Many readers have asked me if they can get a refund instead of a travel credit for flights that they cancelled due to coronavirus.
There’s never a good reason to cancel a non-refundable flight that you won’t take before the day of the flight.
Even in regular times if you have a non-refundable flight that you know you won’t take, you should wait until the day of the flight to cancel. That way if there is a fee waiver or if the flight is cancelled or heavily delayed you can try to get a refund. There’s no benefit to cancelling early.
While many airlines are now allowing a travel credit if you cancel your flight, there’s still no reason to cancel your flight early. If the airline cancels your flight you have a much better shot at getting a refund then you will if you cancel the flight.
It’s also worth noting that while some airlines require that you cancel your flight before the time of departure, Delta for example has announced that if you don’t take your flight it will automatically turn into a travel credit, even if you don’t cancel it.
If you are having a hard time reaching your airline over the phone, don’t forget that you can also try direct messaging many of them on Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, or SMS. But if your airline does cause problems about not cancelling a flight despite trying to call them, I’d recommend documenting the hold time and disputing the charge on your credit card.
Will you be changing your travel plans due to coronavirus?
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104 Comments On "PSA: Stop Cancelling Your Non-Refundable Flights Early"
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Dan- do you know what air Canada’s policy is? Their customer service is terrible and I can’t get a straight answer.
Thank you!
Any update on this question? I’m in the same situation.
If the Tix for April were purchased in January…
What will the CC help? I thought it’s only 30 days or so
You can dispute a charge for failure to render services promised at any time.
I’d imagine that’s only if the flight is cancelled or postponed.
IF it’s delayed or My Doc says not to travel, I’m outta luck. Right?
Same here.
I bought a round trip ny to London on Norwegian. My outbound was not cancelled, but my inbound was.
I did not cancel before the flight.
My chase sapphire card won’t allow me to dispute.
@dan what do you suggest?
it is my understanding that you only have 180 days from the date of the charge to dispute. and, some CC’s may vary from that. Am I misinformed?
@Dan, If I have an ElAl booking with Qantas, Qantas will refund the points if I cancel a day earlier, as long as it’s not within 24 hours?
we have booked round trip to Asia using UA miles for travel in August.
Will UA give me miles and taxes back without fee f i call to cancel? wait?
You’ll have to wait and see.
What about flights that were purchased with points? Will I lose the points now if I cancel or don’t take the flight?
Call and ask for a refund? You may need to wait to see if they cancel the flight.
Thank you for this. Unfortunately, too late for me. I could have used this information earlier.
Dan, very much appreciate this post. Only question is if there’s a fear the airline may go down… what risk are we leaving on the table by not cancelling until the last minute?
What would the difference be?
If you can get a refund then grab it, but otherwise you’ll just have a worthless credit if they go under.
If right now there’s only a travel credit or rebooking available, your suggestion is to wait. If we wait, they could go under, and regardless not get anything in return. Alternatively, we could go to CC now and try to get the money, no?
Not following. If they go under then the travel credit is worthless.
You can dispute with the cc now or later if they don’t operate the flight.
If they go under would it not be too late to dispute?
Dan- we bought tickets with UR points- supposed to b for next week- you recommend waiting to cancel? I can’t dispute a cc charge because it was with points. What about a flight with BA Avios? Their usual cancellation policy stands correct? Points will be refunded TIA
I’d wait.
Regular cancellation policy.
Thank you for taking the time to respond and provide all of us with guidance- mazal tov on your brother as well.
I cancelled a delta flight bought with UR points and money and got a full refund
We just got half of our Boston>France>Israel leg cancelled from AirFrance/Delta. Is that enough of a cancellation to ask for a refund?
Certainly worth asking.
Thanks Dan…tried ultimate rewards…they aren’t picking up the phone and the hold music is disturbing.
We had jfk>France>TLV with AirFrance/Delta using Amex points. The France>TLV portion was cancelled. We called Delta directly and they were very nice and refunded the whole ticket. It took over an hour and a half to reach someone but once we did they were very nice about it.
If there’s a chance the airline would go out of business wouldn’t it be better to cancel as soon as possible? My understanding is once they go bankrupt it will be harder to get your money back.
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/travel-tips/stop-cancelling-flights-early/#comment-1456624
As a side note, airlines are requesting not being contacted regarding flights unless 72 hrs. prior to flight time. They are overwhelmed with calls and it’s another reason not to bother them if you can get the refund / credit in the end anyways.
Thanks Dan!
TAP canceled our flight and offered to refund in the original form of payment. Part was paid with a voucher/credit but I would like to get it all back now on my cc, not a credit. Any advice how? Will my chase reserve reimburse me for that?
We were supposed to go to the In-laws for Pesach (NY->FL). I don’t think that’s happening. Some of the legs were bought with miles. I am probably going to call jetblue today to figure out my options.
Jet blue will return points I canceled. And got taxes back in travel bank you could rebook for the fraction of the price and points it worth to canceled if you booked with points
Great post! I’m waiting with a few different reservations for cancellations/schedule changes.
How does Delta’s no show credit work with award tickets?
Thx. Great info as always.
If the airline changes one of your legs to fly 2 hours later is that grounds to ask for a refund or can the airline change any of the flights as long as it is the same day?
In a bind here.
Have a flight booked for this week Thursday using Miles&More for travel on Air Canada.
Booked the award in Mid September just before my miles in the account expired September 30, 2019.
If I cancel the award, any chance those miles will appear in account with a later expiration date, or will I be gaining nothing by cancelling trip?
They will be redeposited with expiration at the end of next quarter
Thanks so much!
Do you happen to know if that means it will expire in 2 weeks end of March, or in 3 months and 2 weeks end of June?
Thanks!
I have an American Airlines from TLV to NYC on April 2nd to April 19th. With a connection in Paris. What should I do if I want to cancel it?
Read the post!
Wait for the airline to cancel or reschedule and then request a refund
Your case should fall into he Covid-19 due to NYC and Paris…I think you should be able to get full refund. I would go online and canceled it and see if I would process full refund automatically or call the airlines but will be a very long waiting time
If I cancel an AA reward flight, will my all miles be refunded?
I have a return flight leaving canada on Air Canada. Don’t think I’l have much hope for that
I just cancelled an AA flight I purchased with AA miles. They returned the taxes & fees portion, but wanted to charge me $150 to reinstate the miles because one leg of the trip was a ‘web special’ fare. When I told them that the destination (Jamaica) had declared the entire island a disaster area, they waived the $150 fee.
Dan; Thanks for this post! I thought I was doing the right thing by not cancelling yet. Happy to hear you concur.
So if I call the airline and say “I have 102 fever and a dry cough, but I’d like to fly anyway”, do you think they would offer a refund?
Lmao!
I have an award ticket to Israel on united on Saturday and back on Thursday. When trying to cancel online they are charging me $125 per ticket to redeposit the miles. any way around that?
Have a flight today to Canada booked true Priceline, want to cancel it but the wait time to talk is over 23hr, what option do I have.
If you stay on hold 5- 10 minutes, someone will come on the line. The 23 hours is not true.
I got thru to priceline 2-3 times already within 10 minutes or less.
Is there any reason not to book a flight for pesach (for example) now? Obviously a full refund is much better then a travel credit but otherwise I see no financial ride in doing so on Delta or spirit.
Dan, thank you for this information! Makes sense!
What if the airlines cancels the ticket? They only want to refund 40% of the ticket.
I had bought a RT to TLV, and ended up cancelling the return (used mileage on return). They said that the ticket will be available for a year, I will just need to pay the $300 change fee plus difference in fair. Any point in paying the $300 fee and changing the ticket now to a flight that will probably get cancelled? Would that make it easier for me to get a refund on the one way which I didn’t use?
I have one flight this Wednesday from Southwest Airlines. When do you suggest I cancel? Also I have one from JetBlue but with mikes for the following Monday.
Will United Explorer card cover if I cancel? Do CC’s only cover after the cancellation or I can call now before I cancel to request a refund?
just for your info American also says that if you cant contact them before the flight they will refund you later
I don’t see the benefit of waiting. Most have their cancellation policies up.
Doesn’t it help them to plan if they know only like 5 people are left on the flight?
Read the post again.
I have r/t tickets EWR-WAW-TLV for Pesach. They changed the outbound to leave a day late from JFK and land after the Seder. I sent them a request to change my flight back to 4/6 even if from JFK. They are offering full refunds. I am still, naively, hoping we can go for Pesach. Should I wait or pull the plug?
I have tickets with one airline for triple the price of what they are now With another. I’m trying to get a refund but there is no way to speak to airline on the phone Right now. Should I wait to dispute it or is the fact that their line is down a good enough argument for dispute?
I booked with the second airline and it’s within 24 hrs now but prices have since gone up and I’m not sure if I should cancel the new tickets in case I don’t get refunded from the first place, or keep both and hope for a refund? I know someone who got through and got a full refund for the same flight, is that good enough for a dispute? (First booking is $800, new booking is $300).
Dan
It might pay to cancel early if you have a ba avios award flight…
I had a BA avios award flight booked on aa domestic. I waited until the night before the flight (was going for a chasuna to the Northeast and remained undecided until the last day due to the breakout there) before cancelling. I then tried to cancel or change online but the system would not refund my avios as is policy. I tried many numerous times to call them to change my flight but they kept hanging up on me saying they’re not taking calls at the moment. I tried to reach them on Twitter and took screenshots to show them. So far I still haven’t reached them. What do you recommend I do to get back my avios?
Of course. This post says it’s talking about non-refundable tickets.
If you waited until less than 24 hours in advance to cancel there’s not much you can do.
Sorry was not clear and left out important details. I tried calling a couple days before the flight to cancel some of the passengers on the reservation but they were not taking calls. In retrospect I should have just cancelled the whole reservation online then, which would have cancelled all travelers but still would have been better than what happened. At the time I didn’t want to cancel for all passengers. After the 24 hr period passed I couldn’t do it online at all not even to cancel the entire reservation. But I would have cancelled most of the travelers beforehand if I knew I would not have been able to cancel online within 24 hrs.
Try writing to the DoT and see what they say.
Thanks!
So if I have a non refundable ticket, waiting until less than 24 hours before the flight to cancel doesn’t make a difference, correct?
In retrospect I probably should have cancelled earlier..
Dan, my daughter is in seminary and has an open return ticket with el al. She doesn’t want to leave and there is still a small group of girls left in the seminary. Do you think el al would refund 1/2 of the price of the ticket if she ends up having to get on another flight?
I was in Barcelona when the orange monster announced the ban to the Schengen zone, March 12th. That day, our cruise was cancelled. I tried for 2 days to contact to KLM/Delta to change our return flights. I finally gave up and purchased new return tickets on AA/BA. I could not wait until March 19. We wanted to be home ASAP. I finally got hold of Delta today. Never had KLM answer any number, at any time. I took the credit because I know we will use it. Every situation is different. One has to weigh all the options. Delta told me they would have changed our return flights for no charge. But, we could not contact KLM or Delta by any phone number, while in Spain. They also didn’t respond to Twitter of Facebook.
You booked a cruise and were going to take it on March 12th!!!???
What do you recommend if I booked el al using the Quantas points?
I’m supposed to be flying Friday. Bought tix on United thru priceline 2 months ago. What would you do? I heard priceline not refunding etc.
I purchased 2 rt tiks united EWR TLV
for week of lag b’omer a few days before the beginning of the cancelations,
Dan, my son booked 7 tickets RT on Frontier for travel before Pesach to WPB and returning during Chol Hamoed. He tried calling to cancel due to Coronavirus, but was put on hold for a very long time. It says on their site that if you want to make a cancellation that you can have one free change for travel until November but no refund. Should he just wait until just before the travel date to cancel? Is there a chance for a full refund at that time?
Dan, FYI, my son just saw that Frontier is allowing changes and cancellations with no penalty.
At the moment, “cancellations with no penalty” does not seem to mean getting a refund, but that you can cancel this itinerary and get a shell credit that you use within 90 days to schedule travel in the next six months.
Hi Dan. We have business class on Turkish Air from Miami tomAthens April 18-30. Should I cancel or just wait to see if Turkish air cancels so money can be refunded. Thanks,
Read the post?
Thank you so much for posting this. My flight was supposed to be tomorrow morning 6 a.m. I just got a message that it is canceled so I got fully refunded from Southwest Airlines. Was thinking of canceling it this morning but really happy I took your advice and didn’t.
Awesome!
If I booked on amex plat a jetblue non refundable ticket.. Should I be waiting to see if it gets cancelled or just call amex?
How do you document hold time
Hi Dan. I booked with Chase points and flight got cancelled. Chase emailed me a cancellation notice but didn’t refund me my points. Call waiting time is forever and you get disconnected ‘while they check’.
plz keep us post on what happens with chase, as many have the same situation. TIA
No, I will wait until the last possible minute to reschedule/cancel as I still really want to go! My travel isnt until summer though…
I waited for my Air France flight to get cancelled, just called in and they claim a new EU regulation from today, allows airlines to give only vouchers for canceled flights! Anyone know about this, or should I HUCA?
For this reason, I actually disagree with waiting. As airlines get more desperate for cash, they’ll be giving less refunds
Hey I have a flight for april 6th jetblue to NYC-MCO and the price went down by $200. Im hoping to still go :). Do I call for the travel credit now and then wait 48 hours before to see if they cancel or do I wait everything out and risk the price going back up?
have 9 tickets booked on Ovago to fly with united from NY – ZRH for April 5 for pesach.
Whats is my best shot?
I was hoping this would work for me with United. They canceled my flight, but refused to refund and would only issue a refund because the cancellation was a result of government policy and not United decision….
Just cancelled the Air Serbia flights for Pesach, not issuing refunds, they say. Booked through Justfly, should I bug Justfly or directly to AirSerbia to tell them I want a refund? Justfly also offers flight insurance until the day you fly, maybe take that if government reasons for cancellations??
air Canada just changed my flight to MEL to Friday Apr 3 and the way back they canceled and gave me travel credit, anything I can do to get a Full refund?
If an airline has cancelled a flight, do they have to then refund the money automatically to the original payment method if I do nothing?
At the moment the flight is cancelled but they ask me to request cancellation and they will assess criteria for a refund. I feel that they are trying to trick me into waiving my rights, so I would rather do nothing if the money has to be automatically refunded anyway. Only the outbound flight has been cancelled and not the return, although it was a round trip booking.
This! Any updates Dan? how does this work?
I booked an Alaskan cruise set to sail on NCL at the end of June. My credit card was charged in full in February but I have not as yet paid the cc bill (payment is due on April 10th.) In the event that the cruise is canceled, or, if we will not yet feel safe going on the cruise even if it is sailing, I don’t want to be stuck with a cruise credit rather than a refund since we generally have a very limited window of when we could go each year, and we won’t know if we’d be able to get the same itinerary, or class of cabin, for the credit amount within the rebooking period. And even if there is a refund offered, who knows if the cruise lines will be in the financially solvent position of making all these refunds to tens of thousands customers as the stuff continues to hit the fan?
My question is whether there is any wisdom to trying to dispute the charge with the cc company (it’s an Alaskan Airlines Visa card through Bank of America) based upon the fears and uncertainty of the times, etc. — just to try and be on the safe side? In other words, am I better off trying to have NCL chase me for the money rather than me trying to chase them for a refund, or is there a risk to me trying to be a bit too clever and somehow losing out on everything in the process?
I bought a Tlv-Jfk rountrip from ELAL on Feb 21 2020 for travel on April 5 – April 22. Both legs of the trip have been changed already by ELAL to different flights that i have not accepted.
Does this allow me for a refund? or I should still wait till the day of travel?
Hi Dan thanks for everything you do , I have a spirit flight tonight from Lax to Cleveland which I will not be going on … any ideas ??
Thanks !
My flights were cancelled for May 27th, August 11th by Delta, but I booked through expedia. I want to visit my mom. No further info or instructions, no way to reach anyone. What to do? And why???
I cancelled flight because of covid 19, I’m 76 and at risk. Alaska will not refund or voucher. Any recourse for getting money back
I had a flight on Jet Blue and they cancelled it. They sent me an email asking how I want the refund with a link. In the link I entered my name, record locator then it asked how I want my refund – travel credit or the card used to purchase. I chose credit card.
Then the screen went blank and said thank you for your feedback. Almost like a questionnaire.
A day later I got an email from Jet Blue saying my itinerary was cancelled. No other info.
The email was last Thursday April 23. Its now a week later April 30. I have not seen the refund to my card.
Per their policy – they do credit card refunds promptly – is that 10 days? 15? How long do i wait.
I tried calling Jet blue but the hold time is over 25 minutes. I don’t know want to wait too long but dont want to be on hold for hours if the refund will show up tomorrow?
Message JetBlue in their app.
Thank you!
The app responded 7-10 business days – so i’ll wait the additional few days.
When is ELAL fly from Vienna to Tel aviv, all of Austria has about 500 covid 19 infected
There is no information , not from Airline, israeli Embassy or israeli News
I am an israeli waiting since March to get home
Please if you can give any information
Thank you