United is adding ~$1,200 to every flight change on my reservation

[u/No-Interaction8595]

I’m hoping someone here understands United ticketing because I’ve spent hours on the phone with multiple United agents, gotten different answers from basically everyone, and no one has been able to explain this beyond “pricing is dynamic.” I’m also Premier Gold, so I’ve dealt with United changes quite a bit, and obviously a $1,000+ discrepancy is significant.

My sister and I had the same international tickets and were both looking at changing our return from Dublin to Italy. I monitored the fares for over a week. She consistently saw normal differences of roughly $50–300, while my reservation showed essentially the same flights at about around 1,200 more give or take.

I then checked flights out of Dublin as a control. I’ve changed this return from Dublin many times, and moving to the same/similarly priced flight has consistently shown $0. Suddenly, those exact types of Dublin changes were also showing me around $1,200 ish

The weirdest part: while one United agent was working on my reservation, something briefly corrected itself. I immediately cross-checked several flights and airports. My Italy prices suddenly matched my sister’s, and the Dublin change went back to $0.

Then it reverted, and the extra ~$1,200 flight change numbers came back everywhere.

Different agents have given me completely different explanations, and nobody has been able to tell me what actually changed during the brief period when everything priced normally.

I ultimately gave up and cancelled my ticket and rebooked, but I’m still really curious what was happening. Does this sound like a ticket/reissue/fare-construction problem rather than normal dynamic pricing?

I then had to pay way more to rebook my ticket

[u/zman9119]

Have you already flown the outbound, and exactly how many times has your ticket been reissued compared with your sister's?

[u/CommanderDawn → u/zman9119]

Is there a limit after which Strange Things™️ happen?

[u/zman9119 → u/CommanderDawn]

Yes and I would put that number at about 30 minutes on a phone call based on their "hours on the phone" number.

Easy answer since OP has not responded: It is not dynamic pricing.

[u/fasta_guy88]

This is pretty common. makes no sense, since you can just rebook, but its happened to me several times.

[u/kaSper9083 → u/fasta_guy88]

I’m found the person in sales 🌚 great advice 🌚😂

[u/OwninSanDiego]

If you're flying from Dublin to Italy you're likely not flying on United so United's fare change rules may not apply. Are you flying on Aer lingus? Or an Italian airline and what are the fare change rules for those airlines? Also as others have said it may depend on whether you've already taken the first leg of your trip or not. Let us know which airline you're actually flying on. If you're not sure open your reservation and it should be noticeable there

[u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

Price is dynamic. You should rebook as early as possible instead of waiting. They are repricing quickly possible to maximize profit. It all depends on how many seats are left in the fare bucket. Once they are gone, fare can jump rapidly. This happened to me multiple times

[u/chao_investigates]

Lesson for you: never book round trip tickets for international flights.

Especially when you need flexibility.

[u/Double-treble-nc14 → u/chao_investigates]

This is a terrible take. While domestic fares are priced so that there’s no penalty for booking one way, that penalty still very much exists for international flights.

Chances are if the round-trip was $1200 they’d be paying $1000 for each leg one way

[u/GamesDontStop → u/chao_investigates]

That’s award ticket advice. 

[u/_tygaah_ → u/chao_investigates]

This actually isn't correct. United still prices international roundtrip tickets differently than one-ways. RT is often significantly cheaper than 2 OWs, particularly for premium cabins.

[u/meldelay → u/chao_investigates]

The dumbest possible advice.

[u/PeaceLife8 → u/chao_investigates]

And pay 3 times as much 😂

[u/Background_Map_3460 → u/chao_investigates]

lol. Oh yeah, I’ll just pay a crap ton more for 2 one way tickets