A good way of save on your airline ticket is to book your flight at least two months before the travel date. This will assure you of the lowest fee possible with few schedule changes.
But this setting is not necessarily true. Sometimes, you will find out that the same flight is actually being sold online in a lower fee. This is not actually a rip-off. There are times that you purchased the second or the third cheapest airfare and after some cancellations, the lowest fare has become available again. It might also be possible that the flight route is not that popular so the price has been changed to entice more travelers.
Unfortunately, the price difference will not be automatically refunded. There are even airlines that don’t offer price refund. American Airlines will downgrade the fare but you will be required to pay $150 for the change.
That means if the price difference in AA flights is no more than $150, it’s not even worth it. Here are other rules in price change in other airlines: reimburse vouchers for price difference with no fee – United, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue. Reimburse vouchers but with fee upon use: Continental Airlines, Delta, US Airways, Northwest. Absolutely no reimbursement if ticket is non-refundable: AirTran, Spirit.