News on Southwest Seat Assignment: What You Need to Know
Big changes are coming to Southwest Airlines, and these will directly impact business travelers.
This week a number of major airlines, including American, Delta, United, and Alaska Airlines, eliminated most change fees for domestic airline tickets (and for some international travel too).
This doesn’t mean it will be completely free to change a ticket. You will still have to pay the difference in the fare if you change to a more expensive itinerary, which is often the case if you’re changing at the last minute. But it does mean that those frustrating and egregious $200 change fees won’t be adding insult to injury anymore.
Here's what else you need to know:
United
United is eliminating change fees for all standard economy and premium tickets.
American
American has announced that change fees are eliminated for travelers flying in first class, business class, or main economy.
But wait, there’s more! American’s no-change-fee policy announcement also came with more good news for travelers. In case you missed it, here are the highlights:
Delta
Change fees are eliminated, excluding basic economy fares.
Alaska
Change fees are eliminated.
And just to make sure we give credit where credit is due, we want to point out that Southwest has never charged change fees (they still don’t).
With change fees going away to a large extent, it might make sense to rethink buying tickets far in advance. Business travelers have often been reluctant to take advantage of the lower fares typically offered weeks or months out, worried that they may need to reschedule at the last minute and incur high fees to do so. Absent change fees, though, means there is much less to lose by buying early. You can lock in a low rate and, if you are able to stick to your schedule, enjoy the savings. On the other hand, if you need to change as the trip approaches, you can still rebook with no penalty and just pay the increase that you would have had to pay anyway if you waited until the last minute to buy.
An added bonus: now those lower-value unused tickets (<$200) you might have are valuable because the exchange penalty doesn't eat them up.
If you end up planning and then have to cancel a business trip entirely, AmTrav will store your unused ticket credits and make it easy for you to purchase your next trip using that credit.
As more airlines continue to make moves and these policies evolve over time, we’re here as a resource for you. As always, if you have any questions or want to learn more about what this means for you, feel free to reach out - we’re here to help.
Big changes are coming to Southwest Airlines, and these will directly impact business travelers.
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