Up until now, Continental OnePass charged an upgrade service fee between $100 and $500 for BusinessFirst upgrades. The co-pay was nonrefundable and members who didn’t use the upgrade because they changed theit flight or had to cancel a trip were out of luck. FlyerTalk members were vocal about expressing their frustration with the policy and Continental has announced that upgrade service fees for OnePass upgrade awards are now fully refundable.

You will need to redeposit your upgrade award in order to receive a refund, which means you will be charged a redeposit fee of $150 unless you are a Platinum Elite member. The only exception is when you don’t clear the BusinessFirst waitlist and don’t receive an upgrade. If you change flights and the upgrade fee changes, you will receive a refund for the original fee and will be charged a new co-pay. And eventually, TravelBank members will be able to use TravelBank funds for upgrade co-pays.