Several airlines have quietly introduced a new rule that allows customers to change a reservation 24 hours after it was made without any penalty. The “24h rule” has been adopted by Flybe, according to the Air Transport Users’ Council (AUC), in response to the latter’s change in ticketing rules.

This rule has already been implemented by companies such as Virgin and Bmi, while British Airways is believed to be more permissive in regard to ticket changes, even though they haven’t updated the terms & conditions on their website. EasyJet and Jet2 already allow their customers to change the dates on their tickets free for 24 hours since booking.

Customers need to be informed to take advantage of this option. You might not see it at first, but upon closer inspection of the terms and conditions you might be able to amend your ticket for free or get a refund.

The AUC launched the campaign in an attempt to help customers that getpenalized for making mistakes while booking. AUC received 415 written complaints in 2008/09, as opposed to 318 last year. Most of them mention complicated booking system that confuse customers or small keyboard errors.

In a report [PDF] issued in June, AUC asked the airlines company to consider the “24 hour” rule when dealing with customer’s complaints. They also published the carriers that have adopted this rule:

• Aer Lingus: Committed to refund duplicate bookings
• British Airways: 24-hour rule as internal policy
• BMI: 24-hour rule under “service commitments”
• Continental Airlines: 24-hour rule under “service commitment”
• Delta Airlines: 24-hour rule under “service commitment”
• BMI: 24-hour rule under “service commitments”
• Continental Airlines: 24-hour rule under “service commitment”
• Delta Airlines: 24-hour rule under “service commitment”
• easyJet: 24-hour rule under “carrier regulations”
• Flybe: 24-hour rule at “airline’s discretion” under terms and conditions
• Jet2: 24 hour rule at “airline’s discretion” under terms and conditions for £40 administration fee
• KLM: 24 hour rule for telephone bookings
• Lufthansa: 24 hour rule for telephone bookings
• United Airlines: 24 hour rule under “service commitment”
• Virgin Atlantic: 24-hour rule under “Customer charter” for administration fee of £30

via timesonline.co.uk