Guide to Airline Award Change and Cancellation Fees
You save, you plan, you book that award you’ve been eyeing for a long time. But then something comes up, and you must cancel. Suddenly, you’re paying a chunk of change to get your miles back! I’ve been there. It hurts. Hopefully this airline award change and cancellation fees guide will help you navigate the trenches should it happens again.
Paying an award cancellation fee is one of the worst feelings in this hobby. Luckily, many airlines either eliminated or temporarily suspended their award change and cancellation fees during the pandemic. United has been unclear about this, to be honest.
Here is the latest information on award change and cancellation fees, so you can plan accordingly.
Updated 5/24/22
Best Programs For Avoiding Award Cancellation Fees
If you’re looking for the best programs for booking award flights where cancellation could be a possibility, there are still some great options. One of my favorites for booking Alaska or American flights is British Airways Avios. Their fees are as follows:
- Change or cancellation for US members: $55 USD
- Call center fee (only levied if you cancel by phone): $25 USD
However, there is one caveat: getting your Avios back is actually free. Getting the taxes and fees back is what requires the charge. But what if you’ve only paid the $5.60 TSA fee? Just walk away and forfeit them. It’s essentially a $5.60 cancellation fee. #winning
Another great option is Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles. Besides being one of the best options for booking domestic flights operated by United Airlines, their fees are very reasonable if you need to cancel:
- Change (only applicable to Turkish-operated flights): $25 USD
- Cancellation & refund (domestic): $25 USD
- Cancellation & refund (international): $50 USD
- No-show Fee: $50 USD
- Fees for domestic flights within Turkey: $7 USD
This is yet another reason I’ve completely changed my value of Citi ThankYou points. To be able to book a domestic ticket for fewer miles and be able to cancel for less is amazing.
Other good Star Alliance options include ANA (no fees) and Singapore KrisFlyer. Just don’t no-show. They’ll gouge you. But this is easily avoidable with a phone call.
An excellent SkyTeam option is Virgin Atlantic. Their fees depend on where your flight originates, but it’s always much better than Delta’s $150.
Then there is always Southwest, with no award change or cancellation fees. Ever.
List of Airline Award Change and Cancellation Fees
Any airline loyalty program that offers reasonable award change and cancellation fees gets top marks in my book. Requiring more than a nominal fee for redepositing the miles is ridiculous. With some airlines charging fees as high as $200 per ticket(!), they are really just looking to gouge passengers.
Here is a list of airline award change and cancellation fees for the most common programs:
| Airline Program | Change | Cancellation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aeroplan | $25-100 CAD | $75-175 CAD | Depends on class of service, if it's a discount fare, and how far in advance. |
| Alaska MileagePlan | $0 | $0 | All fees were removed May of 2021. |
| American AAdvantage | $0 (except for basic economy tickets) | $0 (except for basic economy tickets) | $0 change excludes Web Special awards, but you can cancel/get refund for free |
| ANA Mileage Club | $0 | 3,000 miles | $25 phone issuance fee |
| Asia Miles | $25/40/$100* | $120 or 12,000 miles | *Date change online or by phone/destination change |
| Avianca LifeMiles | $150 | $50 to $200 | $25 award ticketing fee not refunded |
| British Airways Avios | $45-$55 on most routes | Lose taxes and fees up to $55 on most routes | $25 call center fee |
| Delta SkyMiles | $150 (No fees on flights departing North America, except for basic economy tickets) | $150 (No fees on flights departing North America, except for basic economy tickets) | Fees waived for Platinum & Diamond members |
| Flying Blue | Fees waived on flights before June 30, 2022 | Fees waived on flights before June 30, 2022 | Flights in 2022 have a range of fees; check your ticket |
| JAL Mileage Bank | No changes, must cancel | ~$30 | $50 phone ticketing fee |
| JetBlue | $0 (Except for Basic Economy) on tickets booked before May 31, 2021 | $0 (Except for Basic Economy) on tickets booked before May 31, 2021 | $25 phone booking fee; all fees waived for Mosaic members + anyone on that itinerary |
| Korean SKYPASS | $0 domestic/$26 international | 0-10,000 miles* | *Depends on class of service and how far in advance you cancel |
| Singapore KrisFlyer | $25/$50* | $75 saver award/$50 advantage award | *Higher price for partner award, $25 phone fee |
| Southwest RapidRewards | $0 | $0 | |
| Turkish Miles & Smiles | $7 domestic/$25 international | $7 domestic/$25 international | |
| United MileagePlus | $0 if originating in the US (except Basic Economy) | Up $125, depending on elite status if within 30 days of departure. Free outside of 30 days. | $25 phone service fee. No-show fee is $125 |
| Virgin Atlantic Club | $40-50, depending on origin. Usually just taxes and fees though. | $40-50, depending on origin. Usually just taxes and fees though. | Note: bookings made 3/3/21 to 4/30/22 get unlimited date changes + 1 name change for free. Rebooking period to 4/30/23. Fare difference may apply. |
Prior to the major changes we saw with the Covid-19 pandemic, international carriers were generally better than domestic carriers–with the exception of LifeMiles. LifeMiles charges a ludicrous $200 per ticket for international premium cabin flights.
With domestic airlines in the U.S., many are waiving or eliminating fees on anything but Basic Economy tickets. However, this may only apply to tickets originating in the U.S., so check the terms before you book two separate one-way tickets.
Tips For Planning Award Travel Around Fees
First off, if you stumble onto an ideal award that may or may not work out, but you don’t want to lose the space, choose a low-fee currency. I did this with award tickets to Hawaii. We didn’t end up going, but the cancellation cost for the tickets was only $56 ($5.60 x 5 people x 2 segments), as I’d booked with British Airways Avios. Not much of a loss.
I’ve also booked a couple flights with Avianca LifeMiles that I ended up needing to cancel. Domestic economy on United only costs $50, but with the $25 award charge that isn’t refunded, it’s sorta painful. I’ll likely stick to Turkish in the future as much as I can.
Upper-tier frequent flyers with many programs enjoy waived fees–a very valuable perk, in my opinion. I was able to speculatively book a couple Delta tickets this year, knowing that the award redeposit charge would be waived if I needed to cancel (which I did) as a Platinum Medallion. Use this to your advantage if you have status with your airline of choice!
All other things being (roughly) equal, I’d look at Turkish Airlines and KrisFlyer as ideal for domestic (and other) awards on United, Virgin Atlantic for nonstop Delta awards, and Avios for nonstop American Awards.
Conclusion
It’s always a bummer to need to cancel an award ticket, but sometimes you have no choice. I do my best to plan my award flights using a currency with better award change and cancellation fees. I’d much rather be out $50 than $150 per ticket. Often, a partner currency will also save you miles.
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[…] Award Change And Cancellation Fees: You can save a considerable amount of money booking award flights to your destination. However, if you need to cancel or change your booking, then you may incur some fees which are never fun. Here’s a good guide to help you navigate through this. […]
I recently had to cancel Virgin Atlantic awards and they simply kept the taxes I had paid. No $50 charge. This was for Delta flights going from Hawaii to Japan so the taxes were only $5.60 each. I did this on 3 separate occasions so I don’t think this was an error.
Good to know! I’d not heard of this.
Are cancellation fees generally considered incidental costs that could be covered by a credit card airline fee credit (like Amex Hilton Aspire).
Yes.
They typically are, and if they don’t post automatically, it would be worth a call to the issuer.
Great resource, bookmarked for future reference. Thanks!
Thanks for reading, George!
What about Cathay Pacific or Japan Air?