You might be asking, “What are fare rules?” Fare rules are the binding agreement between the consumer and the airline. Often, airlines count on people not reading and just agreeing to the airline rules, trusting that the airline has the consumer’s best interest at heart. Fare rules determine whether the airline will allow the consumer to make changes if there are penalties in those circumstances, and what (if anything) the consumer receives in compensation in the event of cancellation.

No Changes Allowed: If there is one thing I could tell every single traveler, it is this: be sure that you can make
voluntary changes to your airfare whenever you want, as many times as you want. There are, in my industry, tickets that are sold at much, much lower fees, BUT, the consumer is not allowed to make changes, and, must take the trip as booked – no matter what. In my line of work, we call these “use them or lose them tickets” and if the consumer can’t make the trip, they are out the money – the airline does not care and will not reimburse. As a former travel agent, I beg you: please do not pick these tickets, no matter how cheap they are.

Changes with Penalties: In a world that is moving past COVID-19, consumers are traveling more. Naturally, airlines are becoming much more strict with their change fees, rarely waving them anymore. If the consumer chooses a ticket that allows changes with a penalty, then the consumer pays a fee, and, for the difference in the fare.

For example:
Let’s say consumers purchased their tickets for $150.00. The price of the tickets they want to change to as of the date of the change: $250.00, and the fee to change is $50, it’ll look something like this:
New Tickets: $250
Originally Paid: $150
Difference: $100
Change Fee: $ 50
Consumer pays $150 per ticket for the change.

Changes without Penalties: These tend to be the most common fares, and in these instances, if the consumer makes a voluntary change to their tickets, they are paying the difference in the fare without the change fee. So, in the example above, they’d pay $100.00. No matter what price/caliber of ticket you buy, if you as the consumer change that ticket, plan on paying the difference in the fare. It’ll look a bit like this:
New Tickets: $250
Originally Paid: $150
No change fee
Consumer pays $100.00 per ticket in the difference of the fare.

Nonrefundable Cancellation: Nonrefundable in case of cancellation tends to be the most common form of airline tickets available. As long as you can make changes to the air (see above) if you need to cancel your flight, you want to verify how long your ticket validity is. Ticket validity is the time you have to use that ticket credit.
When booking tickets like this, be sure that the penalty won’t take up the majority of what you paid, in the event you want your money back. Cancellations, Refundable no Penalty: If you can afford them, these are ideal; the consumer gets their money back if they have to cancel, and they don’t have to pay a fee to do so. The catch? These tickets are much higher than their non-refundable brethren. When making changes to these, be sure to rebook refundable, otherwise, the tickets will be converted to non-refundable (see above).
Fare rules are complicated, and might seem intimidating. But, if you know what to look for, and what questions to ask, you can try to set yourself up for success in case of unforeseen circumstances later in your travel. Booking airfare can be daunting; the tickets are expensive and may have hidden fees and conditions.