United has been all over the place when it comes to refunds since the COVID-19 crisis hit.
They originally said that you couldn’t get a refund if they were able to find you an alternate flight option within 25 hours of your original flight, but their lawyers told them that policy wouldn’t stand up in court.
They changed the policy to 6 hours, but said that they won’t give refunds on international flights until a year goes by.
Even if you used miles and your flight got cancelled they were insisting on charging a redeposit fee, so I wrote a post on how to hack $50 off the redeposit fee.
But United finally got some sense knocked into them and their new policy is that they will redeposit your miles for free if your flight is cancelled by the airline. That’s true if it’s a United or partner flight.
Airlines have been cancelling lots of flights within 24-72 hours of departure, so be sure to hold off on cancelling until you see if the airline will cancel your flight.
Several readers that were previously told they would have to pay a redeposit fee have been able to get their miles redeposited today for free, so if you’re in that situation be sure to call United now to get your miles back…before they change their mind again.
If you already paid the redeposit fee you can try calling United for a refund. If they refuse you can file a DoT complaint and dispute the charge on your credit card.
HT: @Haplo859
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43 Comments On "United Now Allowing Fee-Free Mileage Refunds On Cancelled Flights"
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Dan. I’ve been waiting to see if my flight on 4/7 is cancelled. How close to flights have they been cancelling ? I paid with miles so waiting to see so I don’t have to deal with this…
Tons of cancellations within 24-72 hours before the flight.
Thank you for the update. What about if you paid for the tickets regularly, with a credit card (and used a voucher) for some of the fee)?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/airlines/united/united-wait-12-months-refund/
AA next?
They have been giving refunds on award flights that they cancelled the whole time as far as I know.
I cancelled web awards on match 8 foot flight in April . They said they would charge me fee and even took my card info . Later they didn’t charge me any fee and for all my miles back
How about if they already gave me the miles-per-passenger credit? Can I still ask to have them redeposited? Or too late?
Thanks for all you do.
Call and ask.
Wow! The bad press must have had an effect.
I got right through and even though 1. I had canceled myself and 2. they already had insisted on giving me a credit (with a lot of argument) the rep immediately went ahead with redepositing my miles and refunding the fees – NO argument whatsoever.
I am astonished.
Thank you so much!!
Awesome!
AMAZING NEWS!! Just cancelled 7 diferent tickets with no mileage redeposit fees! Thank you!
Wow!
I have a Asia award flight with United in August . If they credit me back the tax and fees , Amex will claw back the $250 air one credit they gave me for this. Btw this was a manual Amex airline credit by a rep. What should I do ? I risk claw back by Amex right ? Can I concert the tax and fees I paid with this award to miles ?
I’m on the phone with them now to get points redeposited on tix I had for this past weekend , and they telling me that it’s starting as of March 31 ?!?!!?! Waiting for manager now
Tough going for past flights. Try HUCA.
Or rebook for next week and hope for a cancel.
Dan, tyvm got it done !!!
Great!
How do you know if your flight got cancelled? And, if it hasn’t yet, any good way to set up an alert? [Sorry if these are stupid questions]
Check your airline’s site?
Haha funny man! I only look stupid. How? Check the itinerary, and if it doesn’t show up as cancelled then it’s not? Try to search for the flight (as if trying to book) and see if it shows up? Thank you Dan!
The latter.
Or use the flight status tool within a couple days of the flight.
What should I do if want to cancel international flight in May paid with UR?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/travel-tips/stop-cancelling-flights-early/
I had a IAD-FRA-TLV and ATH-ZUR-IAD flight scheduled for early April. United has cancelled most of the itinerary, and now what’s left is a IAD-EWR-FRA outbound trip and an EWR-IAD inbound trip and they’re calling this ‘valid.’ Not sure how I’m supposed to get from Athens to EWR but I guess that’s my problem. Anything to avoid officially. cancelling.
Have you called and demanded a refund?
Putpac. Open jaw probably messing with their algorithm.
Any news yet on elite status qualification for next year?
No
They just got a ton of money back from the government. If they don’t show their appreciation to their customers it will look bad for them. If they don’t return my redeposit fee I will write my senators.
its showing a $50 redeposit fee
Called in it go waived
*got
i’m having a hard time finding their number – can anyone help? and has anyone had any luck with redeposits for a non-cancelled flight (without fee)?
I just cancelled five UAL tickets ONLINE!! No redeposit fee, taxes were refunded to original form of payment.
Were the flights cancelled?
No. It was Sunday nights flight to Israel from Newark.
Wow. Anyone else able to get miles back for flights that aren’t cancelled?
My flight did not say it was cancelled per se, but if you look it up in the search, it says “Not available.” So not sure what to make of it.
When do you think American will get on board?
That works – for some. My flight SFO TLV is still operating so far but due to quarantine, I wouldn’t be admitted to Israel and UA should deny me boarding. I have a mileage+fee upgrade and I think they’ll apply a redeposit fee.
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/united-now-allowing-fee-free-mileage-refunds-flights-may-31st/
Hey Dan,
I booked flights for 4/6 with UR points and small amount on my United Card.
They just cancelled the flight. Should I insist on a refund of points and cash?
Thanks,
Sam