I just discovered that an aunt is in poor health. I have a flight out of the country (USA-EU) which I booked directly with United Airlines from my home airport (AAA) connecting through (BBB) in the US, returning to my home airport but multi-city on the return flight in Europe. I hoped to fly out from (AAA) to see my aunt in (CCC) and then just change my origin airport from (AAA) to leave from (CCC) to save time. I found a flight which would connect through the same major airport (BBB) at the same time for a 4.5 hour layover, allowing me to catch the same flight out of the country, and join up with my companion at (BBB). That connecting flight (CCC-BBB) should actually cost less than my original booking (AAA-BBB). We also needed to change the title on my companion's name as there should be no title and the online system was not accepting the passport as there is no title on the passport. (titles - Mrs, Miss, Mr, the 3rd, Esq, Dr) In fact, my companion's parent died and everything had to be rebooked to join me out of the country as I went ahead on the original reservation and we returned together. I don't recall this being a huge problem or expense (10 years ago).

The airline split the reservations so I could make changes. For both instances, I was told that we had to rebook the flights and it would cost $700 more. This does not make any sense to me. I feel like "back in the day" it was possible to change the one flight. But I was told that this changes the entire contract of carriage and I have to accept the terms again. I still don't think that the change should involve "rebooking" same flights and same seats only to pay more $ for all of the legs of the flight. The supervisor weakly said it was because I was changing to a multi-city flight & return when I already had a multicity set of flights as our return origin airport was already different. I am also not allowed to reverse skip lag by missing the initial flight and resuming in the connecting airport as I was told that also changes the terms of the contract of carriage and nullifies my entire trip.

TLDR: See title

Why are they increasing the price for something already purchased? It feels wrong - like price gouging. Are they all doing it?

I just discovered that an aunt is in poor health. I have a flight out of the country (USA-EU) which I booked directly with United Airlines from my home airport (AAA) connecting through (BBB) in the US, returning to my home airport but multi-city on the return flight in Europe. I hoped to fly out from (AAA) to see my aunt in (CCC) in the US and then just change my origin airport from (AAA) to leave from (CCC) to save time. I found a flight which would connect through the same major airport (BBB) at the same time for a 4.5 hour layover, allowing me to catch the same flight out of the country to (DDD), and join up with my companion at (BBB). That connecting flight (CCC-BBB) should actually cost less than my original booking (AAA-BBB). We also needed to change the title on my companion's name as there should be no title and the online system was not accepting the passport as there is no title on the passport. (titles - Mrs, Miss, Mr, the 3rd, Esq, Dr) In fact, my companion's parent died and everything had to be rebooked to join me out of the country as I went ahead on the original reservation and we returned together. I don't recall this being a huge problem or expense (10 years ago).

The airline split the reservations so I could make changes. For both instances, I was told that we had to rebook the flights and it would cost $700 more. This does not make any sense to me. I feel like "back in the day" it was possible to change the one flight. But I was told that this changes the entire contract of carriage and I have to accept the terms again. I still don't think that the change should involve "rebooking" same flights and same seats only to pay more $ for all of the legs of the flight. The supervisor weakly said it was because I was changing to a multi-city flight & return when I already had a multicity set of flights as our return origin airport was already different. I am also not allowed to reverse skip lag by missing the initial flight and resuming in the connecting airport as I was told that also changes the terms of the contract of carriage and nullifies my entire trip.

TLDR: See title

Why are they increasing the price for something already purchased? It feels wrong - like price gouging. Are they all doing it?

I just discovered that an aunt is in poor health. I have a flight out of the country (USA-EU) which I booked directly with United Airlines from my home airport (AAA) connecting through (BBB), returning to my home airport but multi-city on the return flight in Europe. I hoped to fly out from (AAA) to see my aunt in (CCC) and then just change my origin airport from (AAA) to leave from (CCC) to save time. I found a flight which would connect through the same major airport (BBB) at the same time for a 4.5 hour layover, allowing me to catch the same flight out of the country, and join up with my companion at (BBB). That connecting flight (CCC-BBB) should actually cost less than my original booking (AAA-BBB). We also needed to change the title on my companion's name as there should be no title and the online system was not accepting the passport as there is no title on the passport. (titles - Mrs, Miss, Mr, the 3rd, Esq, Dr) In fact, my companion's parent died and everything had to be rebooked to join me out of the country as I went ahead on the original reservation and we returned together. I don't recall this being a huge problem or expense (10 years ago).

The airline split the reservations so I could make changes. For both instances, I was told that we had to rebook the flights and it would cost $700 more. This does not make any sense to me. I feel like "back in the day" it was possible to change the one flight. But I was told that this changes the entire contract of carriage and I have to accept the terms again. I still don't think that the change should involve "rebooking" same flights and same seats only to pay more $ for all of the legs of the flight. The supervisor weakly said it was because I was changing to a multi-city flight & return when I already had a multicity set of flights as our return origin airport was already different. I am also not allowed to reverse skip lag by missing the initial flight and resuming in the connecting airport as I was told that also changes the terms of the contract of carriage and nullifies my entire trip.

TLDR: See title

Why are they increasing the price for something already purchased? It feels wrong - like price gouging. Are they all doing it?

I just discovered that an aunt is in poor health. I have a flight out of the country (USA-EU) which I booked directly with United Airlines from my home airport (AAA) connecting through (BBB) in the US, returning to my home airport but multi-city on the return flight in Europe. I hoped to fly out from (AAA) to see my aunt in (CCC) and then just change my origin airport from (AAA) to leave from (CCC) to save time. I found a flight which would connect through the same major airport (BBB) at the same time for a 4.5 hour layover, allowing me to catch the same flight out of the country, and join up with my companion at (BBB). That connecting flight (CCC-BBB) should actually cost less than my original booking (AAA-BBB). We also needed to change the title on my companion's name as there should be no title and the online system was not accepting the passport as there is no title on the passport. (titles - Mrs, Miss, Mr, the 3rd, Esq, Dr) In fact, my companion's parent died and everything had to be rebooked to join me out of the country as I went ahead on the original reservation and we returned together. I don't recall this being a huge problem or expense (10 years ago).

The airline split the reservations so I could make changes. For both instances, I was told that we had to rebook the flights and it would cost $700 more. This does not make any sense to me. I feel like "back in the day" it was possible to change the one flight. But I was told that this changes the entire contract of carriage and I have to accept the terms again. I still don't think that the change should involve "rebooking" same flights and same seats only to pay more $ for all of the legs of the flight. The supervisor weakly said it was because I was changing to a multi-city flight & return when I already had a multicity set of flights as our return origin airport was already different. I am also not allowed to reverse skip lag by missing the initial flight and resuming in the connecting airport as I was told that also changes the terms of the contract of carriage and nullifies my entire trip.

TLDR: See title

Why are they increasing the price for something already purchased? It feels wrong - like price gouging. Are they all doing it?

I just discovered that an aunt is in poor health. I have a flight out of the country (USA-EU) which I booked directly with United Airlines from my home airport (AAA) connecting through (BBB), returning to my home airport but multi-city on the return flight in Europe. I hoped to fly out from (AAA) to see my aunt in (CCC) and then just change my origin airport from (AAA) to leave from the other city (CCC) to save time. I found a flight which would connect through the same major airport (BBB)at the same time, allowing me to catch the same flight out of the country, and join up with my companion at (BBB). That connecting flight (CCC-BBB) should actually cost less than my original booking (AAA-BBB). We also needed to change the title on my companion's name as there should be no title and the online system was not accepting the passport as there is no title on the passport. (titles - Mrs, Miss, Mr, the 3rd, Esq, Dr) In fact, my companion's parent died and everything had to be rebooked to join me out of the country as I went ahead on the original reservation and we returned together. I don't recall this being a huge problem or expense (10 years ago).

The airline split the reservations so I could make changes. For both instances, I was told that we had to rebook the flights and it would cost $700 more. This does not make any sense to me. I feel like "back in the day" it was possible to change the one flight. But I was told that this changes the entire contract of carriage and I have to accept the terms again. I still don't think that the change should involve "rebooking" same flights and same seats only to pay more $ for all of the legs of the flight. The supervisor weakly said it was because I was changing to a multi-city flight & return when I already had a multicity set of flights as our return origin airport was already different. I am also not allowed to reverse skip lag by missing the initial flight and resuming in the connecting airport as I was told that also changes the terms of the contract of carriage and nullifies my entire trip.

TLDR: See title

Why are they increasing the price for something already purchased? It feels wrong - like price gouging. Are they all doing it?

I just discovered that an aunt is in poor health. I have a flight out of the country (USA-EU) which I booked directly with United Airlines from my home airport (AAA) connecting through (BBB), returning to my home airport but multi-city on the return flight in Europe. I hoped to fly out from (AAA) to see my aunt in (CCC) and then just change my origin airport from (AAA) to leave from (CCC) to save time. I found a flight which would connect through the same major airport (BBB) at the same time for a 4.5 hour layover, allowing me to catch the same flight out of the country, and join up with my companion at (BBB). That connecting flight (CCC-BBB) should actually cost less than my original booking (AAA-BBB). We also needed to change the title on my companion's name as there should be no title and the online system was not accepting the passport as there is no title on the passport. (titles - Mrs, Miss, Mr, the 3rd, Esq, Dr) In fact, my companion's parent died and everything had to be rebooked to join me out of the country as I went ahead on the original reservation and we returned together. I don't recall this being a huge problem or expense (10 years ago).

The airline split the reservations so I could make changes. For both instances, I was told that we had to rebook the flights and it would cost $700 more. This does not make any sense to me. I feel like "back in the day" it was possible to change the one flight. But I was told that this changes the entire contract of carriage and I have to accept the terms again. I still don't think that the change should involve "rebooking" same flights and same seats only to pay more $ for all of the legs of the flight. The supervisor weakly said it was because I was changing to a multi-city flight & return when I already had a multicity set of flights as our return origin airport was already different. I am also not allowed to reverse skip lag by missing the initial flight and resuming in the connecting airport as I was told that also changes the terms of the contract of carriage and nullifies my entire trip.

TLDR: See title

Why are they increasing the price for something already purchased? It feels wrong - like price gouging. Are they all doing it?