A Guide to Airline Change & Cancellation Fee Waivers

The airline industry continues to offer waivers on change and cancellation fees, making it a great time to book without worry if plans get disrupted.

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Delta Air Lines has announced an extension to its policy allowing free changes and cancellations. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as just about all airlines have adopted this policy during the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline industry desperately needs customers to feel comfortable booking flights right now. Planes may be flying at reduced capacity today, but the industry can still generate meaningful revenue with advance bookings.

Great Time To Book Future Travel

For consumers, it’s never been a better time to book. The change fee on a non-refundable domestic ticket costs $200 on the Big Three network carriers (United, Delta, American). That’s a lot of money and a big disincentive to make any flight changes once the 24-hour free cancellation period is up. In my opinion, change fees are even worse than baggage fees. You at least get something with a baggage fee.

But now that airlines have temporarily abandoned their change and cancellation fees, there is nothing to fear about booking future travel. I’ve already used the change fee waiver to my benefit. When Alaska Airlines cut the price of its First Class seats, they were too low to ignore. I canceled my main cabin flights and re-booked in First. For upcoming Thanksgiving travel, I changed my flight to a more convenient time as fares dropped. And when July turned out to be the wrong time to fly, I changed the flights into the future.

All of these were Alaska Airlines bookings, where the normal change fee is $125 per person. I would not have spent $1500 on changes, but zero turned out to be a great price. If nothing else good comes from Covid-19, I hope airlines will get a little less obnoxious about their change fees going forward. Southwest Airlines already allows free changes anytime, and that flexibility becomes more appealing by the day.

No Expectation of a Refund

Note that cancellations do NOT automatically result in a refund. A nonrefundable fare is still nonrefundable, and you will instead receive a credit for future travel. But that applies only if you change plans, not when the airline changes your plans involuntarily.

When an airline cancels or significantly alters your flight schedule, then you are entitled to a refund. If, on the other hand, your flight is changed by an hour or two, the airlines would normally be off the hook.

But the devil is in the details, and how big a change in flight times we’re talking about. Earlier this year, as reported by One Mile at a Time, United tried to redefine the meaning of “significant change” and “cancellation” to its benefit. It did not work out, and United is once again allowing refunds if the schedule changes by more than two hours.

Just about every airline offers similar change and cancellation fee waivers. But each has its own fine print.

Delta Air Lines

• Change and cancellation fee waivers apply on new bookings made through August 31, 2020.
• Tickets can be changed or canceled, and the purchase price applied to a new ticket for up to a year from the purchase date.
• For tickets purchased before 4/17/2020, for travel through the end of this year, Delta will let customers change or cancel without a fee. The unused ticket value is valid to re-book flights through September 30, 2022.
• Customers are responsible for any increase in fare.

United Airlines

• Change and cancellation fee waivers apply on new bookings made through August 31, 2020.
• For tickets issued March 3rd through March 31, 2020: Tickets can be applied to new bookings of equal or lesser value for up to 24 months from purchase date.
• For tickets issued April 1st through August 31, 2020: Tickets can be applied to new bookings of equal or lesser value for up to 12 months from purchase date.
• Customer are responsible for any increase in fare.
• For tickets issued March 2nd or earlier, for travel in 2020, change and cancellation fees are waived, but new bookings much occur by 8/31/2020.

American Airlines

• Change and cancellation fee waivers apply on all new bookings made through September 8, 2020.
• Customers can re-book travel scheduled before September 30, 2020, with the value of unused tickets applied to new travel through December 31, 2021.
• For travel from October 1st, the ticket value can be applied to new bookings for up to a year from purchase date.

Alaska Airlines

• Change and cancellation fee waivers apply on all new bookings made through September 8, 2020.
• Customers can re-book scheduled travel for up to one year from the original travel date.
• For tickets purchased on or before February 26, 2020, the change and cancellation fee waivers apply only to flights scheduled before 12/31/2020.
• Customers flying on saver fares cannot change flights, but can cancel their flight and re-book with the credit.
• Alaska will deposit unused ticket value into the customer’s online “wallet,” to be used toward future bookings before the funds’ expiration date.

Hawaiian Airlines

• Change and cancellation fee waivers apply on new bookings made between March 1st and August 31, 2020.
• Customers will have 2 years to re-book and travel with the unused value of their tickets.
• Customers are responsible for any increase in fare.

JetBlue

• Change and cancellation fee waivers apply on new bookings made through October 15, 2020.
• Customers can re-book any available flights currently on the schedule and a fare difference may apply.
• JetBlue will deposit the value of a canceled flight as a Travel Bank credit, which will expire 12 months from their date of issue.
• Any funds deposited to a customer’s travel bank between February 27th and June 30, 2020 will expire 24 months from the date they were issued.
• Funds set to expire between February 27th and June 30, 2020 are extended through 12/31/2020.

Frontier Airlines

• There is never a change or cancellation fee on Frontier Airlines, so long as you make changes 60 days or more before your original travel dates. From 14 to 59 days out, the fee is $79; and it’s $119 for changes and cancellations with under two weeks remaining.
• For bookings made between July 2nd and July 31, 2020, customers can make a one-time change of cancellation. If canceled, customers have 90 days to re-book.
• Travel must be completed by September 12, 2021.
• Starting August 1st, Frontier will no longer offer a general fee waiver across its network.
• Customers traveling to/from 34 states through September 8, 2021 will be permitted a one-time change or cancellation. Ticket value must be applied to a new ticket within 90 days.

Spirit Airlines

• Change and cancellation fee waivers apply on new bookings made through August 31, 2020.
• Spirit will deposit a reservation credit into the customer’s account, which is good through May 31, 2021 (or for 12 months if issued between April 5th and May 31, 2020).
• Travel must be completed by May 31, 2021.

Allegiant Air

• Customers can make a one-time change or cancellation without change fees.
• Flight voucher is good for two years
• When re-booking, you will pay or be credited any fare difference.
• No end date to this policy has been established.

Silver Airways

• Silver Airways is waiving change and cancellation fees for trips booked between July 1st and September 30, 2020, for travel completed by September 30, 2020.
• For all travel through September 30th, change and cancellation fees will be waived.
• Unused ticket value can be applied to new booking, and customers will pay or be credited (to a travel bank) the fare difference.
• Tickets are valid for one year from date of purchase, and travel must be completed by then.

Sun Country Airlines

• Sun Country is referring customers to its normal change fee policy. There is never a change fee when changes are made 60 days or more before scheduled travel.
• Changes made 14-59 days before scheduled travel will cost $50 per segment. Changes made less than two weeks before travel will be $100 per segment.
• Flight credits expire one year from the date travel was originally booked.

Final Thoughts

It’s arguably not the best time to fly, but it’s a very good time to book future travel. If quarantine fatigue has prompted you to start planning, go ahead and book your flights. There is little to worry about if you need to change or cancel your plans, for any reason.