We realize that our schedules can change and our travel plans too. We are often lured into the cheap price, but if our plans and circumstances change, this can put you at the bad end of the deal. Unfortunately, some tickets do not allow any changes, even with a fee. In other cases the changes come at a price and in few cases, changes can be made without fees. Before making any flight reservation explore the airline’s or travel agency’s site and check for the fare rules that should be available on their website in order to be prepared in case you need to change or cancel the flight.  This knowledge will help you to prepare yourself well in advance and choose the best option for you. Many airlines and travel agencies offer the option “flexible ticket” that gives you the possibility to change your ticket without penalties, only paying a fare difference.
I will present you some basic knowledge on how to check correctly the fare rules:

1. What should I know before I book the ticket? A ticket change can be a date, routing, name, stopover. You should take it as a rule: before ticket purchase, always check for the fare rules.  The airline or the travel agency must provide you this information. The fare rules can be checked during the booking process and always are attached to the confirmation e-mail. You should check for the category  “PE.PENALTIES” and search for  “Changes”:
– Date change
• permitted:
CHANGES
ANY TIME
CHARGE EUR 50.00 FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION.
It means, that changes are permitted with a penalty of 50 eur.
Except for penalty, there is a fare difference, in case there are no seats in the same booking class and a service fee for ticket re-issuance.
• not permitted:
ANY TIME
CHANGES NOT PERMITTED.
In this case, you are not allowed to make any type of changes and you must travel according to the dates you have booked the ticket, or lose it (in most of the cases, if you cancel the ticket, it is non-refundable)

– Re-routing (change of destination)
• permitted:
CHANGE IS A DATE/ FLIGHT/ ROUTING CHANGE or you can see as well REROUTING PERMITTED ON ‘the name of the airline’ FARES ONLY WITH
In many cases in fare rules, even if nothing is mentioned about rerouting, it is permitted, but this is not a rule. It can happen that really it is not permitted.
For rerouting, you will pay the penalty, the fare difference, as well as the service fee for ticket re-issuance
• not permitted:
Rarely you will see in the fare rules ROUTING NOT PEMITTED. Usually, it is formulated as follows:
REROUTING PERMITTED PROVIDED ORIGIN AND DESTINATION OF THE FARE COMPONENT REMAINS THE SAME
It means that you can change only the stop/ layover, but the country/airport of departure and return should remain the same.

– Stopover (when you would like to make a stop in a country more than 24 hours). Check for the category ”SO.STOPOVERS”
• permitted:
SO.STOPOVERS
UNLIMITED FREE STOPOVERS PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT
For stopover you will pay the penalty, the fare difference, as well as the service fee for ticket re-issuance
• not permitted:
SO.STOPOVERS
NO STOPOVERS PERMITTED

2. When you can change the ticket? It depends on the fare rules. In most of the cases, changes are allowed only before departure, but in other cases you can change the ticket after departure too, paying an additional fee. You should check the following:
– ticket can be changed only before departure:
CHANGES
ANY TIME
CHANGES PERMITTED FOR REISSUE.
NOTE – TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. FLIGHT/DATE CHANGE PERMITTED AT A CHARGE OF EUR 50 UNTIL 24 HOURS BEFORE FLIGHT DEPARTURE.
—-
FLIGHT/DATE CHANGES ARE PERMITTED AT A CHARGE OF EUR 80 FROM 24 HOURS TILL 6 HOURS TO THE SCHEDULED FLIGHT DEPARTURE.
CHARGES ARE APPLICABLE PER DIRECTION.
—-
CHANGES ARE NOT PERMITTED WITHIN 6 HOURS TO THE SCHEDULED FLIGHT DEPARTURE
or you can also see
NEW RESERVATION AND REISSUANCE MUST BE MADE AT
THE SAME TIME PRIOR TO DEPARTURE OF THE
ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FLIGHT.
In the first case, the penalty for ticket re-booking depends on the time you request the change. Any re-booking is not permitted if you request within 6 hours before departure.
In the second case, you can request any time only before the departure. Remember, that all requests should be done prior check-in opening 2-3 hours before departure.

– in case of  no-show
• permitted:
NOTE –
IN CASE OF NO-SHOW ADDITIONAL CHARGE EUR25 MUST BE APPLIED.
or
CHANGE/CANCELLATION/NOSHOW
ANY TIME
PERMITTED WITH NO CHARGE.
or
CHANGES
ANY TIME
CHARGE USD 165.00.
CHARGE USD 415.00 FOR NO-SHOW.
*** GENERAL RULE FOLLOWS ***
NOTE –
NO-SHOW
A PASSENGER FAILS TO CHANGE/CANCEL HIS/HER RESERVATION 3 HOURS PRIOR TO DEPARTURE ANY RE-BOOKING MADE WITHIN 3 HOURS PRIOR TO DEPARTURE OR AFTER DEPARTURE OF FLIGHT AS SHOWN
IN THE E-TICKET WILL BE CONSIDERED AS A NO-SHOW.
• not permitted and only refund is possible (check if you are entitled for refund)
CHANGES NOT PERMITTED IN CASE OF NO-SHOW.
NO-SHOW – as you can see, means not only when you are late for the flight, but if you fail to change your ticket before departure (for some airlines it is 1 hour, 3 hours, for the other 6 hours and 24 hours before departure)

– after departure changes are not permitted: it means in case of no-show, or if you have used the departure (half ticket is flown)
AFTER DEPARTURE
CHANGES NOT PERMITTED.

3. How do I change the ticket? All ticket changes should be performed via the point of sale: travel agency or airline company.  You should contact them via phone, e-mail or online request. Give your booking code (reservation number), or ticket number (13 digits), names of the passengers that want to perform the change, as well as the new travel data. Additionally give them your contact data: telephone number and e-mail address. You will be informed about the fare rules, the additional costs and the payment method.
Some airline companies allow you to make on-line changes. 

4. When a penalty can be waived? (free change)
– in case of  illness
•  permitted:
CHARGES SHALL BE WAIVED FOR MEDICAL REASON
You need to present a medical certificate that states that you are unable to fly.
• not permitted:
CHARGES SHALL NOT BE WAIVED FOR MEDICAL REASON
even if you are ill, ticket can be changed only according to the fare rules

– in case of  death
WAIVED IN CASE OF DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY
MEMBER -DEATH CERTIFICATE REQUIRED
Penalties are waived only in case of death of family member. You will need to present a death certificate.

In both cases, illness or death you will be waived only the penalty. The fare difference, as well as the fee for ticket re-issue,  you should pay in any cases.

5. What should you remember? General rules:
• Tickets may not be exchanged from one airline to another.
• You cannot change the name on an airline ticket or give the ticket to someone else to use (non-transferable). Some airlines allow you to make only name correction. Do not mistake name correction with name change. Additional information regarding name correction as well as policy for each airlines can be found here
• Downgrade is not possible: when you want to change the already purchased ticket to a cheaper one – it is not permitted.
• If you change the travel date and the fare for the new date is lower than the original date, the airline will not refund the amount difference and will not waive the penalty fee.
• If you have a round-trip ticket check both rules for the departure and for the return. In many cases if one of the fare does not allow change (e.g departure) then the restriction applies for the entire journey:
IN CASE OF FARE COMBINATION  CHARGE THE HIGHEST FEE
OF ALL CHANGED FARE  COMPONENTS
• Until a change is completed, all details regarding fees, restrictions, fare difference are not guaranteed and may change at any time without notice.
•  If you bought a ticket via travel agency, the fees and fare rules set by the airline cannot be waived. The travel agencies have no authority to to waive them.
• A round-trip ticket cannot be changed into one way ticket and vice versa. If it is allowed, usually it is very expensive (many times one-way ticket is more expensive than round-trip ticket)
• Most of airlines offer a  re-booking fee discount for child’s ticket. Often, the ticket for infant can be changed without re-booking fee you can see the following fare rules:
CHILD DISCOUNT  APPLIES
INFANT NOT OCCUPYING A SEAT FREE OF CHARGE
or when it is not applied you will see
CHILD DISCOUNT DOES NOT APPLY
INFANT NOT OCCUPYING A SEAT FREE OF CHARGE
or
CHARGE APPLIES BY TRANSACTION – PER PERSON
FOR ADULT / CHILD AND INFANT
it means that no child discount is applied and infant will pay the same fee as adult
CHANGE RULES APPLY PER FARE COMPONENT.
CHARGE APPLIES BY TRANSACTION – PER PERSON
FOR ADULT / CHILD AND INFANT.• In case  there is a major  schedule change operated by the airline, it is considered involuntary re-booking and you will pay no re-booking fee.
• If you have bought a ticket via Travel agency and due to some circumstances you ask the airline to re-book it, the airline cannot reject you and is obliged to change your ticket, even if it is bought via other point of sale.
• Rerouting of the ticket, when it is allowed by the fare rule, is possible only: domestic flight to domestic, international to international and transatlantic to transatlantic. You cannot change international flight to domestic, or transatlantic to international. The same applies to the areas. The world is divided into 3 areas: area 1 – America and surrounding islands; area 2 – Europe, Middle East and Africa; area 3 is Asia-Pacific.