Hawaii vacation to start May 30 - to cancel or not???

[controller1]

As a United frequent flyer, I have sometimes canceled flights that I booked with miles with no penalty. Maybe there is no penalty due to our status? The only thing I lost was the $11/ticket fee (or whatever it is now) that they charged when booking the flights. Other than that, the miles went back into our account. Disclaimer: I have not done this recently, so things may have changed since then.

Wow. You lose the booking fee? With Southwest if you cancel flights made with miles you get the miles back and the booking fee. However, if you have paid for Early Bird you lose that, unless you change the flight instead of cancelling it.

I don't believe it is a booking fee. It should be the Federal taxes on the flight and it should be refunded to your original form of payment.

 

[Luanne]

I don't believe it is a booking fee. It should be the Federal taxes on the flight and it should be refunded to your original form of payment.

Correct, for Southwest it is a tax. Wouldn't it be the same fee for United, a tax not a booking fee?

 

[controller1]

Correct, for Southwest it is a tax. Wouldn't it be the same fee for United, a tax not a booking fee?

Yes, it's the same for all U.S. airlines.

 

[Luanne]

Yes, it's the same for all U.S. airlines.

So, still seems strange to me that United won't refund it, but Southwest will.

 

[dioxide45]

Isn't it $5.60 per flight? It is the TSA Security Fee We had it refunded for our recent United and Southwest cancellations.

 

[OHAttyMom23]

I am wondering whether your interpretation of the UA policy is correct with your conclusion that you are allowed to rebook for travel commencing by May 15, 2021???

I am in a very similar situation with AA for a May 5 trip to Portland - which has exactly the same waiver criteria as UA. I booked this ticket online on Nov 11 2019. So my interpretation of the adjusted waiver policy follows:

• New tickets must be reissued on/before December 31, 2020 or 12 months from original ticket date, whichever is earlier. In my case, since the original ticket date was Nov 11 2019, I must re-book by Nov 11 2020 and not Dec 31. Using my interpretation for your trip, you would have to rebook by July 2020 since you booked in July 2019.
• Rebooked travel must commence within 12 months from the original ticket issue date. In my case, the rebooked trip must commence by Nov 11, 2020 and NOT May 5, 2021 - which was the date of our original flight. Using my interpretation for your trip, you would have to commence travel in July 2020.

I hope that my interpretation is wrong and that yours is correct! As such, would appreciate how others interpret the UA and AA adjusted policies? Would help all of us better understand our options clearly.

Unfortunately, I read the cancellation policy the same as you - That I would need to both rebook and commence travel by the time I purchased the original tickets (the ticket "issue date") which in our case would be December 26, 2020. :-(

 

[Pamplemousse]

Unfortunately, I read the cancellation policy the same as you - That I would need to both rebook and commence travel by the time I purchased the original tickets (the ticket "issue date") which in our case would be December 26, 2020. :-(

When I was looking on American Airlines for their cancellation policy I found their refund policy says-

“If a schedule change is more than 120 minutes or flight cancelled, a refund of the ticket to the original form of payment (FOP) is allowed. If the ticket is wholly unused, the refund can be processed through the GDS. If the ticket is partially used, please request a Refund Application via BSP Link.”

My April flight time has been changed by more than 3 hours so I am going to file for a refund. I’ll report back if it works.

 

[dioxide45]

When I was looking on American Airlines for their cancellation policy I found their refund policy says-

“If a schedule change is more than 120 minutes or flight cancelled, a refund of the ticket to the original form of payment (FOP) is allowed. If the ticket is wholly unused, the refund can be processed through the GDS. If the ticket is partially used, please request a Refund Application via BSP Link.”

My April flight time has been changed by more than 3 hours so I am going to file for a refund. I’ll report back if it works.

Do let us know. We have late August flights on AA. No changes yet that I can see, but we likely aren't going on the cruise out of the UK and would prefer a refund of the $1400 in airfare vs credit valid only through the end of this year.

 

[NJMOM2]

Great sign that you were able to use the UA credit for new flight plans in Aug 2020 when playing around online for future flights. I think right now that airlines, hotels, and II/RCI are trying desperately to modify their systems to caught up with their new adjusted cancellation policies. I hope that you are right - I too would love to be able to use my tixs thru May 2021.

BTW, try to play around with the credit and see if you can book thru Dec 31 or even better May 2021. Testing will be enlightening to all in the same situation!

FYI, I cancelled an II trade for this past week to the Marriott Monarch in Hilton Head and confirmed an alternative week in Nov 2020 in Hilton Head. I have been able to use the "retrade" function to see availability thru the checkin timeframe of my original Marriott deposit. So lucky for all of us that II has not been able to modify their system to be compliant with its adjusted policy of having the use the week by Dec 31 2020.

Given your experience with the UA cancellation, perhaps I should go ahead and cancel my AA flights now - I was hoping for a cancellation of flights so I would be entitled to a "refund".

I can only select a travel date as far out as February 2021 right now. I had no problem playing "what if" using the credit to book flights in February 2021. The cost would have zero.

 

[jpc763]

We cancelled out California trip for mid to end of May that was booked last July, 2019. We received a full credit and according to United's website we have to rebooked by Dec. 31, 2020 for travel 12 months before he original travel date in, by May 15, 2021.


From United website:

Waiver: All change fees waived for tickets issued on or before March 2, 2020
Original ticket must be issued on or before:
March 2, 2020
Original travel dates
March 3, 2020 - May 31, 2020
Flight changes:

• New tickets must be reissued on/before December 31, 2020 or 12 months from original ticket date, whichever is earlier
• Rebooked travel must commence within 12 months from the original ticket issue date

Airports

• All cities

This policy is for cash tickets and there are some slight changes. First, you can call United and request a 15 month window. Must be done by calling in. Second (and more importantly), if you tickets are not Economy Plus, you should be able to select an ETC (Electronic Travel Certificate) for the entire amount that is good for 12 months from the day of issue, for travel to take place within 24 months.

This only applies to cash bookings. Per FlyerTalk posts, they seem to still be charing the redeposit fee for award miles, but once the miles are back in the account, they are the same as all other miles. As far as I know, United miles no longer expire.

dioxide45 is correct. Miles do not expire and there currently is a redeposit fee but reports on FlyerTalk have that some people were able to get those waived by calling in.

I had a flight with miles that I needed to cancel. I did not want to pay the fees so I made a change to the reservation and booked a single 1 way ticket DEN-MSP in September. Cost was 5k miles. Once I made that change ALL other miles were redeposited with NO FEE. I did that completely online.

Unfortunately, I read the cancellation policy the same as you - That I would need to both rebook and commence travel by the time I purchased the original tickets (the ticket "issue date") which in our case would be December 26, 2020. :-(

I think you are not in as bad shape as you think. I believe you can get most if not all of your miles back. You may need to do the trick I did for all travelers or maybe not. Call United and request they waive the redeposit fee. Your trip is within their window of coronavirus response so it cannot hurt to ask

 

[jpc763]

Of note, I have a trip planned for Waikoloa Ocean Club (DC points) for May 16. I have United cash airfare for a family of 4 and because I am inside the 60 day window, I am waiting to do anything. If United cancels the flight, I am entitled to a full refund (lots of reports on FlyerTalk that United is not honoring that) but it looks like my worst case is an ETC and getting my DC points back in a holding account.

I fully expect that this trip will be cancelled given the current situation across the nation and in Hawaii.

 

[Ricci]

I was able to rebook my Ko-Olina reservation in May to Four Seasons Scottsdale Troon Aug 28 - Sept 4. I know it's low season, but.....hey it's the Four Seasons.

 

[jpc763]

Unfortunately, I read the cancellation policy the same as you - That I would need to both rebook and commence travel by the time I purchased the original tickets (the ticket "issue date") which in our case would be December 26, 2020. :-(

I just read this on FlyerTalk

"According to View from the Wing, UA is now waiving all fees for award ticket cancellations and miles redeposit for everyone, not just elites. Has anyone seen this on their web site to confirm?
https://viewfromthewing.com/united-n...age-redeposit/ "

 

[Pamplemousse]

Do let us know. We have late August flights on AA. No changes yet that I can see, but we likely aren't going on the cruise out of the UK and would prefer a refund of the $1400 in airfare vs credit valid only through the end of this year.

I just went to the refund page on AA where is has you enter ticket number and then contact info and choose voucher or refunding original payment method (This was cash not miles/points). The site indicated I qualifies so I will wait for refund to show up on my credit card.
I was signed up for schedule change alerts to my itinerary and had received a message that my flight time was changed by about 4hrs (needs to be more than 2).
I’ll confirm when the refund posts.

 

[Rodenwjr]

I just went to the refund page on AA where is has you enter ticket number and then contact info and choose voucher or refunding original payment method (This was cash not miles/points). The site indicated I qualifies so I will wait for refund to show up on my credit card.
I was signed up for schedule change alerts to my itinerary and had received a message that my flight time was changed by about 4hrs (needs to be more than 2).
I’ll confirm when the refund posts.

Please post final outcome. I am in a similar situation in the near future.

Thanks

Bill

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

 

[controller1]

I just went to the refund page on AA where is has you enter ticket number and then contact info and choose voucher or refunding original payment method (This was cash not miles/points). The site indicated I qualifies so I will wait for refund to show up on my credit card.
I was signed up for schedule change alerts to my itinerary and had received a message that my flight time was changed by about 4hrs (needs to be more than 2).
I’ll confirm when the refund posts.

So did you cancel online prior to filing for the refund?

 

[Pamplemousse]

So did you cancel online prior to filing for the refund?

The directions when filing for the refund instructed to cancel so I did the cancellation then.
I clicked on refunds at the very bottom of the page.

There is also a place to check the status of refunds right there too and it says refunded was issued to my credit card ( showed the last 4 digits of the card I used).
It hasn’t posted to my card yet but looks like this worked.

 

[Steve Fatula]

Refunds can take 3-4 days to show up on a credit card due to how the process works. Funny how a charge shows up instantly though, lol.

 

[hangloose]

The directions when filing for the refund instructed to cancel so I did the cancellation then.
I clicked on refunds at the very bottom of the page.

There is also a place to check the status of refunds right there too and it says refunded was issued to my credit card ( showed the last 4 digits of the card I used).
It hasn’t posted to my card yet but looks like this worked.

Is the AA link you used here -> https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds/ ? If so, where does "ticket number" come from? I only see record locator in my AA account.

Oddly enough..it looks like AA canceled by connecting from Kahului out..but not the connection from Dallas to home. Weird. We only used AA one way..on return trip.

EDIT: Wondering if I don't have a ticket number and cannot use the link above...since mine tickets here were booked via AA Miles?

 

[controller1]

Is the AA link you used here -> https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds/ ? If so, where does "ticket number" come from? I only see record locator in my AA account.

Oddly enough..it looks like AA canceled by connecting from Kahului out..but not the connection from Dallas to home. Weird. We only used AA one way..on return trip.

EDIT: Wondering if I don't have a ticket number and cannot use the link above...since mine tickets here were booked via AA Miles?

The ticket number will be on the email confirmation when you booked the reservation. Also, if there is an icon to print a receipt you can locate the ticket number at the bottom of the receipt. The ticket number can also be found on your credit card statement. AA numbers begin with 001.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Is the AA link you used here -> https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds/ ? If so, where does "ticket number" come from? I only see record locator in my AA account.

Oddly enough..it looks like AA canceled by connecting from Kahului out..but not the connection from Dallas to home. Weird. We only used AA one way..on return trip.

EDIT: Wondering if I don't have a ticket number and cannot use the link above...since mine tickets here were booked via AA Miles?

Yes that link is correct.
As controller1 said I found my ticket number in my email confirmation.
Each traveler will have a ticket number and you will need to file for each.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Refunds can take 3-4 days to show up on a credit card due to how the process works. Funny how a charge shows up instantly though, lol.

How true! I believe they call it "float".



.

 

[Steve Fatula]

How true! I believe they call it "float"

Yeah, I was a merchant for over 10 years and that was one of the most frustrating things. Every time you'd refund something (as an internet vendor), next day, you got a call, "you didn't refund me", etc. Hated it!

 

[GaryDouglas]

So if you call II before the 14 day limit, how long do you have to use what you traded in and any other limitations? Sorry, I just about never us II so I'm out of the II loop...

 

[Pamplemousse]

So if you call II before the 14 day limit, how long do you have to use what you traded in and any other limitations? Sorry, I just about never us II so I'm out of the II loop...

This is II adjusted cancellation policy which is posted on their home page-
EXCHANGES:

• For all exchanges with check-in dates through April 30, 2020, members may change their destination and/or travel date without incurring an additional exchange fee. Travel must be completed by December 24, 2020. If you prefer more time to travel, we can provide you with our standard fee-based replacement-week certificate, which is good for one year.

• For all exchanges with a check-in date after April 30, 2020, our standard exchange cancellation policies apply. We commit that we will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as necessary.

• Members who make exchanges between March 14, 2020, and April 30, 2020, will have the option to retrade to another available destination and/or date if your plans change — without incurring an additional exchange fee.