Continental news
 

Got this in e-mail from the airline:


Beginning Aug 17, you will have 24 hours after you book your flight to change your reservation without incurring a fee.


Beginning Aug 17, the fees associated with redeeming or changing your OnePass Rewards will increase.

Good on the first part. That is like UA does now.

Did you just get this email? I know for a fact the first part is not new. I haven't redeemed any of my OnePass Rewards yet so I can't say anything about the 2nd part.
I think the first part was changed a year or so ago. I actually had to do change a reservation once. As long as I had booked the trip while logged on as a OnePass member, I could make the change in that 24-hour period without incurring a fee.

The changes are about Onepass reward travel.

Currently, you can put an award on hold till midnight central time next day. Beginning August 17, you have to get the ticket issued and pay the fees immediately, and have 24 hours to refund. That makes the process identical for buying a revenue ticket - and that was changed over a year ago.

[Tip: There's a workaround. Two words: <b>Western Union</b>]

For the second part, the fees for redepositing miles and to issue a award ticket within 21 days of travel are increasing <b>hugely</b>. Redeposit goes from $35 for silver/gold and $50 for non-elites to $150, which is basically prohibitive in many cases. Currently, no fees for award booked between 15-20 days, in the future, the only ways to avoid paying $75 or more is to book 21 days before travel.

Only Platinum elites (75K EQM/year) are unaffected, still free to do any of above.

And BusinessFirst upgrade co-pays increase by about $50 for each fare class.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...romoCode=A5756

Other fees are going up to. Like cabin pets are now $125 each way, up from $100.

Only good news is that currently, they are not going to charge for first piece of checked bags. At least not yet.

For discussion in length, you can check out this thread on Flyertalk:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=845794

And let me clarify more about my tip above. You don't actually have to use Western Union. The intention is enough... ;)

Ahhhh, thank you for the clarification rkkwan.

Carib, yes, I just get this e-mail, but I can't say if they sent this for the first time. Sorry, normally I don't read them.