

If you’re looking to make other gratis changes to your ticket-like changing the date of the ticket or correcting a misspelling in your name-you might be out of luck. So if you already held your fare for one day without payment, and you decide to purchase that ticket, you won’t be eligible for a refund under the DOT regulation should you decide to cancel. (American Airlines, for example, has an option to put the fare on hold instead of refunding payments.) They do not have to do both.
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But if you make a reservation less than seven days before the flight’s departure date, the 24-hour rule does not cover your booking-meaning you have no grace period to cancel and receive a full refund.Īdditionally, airlines have the choice to either allow customers to hold their fare without payment for 24 hours or issue a refund if the reservation is canceled within 24 hours of purchase. The refund policy only applies to bookings made at least seven days or more before departure. It’s important to note that the DOT rule does not apply in a handful of cases. However, there are some cases that are exempt from the refund guidelines. The 24-hour refund rule is applicable to all fares, even those restrictive basic economy tickets or other typically non-refundable bookings. Virgin Atlantic is allowing customers to change the date of their travel up until September 30, 2022, depending on when their ticket was issued, and warns that fare difference charges may apply.The rules also say that airlines are required to make prompt refunds, meaning they should return your money within seven business days for credit card payments and within 20 days for payments made with cash or check. The new flight, however, must be completed by March 31, 2021. Ryanair is letting passengers change the date of their travel with no fee up until the end of November 2020. Airlines in other parts of the world are also adapted their rules to allow passengers to make changes to their travel without being charged.īritish Airways, for example, has extended its Book With Confidence scheme, which removes change fees on its flights – the initiative will now cover journeys until August 2021.Įasyjet is removing change fees up to 14 days before the date of travel (but travellers still have to pay the fare difference, and are not reimbursed if the new fare is cheaper). This covers all of its cabins, and fights to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean (as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, as with United and Delta Air Lines). American AirlinesĪmerican Airlines has eliminated all change fees for domestic and “short-haul” flights booked after August 31, 2020. As with United, Delta’s change fee was previously US$200 per flight. Soon afterwards, the airline extended its “no change fee” policy to include newly purchased flights – including international ones and Basic Economy fares. Initially, all domestic fare types were covered by the fee exemption except for its Basic Economy tickets. Delta Air Linesĭelta Air Lines followed suit, and announced shortly after United that it would be eliminating change fees for flights within the US. Previously, the airline’s flight switch fee was US$200. Customers can also change their flights an unlimited number of times.
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In August, United announced it would permanently allow customers to change their flights for free on all economy and premium economy tickets within the US. More than ever before, customers are scrutinising airlines’ cancellation policies and expecting transparent, fair terms for changing their booking if the pandemic means their plans are forced to change.įrom an airline’s perspective, removing the change fee – allowing customers to move their flight to another date without incurring a cost – is a small price to pay if it means they retain travellers’ custom right now. Airlines need to encourage customers to keep booking flights, despite the unpredictability that impacts making travel plans in 20. This in line with Globetrender’s prediction that Unprecedented Flexibility would be a big trend in its free Travel in the Age of Covid-19 report. Major US carriers including American Airlines, Delta and United have removed their change fees for domestic flights in light of the uncertainty of travelling during the pandemic. To boost bookings during the pandemic, airlines in the US are removing change fees for domestic flights – in some cases, permanently – saving individual passengers hundreds of dollars.
