The price somehow changed when I was processing the payment.
It’s United Airlines website.
The USD price appeared as 2274 USD.
Details are
But once I typed in my Taiwanese credit card billing address, it shows 81844 NTD, which is 2662 USD
Details are
How is this possible? Is this normal?
Prices are demand / market / competition based. Yes, it’s normal, sometimes higher in one denomination, sometimes the other, sometimes higher on US based sites, other times higher on Taiwan based sites.
Is there an option to pay in USD? If not, they are just trying to make more money off you.
Assuming this was after you’d clicked through to “purchase”, which should lock you in at whatever the first price was, show United the screen shots, make a stink, do not back down. I got a free flight once on United because they insisted i had a “non-stop flight”from TPE to SFO when there was actually a stop in Guam to change the crew over and some such (COVID + Taiwan something or other in 2021). I had multiple emails and recorded phone calls that they told me there was no stop. I told them they lied, they offered some measly amount of miles, I told them they lied about the flight path to me multiple times and I demand a full refund. This was after I’d flown 
United probably has something in that triggers a new price when you enter a non-USD credit card. Regardless of your politics, Joe Biden is currently pushing for legislation to block unreasonable fees from being tacked onto purchases. The reasoning behind that was the listed price vs the one you pay goes up by a lot after all the “fees” have been tacked on. This means hotels and airlines are going to be very much on their toes about complaints like yours.
Also, contact the DOT and complain there on top of your United customer service complaint, as they do also manage aviation stuff and are required to get back to you with an answer in some “short” amount of time (your dot complaint =the dot will also get on United’s case)
United has some policy about the price currency matching your credit cards. Sometimes the NTD price is cheaper, sometimes the USD price is cheaper. You can probably call and get them to price match it.
About 3 or 4 years ago I was booking a flight home and the price was cheaper in NTD. I wanted to pay in NTD because of that but the website kept switching it back to USD since my credit card is American. I called the United booking phone number, in Taiwan first and they told me I could only do a bank transfer to pay. I called their US booking number and they were able to price match and take my credit card payment.
I find (with China Airlines (and Cathay when I flew with them)) that the price shown, and charged, depended on the web site and not the country that the CC was issued. So if I bought the ticket from the .tw website, the price shown and charge were in TWD, likewise from the .au site it was AUD.
Kind of. I’m a travel agent by trade.
Generally airline tickets are priced in the currency of the departure city and then converted into the currency of the place of purchase.
All prices are made in NUC and then converted from NUC to the currency of the departure city, if you’re buying the ticket from a place outside of the departure city there will be a second conversion from the departure city currency to the place of purchase currency is made and that’s the price you are presented with.
Also this is how most airlines do things, low cost carriers and some American airlines tend to do things their own way
So if you buy a ticket from say Australia to Taiwan on the Taiwanese website (or travel agent). The website will display a price in NTD but your ticket will have a conversion from AUD-NTD that you might not see. If you were to purchase the same ticket on the Australian website (or Australian travel agent) then there would be no second conversion so the prices may not be the same.
Travel agents CAN force the currency of purchase (this is useful for people booking tickets departing other countries who have credit cards in that country’s currency) but most travel agencies have high turnover so they’re unaware/scared of airline fines and it’s not something that people care about or need very often. This is probably exactly what the united staff did for @cats_meow
The pricing structure of airfare is so complicated, that there are many full time job whose sole job is to determine the price of airfare!
I’d avoid flying United anyways because from what I read it’s probably one of the worst airline out there.
I don’t know the answer to your question (I would expect some difference, but almost 20% higher seems like extortion to me), but did you notice that some of the fees are duplicated and that they differ between the two breakdowns?
For the USD pricing, you have two cases of “September 11th Security Fee” and “U.S. Transportation Tax” and three cases of “U.S. Passenger Facility Charge” (11 items total). For the TWD pricing, you have two cases of “September 11th Security Fee” and “U.S. Transportation Tax” and just one “U.S. Passenger Facility Charge” (9 items total).
Maybe some of these are charged multiple times if you’re transferring in the U.S., but shouldn’t they be the same for both tickets? Your total fees also appear to be lower if paying in TWD (NT$2811 vs. US$100.55 (NT$3100)).
It doesn’t explain the issue, but why is that?
Maybe you could look at some other ticket sites rather than the carrier and see if it’s cheaper?
I would call (You can refund within 24 hours, no fees). That is also high price. I flew from Ontario (from Hawaii to ONT) then to San Francisco to Taipei on United yesterday for about US$625 one way, bought a few hours before in second class.
P.S. food is bad, buy at the airport like my flight attendant seat mate did in SFO Airport.
Compared to Alaska Airlines Hawaiian flights: Black cod
Just don’t fly United. It’s probably one of the worst airlines in the world. No idea why they are still in business.
Well aeroplane was 100% full, even wait list at SFO. They have good IT system to fill the plane.
Profit 25billion+ NT$
There’s a thousand airlines that fly SFO to TPE, ALL OF WHICH are better than United. Maybe United keeps their planes full with IT systems that isn’t established in the 1970s, but fact is they suck and every other airlines treat their customers better.
There’s Eva air, China airline, that are much better, and while they might be slightly more expensive than United, you get what you pay for.
I liked them this time. Price was right and the planes landed at the right places
This is not correct. Tickets can be voided before midnight on the day of issuance without charge but it’s not an entitlement it is a possibility if someone wants to help you. Not within 24 hours, if you booked at 11.59pm and made a mistake, you’re shit out of luck.
The time zone of ‘midnight on day of issuance’ depends on where in the world your ticket was issued.
Personally I enjoy United. The check-in staff have always been top notch for me. Food quality is just ok, but I haven’t flown anyone else to compare it with.
In America you get a full 24 hours from the moment you pay to decide if you want to cancel or make changes.
Nope, 11.59pm
Although airlines must hold a reservation for 24 hours or provide a refund to consumers at their request within 24 hours of making a reservation , airlines are not required to make changes to a ticket free of charge (for example - change your ticket to a different date or correct a misspelled name on the reservation). (USA department of transport)
reservation and ticket are not the same thing. You can make a reservation and not pay for it that must be held for 24 hours. That’s all that your entitled too
So as I said you can cancel your ticket within 24 hours for a refund. But I am wrong about the changes part. You can still just cancel the original ticket for a refund and rebook it with the changes.
No, you can cancel your reservation within 24 hours.
Airlines are not required to offer both a hold and a refund option.* Check your airline’s policy before purchasing a ticket. However, if an airline accepts a reservation without payment, it must allow the consumer to cancel the reservation within 24 hours without penalty. If an airline requires payment with a reservation, it must allow the consumer to cancel the payment and reservation within 24 hours and receive a full refund.
Pretty much all airlines allow making a reservation without payment BUT not on their website. So as they technically offer reservations for 24 hours with guaranteed prices without full payment, if you book and pay in full on their website you are not entitled to a refund within 24 hours. As they do not need to offer both. You can however have the ticket voided by 11.59pm
Welcome to the travel industry, it’s as bureaucratic as Taiwan 
Think of it like a shopping trolley. You put your food (reservation) in the trolley, it’s on hold for you but it’s not yours until you pay.
You swipe your card at the checkout and the food is now yours (ticket)
