Award tickets, unlike the cheapest cash tickets, are generally very flexible – they can be changed or cancelled for either no fee or a low fee. This is all by design since award tickets are meant to reward you for your loyalty to a given frequent flyer program and therefore the ability to make changes or cancellations to your award ticket should be simple.
Note that when cancelling award tickets you will generally get back the miles and taxes you paid either for a small cancellation fee or for no fee at all. Some frequent flyer programs offer free changes but if you wish to redeposit the miles and refund the taxes, a fee might apply. Remember that when you make changes to an award ticket, you most likely will have to pay a difference in miles and tax (even if there is no change fee) as this would be considered the fare difference (just like when making changes to a cash ticket).
It is also important to note that frequent flyer programs sometimes offer special deals on award tickets – for example, they could offer discounted awards and usually these award tickets come with more restrictions like no changes and cancellations and therefore if you’re booking an award ticket under a special deal or promotion be sure to check the terms and conditions.
While every frequent flyer program has their own change and cancellation rules and fees, let’s highlight and go over all of the major programs we use on a daily basis and what their change and cancellation fees are. If the program you use isn’t listed here, you can easily find the policy by searching on Google or referring to your award ticket rules.
Singapore Airlines, a Star Alliance member
Star Alliance
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- changes CA$100
- cancellations CA$150
- these fees may be lower depending on what type of reward you book and what your status with Aeroplan is
- Avianca LifeMiles
- changes $150
- cancellations between $50 – $200 depending on your award ticket type
- Lufthansa Group Miles & More
- changes/cancellations EUR50
- some changes might be free depending on your ticket type
- some award ticket changes or cancellations are not possible
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- changes $0 – $50 depending on ticket type
- cancellations $50 – $75 depending on ticket type
- United Airlines MileagePlus
- changes/cancellations $0
British Airways, a member of oneworld
oneworld
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- changes/cancellations $0
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- changes/cancellations $0
- British Airways Executive Club
- changes/cancellations $55
- if taxes paid are less than $55, you can just forfeit the taxes and not pay the cancel fee
Delta Air Lines, a member of SkyTeam
SkyTeam
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- changes/cancellations EUR50
- Delta Air Lines SkyMiles
- changes/cancellations $0 if your ticket begins in North America (Main Cabin and above)
- changes/cancellations $150 for all other awards
Other Airlines
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
- changes/cancellations $0
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- changes/cancellations $50
All in All
As you can see, many frequent flyer programs have no change or cancellation fees – which is great as the ability to book an award ticket and later modify it for free is a powerful feature of a frequent flyer program. The programs that do still charge change or cancellation fees are generally mild and note that the fee is usually charged per person – some airlines and programs also might temporarily waive these fees under a number of conditions.
Award tickets are meant to reward you for your loyalty as these are mileage tickets booked using miles/points that you have acquired with your desired program and therefore offer more flexibility than your standard revenue/cash ticket, which generally has much higher fees for changes and cancellations and the cheapest tickets are usually nonrefundable.