Travelers are back, so are change fees

Last Saturday, Alaska, Delta and United ended their flexible travel waivers, introduced during the pandemic, reimposing change fees and other restrictions on basic economy fares. American  had already done so a month earlier. JetBlue is holding on a bit longer, but will end its flexibility on May 31.

The airlines had waived the fees starting last spring when passenger numbers tanked and almost no one was willing to buy a ticket without assurance that they would not lose if coronavirus or travel restrictions forced a change.

In the course of the year, all the major airlines permanently dropped change fees and a number of other restrictions permanently, except for basic economy. One other U.S. major, Southwest, has never had change fees.