tickets was when my father in law died. And there was a small charge for the change. I would advise calling the airlines direct. Sometimes someone has already changed theirs and you may have a spot for nephew.
I depends on the type of tickets you bought, but chances are it's gonna cost you, probably a lot, to change a flight at this point. And if they are non refundable then you won't be able to change them at all.
Call the airline directly, now, and see what can be done.
