Avoid United’s Close-In Fee’s when booking travel using miles
I wanted to book a one-way ticket using Miles – but United was charging me $30.60 and that’s because I was booking for travel within 21 days. I thought that was a bit excessive if you’re only using 10,000 miles (~$100). So while searching for the fees, I found a website the provided a work around, MilesValue.com.
- According to United’s policy, if you book within 21 days, you’re subject to a $75 charge (which may be reduced or eliminated based on status, my fee was $25).
- United, along with other airlines also allow you to change or cancel your flight within 24 hours without penalty.
My initial search resulted in my airfare costing 10K miles + $30.60 as displayed below.
Breakdown, Close-in Booking Fee of $25.00 <– less than 21 days to departure.
As I stated, United gives you 24 hours to change or cancel your ticket. So I decided to change my search to a few weeks later
I booked the flight. Got the confirmation email, then went back into my United account, selected to revise my flight.
I searched for the original flight (Oct 6th) and swapped my flights without it prompting me to pay the close-in fee.
RESULT: SUCCESS
Receipt below:
This isn’t a trick I accidentally came across when booking my flight; but credit goes to MilesValue who found the work around.
