Airline ticket flexibility is incredibly valuable, and in recent years we’ve largely seen airlines adjust their policies to make them more flexible. Even so, one huge advantage of booking an airline award ticket rather than paying cash is the flexibility that you get.
Why? Generally you can redeposit the miles for an airline award ticket for a very small fee, or with many programs, for free. Even when revenue tickets have flexibility, typically that comes in the form of a credit you can use toward a future ticket, normally with an expiration date.
In this post, I’d like to compare airline award ticket change & redeposit policies, because this is an area where we’ve seen lots of improvement in recent years.
Comparing airline award ticket change & redeposit rules
How do airline award ticket change & redeposit rules compare between airlines? Let’s compare the policies of some major frequent flyer programs. Below I’ll provide a consolidated list, and then we’ll discuss the policies in more detail below, since in some cases there’s some nuance and/or exceptions. Here are the policies of some popular programs (costs are all per person):
- Air Canada Aeroplan charges up to 100 CAD for changes, and up to 150 CAD for cancellations
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue charges €70 for changes, and €70 for cancellations
- Alaska Atmos Rewards charges nothing for changes, and nothing for cancellations
- All Nippon Airways Mileage Club charges nothing for changes, and 3,000 miles for cancellations
- American AAdvantage charges nothing for changes, and nothing for cancellations
- Avianca Lifemiles charges $150 for changes, and $50-200 for cancellations
- British Airways Club charges $55 for changes, and $55 for cancellations
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles charges $50 for changes, and $120 for cancellations
- Delta SkyMiles charges nothing for changes, and nothing for cancellations
- Emirates Skywards charges $25 for changes, and $75 for cancellations
- Etihad Guest charges up to 400 AED for changes, and up to 75% of miles for cancellations
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands charges $50 for changes, and $0 for cancellations
- Finnair Plus charges €50 for changes, and €50 for cancellations
- Iberia Club charges €25 for changes, and €25 for cancellations
- Japan Airlines Mileage Bank doesn’t allow changes, and charges 3,100 JPY for cancellations
- JetBlue TrueBlue charges nothing for changes, and nothing for cancellations
- Qantas Frequent Flyer charges 5,000 points for changes, and 6,000 points for cancellations
- Qatar Privilege Club charges $25-100 for changes, and $25-100 for cancellations
- Singapore KrisFlyer charges $0-50 for changes, and $50-75 for cancellations
- Southwest Rapid Rewards charges nothing for changes, and nothing for cancellations
- Turkish Miles&Smiles charges $70 for changes, and $70 for cancellations
- United MileagePlus charges nothing for changes, and nothing for cancellations
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club charges $100 for changes, and $100 for cancellations
A few important things to note:
- You should be concerned with the policy of the program that you booking your ticket with, rather than the airline you’re actually flying with (in situations where you book a partner award)
- A change fee refers to situations where you’re trying to change the date or time of your flight, while a redeposit refers to a situation where you’re trying to just have the miles put back in your account after canceling a ticket
- I won’t be covering all frequent flyer programs (after all, there are hundreds), but rather, will focus on programs that are either really popular due to redemption options, and/or programs partnering with major transferable points currencies
- For awards to & from the United States, you can generally expect that you can cancel them for free within 24 hours of booking, which provides flexibility for changes you need to make shortly after booking
- In some cases, higher tier elite members receive waived fees on awards, so you’ll want to consult the member benefits terms to see if that applies in your situation
With that out of the way, let’s look at the policies of each program in more detail. I’ll also list the deadlines by which you need to cancel or change an award ticket.
Air Canada Aeroplan
While Air Canada Aeroplan is one of my favorite frequent flyer programs, it doesn’t have a particularly generous or simple policy when it comes to ticket changes and redeposits. As a general rule of thumb, you can expect that a ticket change on a standard award will cost you 100 CAD, while a ticket redeposit on a standard award will cost you 150 CAD.
Fees are potentially lower if you’re booking a higher priced award, and you can also expect to pay more to refund a ticket through the call center (though there’s no reason to do that, since you can easily redeposit awards on aircanada.com). Also note that fees are per direction of travel, so you’ll pay even more if you’re traveling roundtrip on one itinerary.
For Aeroplan, you must change or cancel your award ticket at least two hours before departure, or the ticket will be forfeited. Aeroplan Super Elite members don’t pay change or cancellation fees on award tickets.
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
Air France-KLM Flying Blue has access to a lot more Air France and KLM award space than other programs, so it’s quite valuable. The program charges €70 to either change or redeposit an award ticket, so the cost is the same regardless of what you need to do with your award ticket.
For Flying Blue, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the check-in deadline for your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited. Flying Blue Platinum members don’t pay change or cancellation fees on award tickets.
Alaska Atmos Rewards
Alaska Atmos Rewards doesn’t have change or redeposit fees on award tickets, making it a solid program for locking in an award, especially given all the great uses of Atmos Rewards points. The only thing to note is that Atmos Rewards charges a $12.50 partner award booking fee per direction of travel, and that’s non-refundable if you cancel (though if you have the right credit card, you can get that fee waived).
For Atmos Rewards, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club has some great Star Alliance redemption values, though the program can be pretty complicated. ANA allows free changes to the date and time of award ticket flights, but those changes must be made at least 96 hours before departure.
As far as redepositing award tickets goes, Mileage Club charges miles rather than money for that. Specifically, you can expect to pay 3,000 miles per ticket. You’ll then have your award taxes and fees refunded as well.
For Mileage Club, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited. Mileage Club Diamond members don’t pay change or cancellation fees on award tickets.
American AAdvantage
American AAdvantage doesn’t have change or redeposit fees on award tickets. So this is a great program for locking in speculative awards, especially given all the great partner awards that can be booked with AAdvantage miles.
For AAdvantage, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Avianca Lifemiles
Avianca Lifemiles is a popular program for Star Alliance first & business class awards. Making a change to a Lifemiles award ticket will cost you $150, regardless of what the change is. Redepositing your ticket, meanwhile, will cost you $50-200. You can expect to pay around $50 for a short haul economy award ticket, while you can expect to pay $200 for a long haul first or business class ticket.
For Lifemiles, you can change or cancel your award ticket either 24 or more hours prior to departure, or 24 or more hours after scheduled departure, so that’s quite flexible. For whatever reason, you just can’t change or cancel your ticket in the 24 hours before or after scheduled departure.
Note that you can have change and cancellation fees waived if you register for the program’s subscription service, which comes with a monthly fee.
British Airways Club
British Airways Club offers lots of great partner award redemption options. You can expect that making a change to an award ticket or redepositing the Avios for an award ticket will cost you $55 if done online, with an extra $25 fee for doing so via the call center.
Note that the fee varies based on where in the world you are. For example, at the moment you can expect to pay €42.50 in the European Union, or £35 in the United Kingdom.
There is one interesting quirk to canceling Avios awards, which is that you don’t have to necessarily pay the full cancellation fee to redeposit an award ticket booked with Avios. You either have to forfeit the taxes & fees or pay the fee to get your Avios refunded.
In other words, if you booked an award within the United States on American, you’d generally only pay $5.60 in taxes & fees. So rather than paying $55, you could just forfeit $5.60, and get your Avios back.
With the program, you must change or cancel your award ticket at least 24 hours before departure, or the ticket will be forfeited. British Airways Club Gold members don’t pay change or cancellation fees on award tickets.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
While Cathay Pacific Asia Miles isn’t my favorite program on earth, it does offer decent redemption rates on Cathay Pacific, and often has access to extra award space. Asia Miles charges $50 or 7,500 Asia Miles for a flight changes, and charges $120 or 17,000 Asia Miles for a flight cancellation. Paying cash is definitely the better deal than redeeming miles, in my opinion.
For Asia Miles, you can actually cancel or change your ticket after scheduled departure, as long as it’s within the ticket validity period. So that’s very nice flexibility to have.
Delta SkyMiles
Delta SkyMiles isn’t the most exciting points currency, but at least it doesn’t have change or redeposit fees on SkyMiles reservations when originating in North America. The only exception is when booking basic economy tickets with SkyMiles, as those don’t offer the same flexibility. Furthermore, unfortunately tickets originating outside of North America are still subjected to a $150 per person change or redeposit fee, though that’s not consistently enforced.
For SkyMiles, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Emirates Skywards
Emirates Skywards is the best program for booking Emirates first class awards, assuming you have elite status. The carrier’s fee structure can be a bit complicated for awards, depending on the type of award you booked. Skywards charges up to $25 to change the date of an award flight, though there’s no cost to change Flex Plus awards. Meanwhile Skywards charges up to $75 to redeposit an award, though there’s no cost to redeposit Flex Plus awards.
For Skywards, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Etihad Guest
Etihad Guest has the world’s most punitive award change and cancellation policies. You can’t cancel awards within 24 hours of departure, and further out than that, the cost varies based on how far out you’re canceling. This policy is actually super complicated to understand.
When it comes to cancelling or changing Etihad Guest award tickets, you’ll be charged either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the fare paid, factoring in how far in advance you cancel:
- Within 72 hours of departure, no award tickets can be changed or cancelled, which is massively punitive; some programs don’t allow changes within 24 hours, but 72 hours is quite a long window
- More than 72 hours before departure, Value awards in economy and business class can’t be cancelled at any cost, but can be changed for a fee of 600 AED
- More than 72 hours before departure, Comfort awards in all classes of service can be cancelled for a fee of 25% of the miles redeemed, or can be changed for a fee of 200 AED
- More than 72 hours before departure, Deluxe awards in all classes of service can be cancelled or changed for free
The moral of the story should be to just avoid the Etihad Guest program unless there’s a huge advantage to booking through it, given how complex and potentially punitive the policies are.
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
Infinity MileageLands is a useful program because it has more access to EVA Air business class award space than other programs. Infinity MileageLands charges $50 to change or cancel an award ticket. The exception is that you can cancel an award online for no fee. But this has to be done online, and it only applies to redepositing an award, and not to making a change.
For Infinity MileageLands, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Finnair Plus
Finnair Plus offers decent redemption rates on Finnair, and is also part of the overall Avios ecosystem. You can expect that making a change to an award ticket or redepositing the Avios for an award ticket will cost you €50.
For Finnair Plus, you must change or cancel your award ticket at least 24 hours before departure, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Iberia Club
Iberia Club has some great sweet spot redemptions for travel on Iberia. The program charges €25 to change or cancel an award for travel on Iberia. However, note that you have to do so at least 24 hours before departure, or else you’ll forfeit your ticket.
Furthermore, oddly partner award tickets can’t be changed or canceled, so I’d highly recommend not making such bookings through Iberia Club. Instead, transfer your rewards to another “flavor” of Avios, where you can get more flexible terms, not to mention better value.
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank charges a fee of 3,100 JPY (~$20) to redeposit an award reservation, whether it’s for travel on Japan Airlines or a partner carrier. It’s not possible to change awards, so you’d just need to redeposit and book again.
For Mileage Bank, you must change or cancel your award ticket at least three hours prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
JetBlue TrueBlue
JetBlue TrueBlue doesn’t have change or redeposit fees on TrueBlue reservations. However, the taxes & fees won’t be refunded to your original form of payment, but rather, will be added to your JetBlue Travel Bank, and can be used toward a future flight. The only JetBlue awards that aren’t refundable are Blue Basic tickets with TrueBlue points, which are subjected to a $100-200 redeposit fee in the event you need to cancel.
For TrueBlue, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qantas Frequent Flyer charges for award changes and redeposits with points. Changing your Qantas Frequent Flyer award ticket will cost you 5,000 points per passenger, while redepositing your Qantas Frequent Flyer award ticket will cost you 6,000 points per passenger.
For Frequent Flyer, you must change or cancel your award ticket at least 24 hours before departure, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Qatar Privilege Club
Qatar Airways Privilege Club has solid redemption rates for travel on Qatar Airways, and also has attractive partner award pricing.
The program charges $25 for changes or cancellations made more than 24 hours before departure, and $100 for changes or cancellations made between three and 24 hours of departure.
Privilege Club doesn’t allow changes or cancellations within three hours of departure, so you’ll forfeit all your Avios, and will just get back any taxes and government fees that you paid.
Singapore KrisFlyer
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is the best program for booking premium cabin Singapore Airlines awards. The program’s fees differ depending on whether you’re booking a Saver or Advantage award (with the former being the lowest priced award):
- Changing a Saver award ticket costs $25-50, changing an Advantage award ticket costs $0-25
- Redepositing a Saver award ticket costs $75, redepositing an Advantage award ticket costs $50
For KrisFlyer, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to scheduled departure time, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Southwest Rapid Rewards
Southwest Rapid Rewards doesn’t have any change or redeposit fees on award tickets. This was the first major program to have such a policy, and the airline continues to take a very customer-friendly approach with this.
For Rapid Rewards, you must change or cancel your award ticket at least 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Turkish Miles&Smiles
Turkish Miles&Smiles has some valuable sweet spot redemptions, including both for travel on Turkish Airlines, and for travel on partner airlines. The program charges $70 to either change or redeposit an award ticket, so the cost is the same regardless of what you need to do with your award ticket.
For Miles&Smiles, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to scheduled departure time, or the ticket will be forfeited.
United MileagePlus
United MileagePlus doesn’t have any change or redeposit fees on award tickets. So this is a great program for locking in speculative Star Alliance awards.
For MileagePlus, you must change or cancel your award ticket prior to the scheduled departure time of your flight, or the ticket will be forfeited.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has the following charges for award changes and redeposits:
- Changing an award costs £70 in the UK, or $100 in the United States (or an equivalent amount in another currency)
- Redepositing an award costs £70 in the UK, or $100 in the United States (or an equivalent amount in another currency)
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club requires you to cancel award tickets at least 24 hours before departure, or else you forfeit your points. Flying Club Gold members don’t pay change or cancellation fees on award tickets.
Much like with British Airways Club, there is one additional quirk, which is that you don’t have to necessarily pay the full cancellation fee to redeposit an award ticket booked with points. You either have to forfeit the taxes & fees or pay the fee to get your points refunded.
Bottom line
Airline award tickets can not only unlock amazing first & business class seats for huge discounts, but also offer significant advantages when it comes to changing or canceling tickets. Nowadays many frequent flyer programs don’t even have change or redeposit fees for awards, which is awesome.
I tend to think that these policies are worth keeping in mind when planning travel, especially if it’s speculative in nature. Based on my own redemption patterns, I’m particularly happy about the policies of Alaska Atmos Rewards and American AAdvantage.
If OMAAT readers have any award ticket change or redeposit experiences to share, please do so in the comments section!