[Kirstine]

We purchased return tickets as required with Air Canada and we put the return date down as December 2nd as we intended to either cancel or change the date, my other half intends to cancel his return flight (his flight is covered by his employer anyway) and I intended to move mine to February which is when my visa runs out.

Problem is now I was reading the print and it says I will be required to pay the difference if changing the flight date, which I expected anyway but I was pricing return flights today for February and they are coming up as £900...I only paid £460 for my return flight...would I honestly have to pay that much of a difference? If that's the case I can't afford to and it looks like I'll be home for Christmas...gonna call Air Canada later and find out!

[Englishmum]

Originally Posted by Kirstine We purchased return tickets as required with Air Canada and we put the return date down as December 2nd as we intended to either cancel or change the date, my other half intends to cancel his return flight (his flight is covered by his employer anyway) and I intended to move mine to February which is when my visa runs out. Problem is now I was reading the print and it says I will be required to pay the difference if changing the flight date, which I expected anyway but I was pricing return flights today for February and they are coming up as £900...I only paid £460 for my return flight...would I honestly have to pay that much of a difference? If that's the case I can't afford to and it looks like I'll be home for Christmas...gonna call Air Canada later and find out!

I'm trying to think if there is a big event on or around the date you want to travel in Canada or the UK eg. Winter Olympics/Whistler? Half-term? Chinese New Year Airline tickets are sold by supply and demand and most airlines adjust their prices (up and down) 3 times per day.

I reckon if you look again in a day or two the prices will be lower (unless in the scenarios above). Have you tried adjusting your date of travel in Feb by looking at the previous few days or a few days after the day you ideally wanted to fly on (bearing in mind the date of when your visa expires!).

A good tool is on http://www.kayak.com They have a graph where you can see the historical flight prices for certain days of each month and work out the cheapest day to travel on. There is a tutorial in the link below which shows you how to best use kayak and how the graph works:

http://www.get-esta.com/travel-tools...ools-kayak.php

Good Luck!

[The Aviator]

Originally Posted by Kirstine Problem is now I was reading the print and it says I will be required to pay the difference if changing the flight date, which I expected anyway but I was pricing return flights today for February and they are coming up as £900...I only paid £460 for my return flight...would I honestly have to pay that much of a difference? If that's the case I can't afford to and it looks like I'll be home for Christmas...gonna call Air Canada later and find out!

Of course you'd have to pay the difference and possibly a fee for making the change. Lower priced seats for Feb likley won't be around until Dec. If you buy a discounted ticket, the costs of changing are higher. If you want flexibility you would have to buy a full price fare. That's the way it goes. All airlines are the same, many of the budget ones won't let you change at all.

[Ciderman]

Originally Posted by The Aviator Of course you'd have to pay the difference and possibly a fee for making the change. Lower priced seats for Feb likley won't be around until Dec. If you buy a discounted ticket, the costs of changing are higher. If you want flexibility you would have to buy a full price fare. That's the way it goes. All airlines are the same, many of the budget ones won't let you change at all.

We found the same when booking our flights back with BA for December. They charge you a flight change fee plus the difference in flight prices. Amazingly a one way flight is just as expensive as a return ticket.

We ended up booking with the Flight Center as they were $500 cheaper than direct with British Airways.

[Luckyone]

We're in the UK at the moment dealing with a family illness and initially had our return trip booked for mid November. Contacted AC yesterday to change our flights to the end of December. They charged the extra ticket cost, plus $150 each for a total cost of $225 each, ie a grand total of $450 for two of us. It really does depend on the 'rules' of the flight you'd booked and that info. will be on your e-ticket print out.

[Posidrive]

Originally Posted by Ciderman Amazingly a one way flight is just as expensive as a return ticket.

If not more so. For packing up the house, with BA I paid £550 for the Heathrow - Calgary - Heathrow return ticket for myself and £750 each for my wife and son for their single Calgary - Heathrow tickets.