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You buy an airline ticket for $300. Three days later, the fare drops to $200. What do you do?

Don’t just grumble about it. Get credit for the difference.

This is actually a semi-secret policy which many travelers, even seasoned ones, don’t know much about. And not every airline does it.

The way it works is simple, in theory: You buy a ticket, and the price for the identical itinerary drops days or weeks later. You contact the airline, either over the phone or via their website, and request the difference. If you are willing to accept vouchers for future travel on that airline, then there is no charge. If you want a cash refund instead, they’ll deduct a fee, usually $100, often wiping out the savings.

When you think about it, it’s kind of amazing that anyone offers this. If you buy a computer in January, and the price drops in March, you don’t call up the dealer and ask for the difference. (Or maybe someone out there does, who knows… but does it work?)

Of course, if you bought a fully-refundable ticket, you can always just refund the earlier ticket and buy a new one at the lower price. But most people are buying restricted tickets. So the airlines that offer this are giving a very nice benefit.

Note also that this is not the same as the “low fare guarantees” that you’ll see on airline websites. Those guarantees apply to a narrow timeframe — usually 24 hours — within which you can get a refund if you find the exact same flights for sale on another site for less money.

Also, the airline won’t call you, begging you to re-fare the ticket. You have to know that the price has dropped. If you see a fare sale advertised, that may be a clue to check the price.

The bigger hurdles are 1) figuring out which airlines allow for re-faring, and 2) finding the actual means to get that refund. They don’t make it easy for you.

As far as I know, in the United States, USAirways and United allow repricing. American, Delta, and Northwest don’t, at least not without imposing hefty fees.

So how does it work? Call the reservations number, and ask to reprice or re-fare the existing itinerary you have. Ask them to check the price, and ask what your options are — cash vs. voucher. That’s it!

You can do it yourself via the web, but it’s fairly hidden. Let’s walk through it, using the United website as an example of how it’s buried.
Let’s assume the fare for your EXACT itinerary has dropped $100 since you bought it. So you go to united.com and click on “my itineraries” in the box on the left. Log in, and the list of itineraries appears. Choose your itinerary and then click the “Change Itinerary” button. Don’t worry, it’s not actually changing anything yet. The itinerary appears. Click on “More options” — a small, subtle link below the list of flights. On the next (similar looking) screen, more buttons appear below the itinerary. And also the text: “You can also check the price of the itinerary.” Click that. If the price is lower, the site will offer a refund in the form of vouchers. Verify your mailing address, and it’s done. Print out the new receipt for your records. If the original price is the best, the site will let you know. Remember, it has to be the EXACT same itinerary, flight for flight.

Three final warnings:
1) If you re-fare, print out the confirmation page, and keep tabs on the mail. If the vouchers don’t show up within 6 weeks, call the airline and ask them to resend them. (I did this last summer, and they doubled the value of the vouchers, as a token of apology.)
2) If you wanted a particular fare booking class, say, because you wanted the flights to qualify for a specific promotion, or because you wanted refundable tickets, you are better off trying to re-fare over the phone. The website option tends to choose the cheapest, most restrictive options for your itinerary.
3) If you have upgrades pending, you may lose them if you use the website. Skip the web. Call it in.

This is a great way to protect yourself against future price fluctuations.

Any other airlines that I’m missing? Let me know.

tags: travel | air travel