My guess is change fees aren’t necessarily to cover a cost, it’s to prevent costs. You’re right, it doesn’t cost much for them to provide good customer service to one person. But if everyone decided to change their flights on a whim it would be costly and cause all sorts of logistical issues. Charging the fee forces people to think twice before they alter their plans.

P.S. If you buy a full-fare ticket, there is no fee to change your flight. But hardly anyone does that anymore.

I recently had an experience where I was able to get to the airport 3 hours before my flight. My business meetings had all gone on time, but I had banked extra time in case it was needed for longer meetings. I arrived at the gate for an earlier flight and inquired. I was told that the only seats left were 1st class and that if i wanted to upgrade the cost would be 780.00. This was for a one way from Las Vegas!! yikes. I politely thanked them and said no-obviously. As I turned around to walk off the gate agent called a name from the standby list to come up to get their boarding pass. I turned around, waited to see if that person showed, noticed there were no others waiting to board, and re-approached the gate. I said, if Mr. Johnson doesn’t show up, I’ll take his seat. The agent quickly informed me that Mr Johnson was an airline employee (hmmmm, first class seat left on plane, willing paid traveler in the Que,) a thought ran through my head from the teaching of Jesus, if you want to be first put yourself last) so I chalked it off to low level customer service, didn’t blame the gate agent as i figured it was company policy, smiled and said -OK well thanks anyway. It must have been an epiphany for the agent as i walked away I heard her call me back, “sir, sir!,” she said, and then presented me with a coach seat on the window 8 rows in. So I guess they moved a passenger to 1st class, i got that seat and everyone was happy, except for the airline that wanted to sell that seat for 780 dollars.
All companies need to remind themselves that what your employees do while representing the company is a reflection of the company culture. If a company treats the employee with respect, it serves to reason that the employee will be happier and will treat customers with respect. In this particular case i found a person willing to go the extra mile to accommodate me.I believe that it was partly because of an exposed awkward situation, and the fact that I didnt over react and get irate. Keeping a calm and respectful manner works for customers too. not always, but overall its a better world if we all try harder to respect one another. Airlines have been under attack for their lack of concern for the client for years, however there are those people within each organization that rise above the muck and present great customer service to clients sometimes working between the lines to get a customer some satisfaction. Business travelers are used to the change fee’s and typically make that a business expense unless their company policy doesn’t allow for it. Most company’s rarely give any grief to the “road warrior” for the occasional change fee. In the same sense of this matter, the road warriors feel a little compassion from their company when a small perk like this isn’t an issue. So, the airlines know that they can get the business traveler on a regular basis because this is how the game is played. The tighter economy will most likely change the game again and those companies that trip over nickles to make pennies will suffer.