It’s been a long time since I’ve paid for an airline ticket, I pretty much exclusively travel on miles. But I still try to stay on top of all of the byzantine airline policies on all tickets.
The “friendliest” US airlines have the best price drop policies and they apply with both paid and award tickets:
- Alaska gives a full airfare credit for any price drops at any time.
- Southwest gives a full airfare credit for any price drops at any time.
- JetBlue gives a full airfare credit if the price drops within 5 days of the purchase. After 5 days you will be assessed a $75 fee unless you bought a Blue Flex fare. JetBlue Mosaic members can get a credit at any time with no fees.
Other airlines charge the full change fee for a price drop, which can be $200 or more. That means you’ll only get a credit when there’s a massive price drop.
Of course if you’re within the 24 hour free cancellation period (up to 96 hours on Priceline) you can always just rebook and cancel the old reservation.
Today I learned that United has an unpublished fare drop policy as well. If your fare drops within 30 days of purchase, United will give you a voucher for the difference, less a $50 processing fee. Not all agents know about this policy, so you may need to ask for a manager or HUCA. Some agents will even waive the $50 fee, some agents will require that the amount of the voucher after the fee must be at least $50, and some agents may be willing to give a voucher even if it’s more than 30 days after purchase.
United vouchers can be merged together and used by anyone, so be sure to check the airfare daily after you make a purchase.
I’m guessing that this won’t apply to Basic Economy fares, but if you try it on a basic economy fare let us know how it goes!
Have you ever used United’s 30 day price drop policy?
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48 Comments On "Today I Learned About Another US Airline With An Airfare Price Drop Policy; Roundup Of Airlines That Give Credit When Prices Drop!"
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i had them waive the fee and got credit as a voucher
Awesome!
How did you maintain 1K all these years if you haven’t bought any tickets?
1K, pfffft 😉
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTUYV6_Aher/?taken-by=dansdeals
Yea I know, but what about before that?
How do you get GS without buying tickets?
Care to explain how you maintain status? Using Avis and match? Thank you 🙂
I’d be very interested to know this as well
What’s the big deal. You can get a lifetime Global Services status and keep it even if you don’t fly so much anymore. Just need to fly 4 million lifetime miles on United
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/mileageplus/premier/lifetime.html
I think a paying member can share it.
i have had them cancel and rebook for free because of a price drop
interesting they didn’t offer to just give me a cert
thanks for sharing
You need to ask for the cert under the 30 day policy or else you probably won’t get it.
I still managed to get it but sometimes took a few HUCAs till I got an agent willing to waive the fee
Have to be the exact same booking class?
No.
Hi Dan – If the fare comparison is not the same fare class, do they change the fare class of the existing reservation when they issue the credit?
If you try, let us know 🙂
they do. I got $1000 voucher but my class changed to P
Fly the friendly skies LOL.
Are these only when booked directly with the airline?
Can I use this for my benefit when there aren’t enough tickets. For instance sometimes you will see xxx price only 1 ticket left at this price.
If i book 3 tickets I will pay the higher price.
Can I then call and get the price difference for all 3 tickets?
If you book 3 at the higher price, the lower price will no longer exist.
The right way to do that is to buy the 1 ticket and then buy 2 more.
Dan, if my memory serves me correctly, was the last flight you paid for the first class tickets to Hawaii on the Delta glitch?
Thank you for great info as usual, no other site provide those tips.
Regardless to policies, I had a few incidents where calling and asking nicely worked for both jet blue and delta and the fees have been waved.
It’s always worth asking, but most reps will follow their airline’s policy.
any non-US airlines offer something like this?
Tower Air
Easy jet used to but they dropped it a few months ago. If anyone knows of other non-US airlines, please post.
Air Canada sometimes has fares with a lowest fare guarantee – if you find a lower published fare within 24 hours of buying the ticket, they will refund the difference plus ?50 dollars? The difference must be a significant amount.
Can you get a voucher if you booked by a agency?
If I book united ticket via a sapphire ultimate rewards redemption and then there is a price drop, can I still benefit from that price drop?
flew business domestic with united was not served kosher meal got $250 voucher.
I had the same in the past but was never offered any voucher
How do you follow up on it?
Thanks
Tnx! Just got a refund for my tickets from JetBlue even though I purchased them more than five days ago…
How about booking star alliance trough United?
are elal vouchers transferrable? ty
Is this only if bought thru the United website, or even on Priceline or another travel agency?
You don’t book revenue flights? Hmmm.. How do u keep up your 1k status?! Lol
Expedia has a feature that if you pay 7 dollars (per round trip ticket) at time of booking they will refund you any price drops up until the flight. You have to manually keep checking on their website. I got a refund of 74 dollars for two tickets. Well worth the 14 bucks I paid for the two tickets to do so. I believe it’s called the price match promise or something like that.
Are these vouchers only available when booking with the airline directly or also when using a3rd party site like Expedia or chase travel?
‘and some agents may be willing to give a voucher even if it’s more than 30 days after purchase.” can you explain this comment please? you said you can only get it if the price drops within 30 days anyway so how can I get the price drop coucher if i call united on day number 45 for a price drop that was between day 1- and day 30? how would i know if the price drop happened on day number 35 lets say and now were holding by day nnumber 45?
Dan, you that Alaska matches prices “At any time”. I clicked your link to Alaska’s policy, and it says “Within 24 hours of buying your ticket, find the same flight and itinerary”.
Did they change the policy?
Read their site again.
Does Arkia airlines have this policy?
Thanks for this Article! I bought my United flight 3 days ago after watching the fares stay consistent for the last 3 weeks. Today the flight (international) dropped from $963 to $682. I was able to call and fumble my way through the first reservation agent. She was not aware of the 30 day price change but I asked to talk to a supervisor. She ask me hold so she could talk to a manager and was able to honor the price change. She called it a “downgrade” meaning class of fare (L to K) change that still allowed me to bring bags, pick seats, etc. Agent put me on hold to find the fare to match and the call got dropped. I waited a couple of minutes and called United back. I got a very nice guy that knew everything about “downgrade” price adjustment. He was experienced got me a electronic travel certificate quickly. He even waived the $50 administration fee (I did ask after reading others comments).
Awesome!
HOWEVER, just called to ask them to follow the rule. I booked a flight to Tel Aviv 5 days ago and the fare dropped $200. BUT they only do follow that rule of you bought the ticket on lobby or on the phone with United. If you bought it from a travel agency they won’t do anything for you. Nice deal!
Correction: But they only follow that rule if you bought the ticket on line or on the phone from them.
They just emailed me $117 * 4 credit after taking their $50 * 4 fee. Better than nothing. Lady I spoke to was very helpful but she transferred me to a real turnip head at United. Total bufoon, she said I have to buy four more business class tickets and then call back so they will void out – she said I may lose my original seats! Transferred to the web area and they took care of it but would not budge on the fee.