United Flight Change Policy: United Airlines will allow you to change certain eligible flights but if your fare is not unrestricted you will be forced to pay a fee that will depend on your route. If you decide to change your flight on your own, you can do this in two ways:
- Go to the United Airlines official website and click on “My Trips” to find the flight you wish to change.
- Click on “Change flight.” When you decide on what you want to change about your reservation, you can search for new flights.
- Here, you’ll find information on the differences in fare and if you’ll have to pay a change fee.
- You can also do this via United’s mobile app. When you find your flight, tap on “Change flight.”
If your ticket might not be eligible to be changed, and if you try to change it, you’ll receive a message telling you that you can’t do this. The tickets that can’t be changed after you book them are the Basic Economy ones.
These are the cheapest tickets available. You can only cancel them in accordance with the 24-hour policy. For domestic flights, you will likely be paying about $200 for the United Airlines flight change, and for some United international flights change you could be paying up to $400.
United Airlines Customer service phone number to change or cancel your reservations
If you have any questions about pursuing a refund or a change fee then you can reach out to United Airlines customer service — their phone number is 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) or (833) 213-8767.
United’s same-day flight change rules
United Airlines Same-day policy changes are breathtakingly short by airfare-rule standards. The key things to know are:
- You and everyone on your reservation must be traveling on a domestic/international Flight ticket (with a number starting “016”) on a United or United Express aircraft (although on my last international flight, United’s app offered alternate UA-metal flights to get me to the same connection to a Brussels Airlines flight).
- The policy includes award tickets but not basic economy fares or certain bulk, group and consolidator tickets.
- You can request a same-day change starting 24 hours before your scheduled departure. You can change to a flight departing the day before or day after your original flight, so long as it’s leaving within 24 hours from the time your request is made.
- Origin and destination airports must remain the same, but you can add or remove a connection. Unlike Delta, co-terminal swaps (i.e., switching from a flight out of Newark to a flight out of LaGuardia) are not allowed.
- You can same-day change if you checked bags so long as the change is completed at least 60 minutes before your new flight’s departure.
- Those rules already grant more choices than American (which yokes you to the original routing) and Delta (which doesn’t let you drop a connection and limits same-day changes to flights within the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada).
How to Cancel a Flight on United Airlines Flight
- Step 1: Log into your account on United’s Airlines homepage and select “My Trips.”
- Step 2: Once you’ve selected the trip you want to cancel, select “Cancel Booking.”
- Step 3: The next screen will ask you to confirm that you want to cancel your booking. After you click “confirm” then your booking will officially be canceled, and you’ll receive an eCredit for any remaining funds after any potential cancellation fees.
United Airlines Cancellation Fee
United Airlines cancellation fee are pretty much the same as change fees. If you cancel any flight within the flexible booking time, you’ll get a full refund. If this grace period is over, and you want to cancel your flight, there’s another thing to worry about aside from fees — the type of your ticket.
- For Refundable Ticket: Domestic Flight (No fee), International Flight (No fee)
- Business Economy: Domestic Flight (Not permitted), International Flight (Not permitted)
- Nonrefundable Ticket: Domestic Flight (Around $200), International Flight (Around $400)
Check How United Airlines Same Day Flight Change works:
- The itinerary must be operated by United or United Express®, and the ticket number must begin with 016.
- The same-day flight change option will be available within 24 hours before your originally scheduled flight. The requested flight must be departing within 24 hours from the time the request is made and can include any fare class, though you may be required to pay the difference in fare. Changes must be made prior to your original scheduled flight.
- When the original ticketed fare class is available on the requested flight within 24 hours of departure, the same-day flight change fee (instead of the change fee stated in the fare rules) will apply.
- When the original ticketed fare class is not available on the requested flight within 24 hours of departure, the same-day flight change fee (instead of the change fee stated in the fare rules) will apply, as well as any additional payments or refunds for the difference in fare.
- You may stand by if seats are not available in the purchased fare class. In these cases, the same-day change fee will apply, but will not be charged unless you are assigned a seat on your alternate flight. Changes in routing are not allowed when standing by. Standby may be requested on the day of departure at an airport kiosk or with a United representative at the airport. Once you are added to the flight standby list, you can check your real-time standby status at united.com/flightstatus or on your mobile device at mobile.united.com/info.
- Upgraded tickets will be automatically added to the upgrade standby list at your applicable upgrade priority. Once you are added to the upgrade standby list, you can check your real-time upgrade status at united.com/flightstatus or on your mobile device at mobile.united.com/info.
- Changes are only available for the exact origin and destination airport. Connection points may be changed provided the new routing is permitted by the fare purchased..
