When booking tickets for air travel often times the cheapest fares are purchased. Usually this comes with hefty change fees not only from the airline but also from the travel booking company. Sometimes those fees end up greater than the actual price of a new ticket, especially if flying between two cities in a foreign country. But if you end up buying a new ticket without cancelling or changing the original ticket you will be registered as a no-show for the original ticket, and this could risk the rest of your itinerary if you originally booked one comprehensive itinerary involving different legs.

For example, on a recent trip to South Africa booked through Vayama one comprehensive ticket was booked that included round-trip flights from NYC to Johannesburg and Johannesburg to Cape Town, all on South African Airways. After a new meeting with a potential corporate sponsor was arranged we needed to change the timing of Jonathan’s return trip to Johannesburg from Cape Town. Changing the ticket through Vayama before the itinerary began would have cost over $250 per ticket, when the cost of a new one way ticket was only $126. But just buying the new ticket and being a no-show for the original ticket would have cancelled the rest of Jonathan’s itinerary and thus his return flight to New York City.

The solution: Once Jonathan started his itinerary he would be able to change that specific leg at a South African airlines office in South Africa with only a fee of $17. Once an itinerary with an airline begins, the ownership is transferred from the booking company to the airlines, and change fees can be greatly reduced by talking directly to the airline.