Have United convert it to ETC so that you can keep the change for future travel. They have been getting difficult about it recently, but you should be able to get it done with this story, just be polite and firm.
Thank you. I just got off the phone with United and spoke with a supervisor. They said they can't even give me a credit for future flight for the difference in fair b/c it was booked through 3rd party. I didn't use the term ETC so do you think it's worth it for me to try again with a different United agent and ask to convert it to ETC?
Future flight credit doesn't keep residual. ETC does. Try Dm'ing on Twitter.
Had a similar story a few months ago. No real way around this. If you find a flight at the same price, you may be able to get united to change it for a $50 rebooking fee, and then you’ll get the residual value.
Should be able to get them to waive the $50 as changes are free now (just you don't want to lose the reservation in case the price jumps while booking, etc).
United keeps telling me they can't touch the OTA ticket.
Thank you everybody. They finally did it for the $50 fee. Of course not thrilled with the fee but at least this way I have flight credit of over $300 per person and the agent claimed that after a few days I can request they convert it to ETC. I hope I can but it would be much easier to used up that way.
Happy things worked out. To me this is one of the downsides of using OTAs. I book directly with the airline if I plan on making changes.