TFC Responds. Canceling an award ticket
In recent days I had to, in spite of myself, cancel one of the most difficult award tickets to book and which I had managed [...]
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In the past few days I had to, in spite of myself, cancel one of the most difficult award tickets to book and which I had managed to secure in July last year, to fly right in the middle of June.
It was a ticket to fly first class with ANA, worth more than 13 thousand euros I had managed to win using points from Virgin Atlantic's loyalty program.
ANA's First Class is considered the best seat in the world among the few carriers that offer the celebrated First Class and this ticket is also one of the most expensive to book cash.
At the same time, a question from a reader who wanted to know how it works arrived on our Facebook page When you decide to cancel an award ticket.
Each company has its own rules, but there is one certainty: the miles or points used to book it are always returned. In addition, if, due to causes beyond the traveler's control, the ticket has been changed by the company, the ticket can be cancelled without incurring any penalty.
In case it is the traveler who wants to cancel/modify the ticket instead, the rules change from company to company, as is the case on the issue of the mileage recovery we talked about last week.
Many things have also changed because of covid with many companies deciding to eliminate, forever, penalties for cancellations or changes to tickets, so even for award tickets.
The rules of the major airlines
- Air France/KLM 50€
- American Airlines no penalty
- British Airways 42.50 euro penalty
- Delta no penalty
- Emirates no penalty
- Lufthansa/Swiss/Austrian 50$
- Qatar Airways is perhaps the most complicated one since it affects both the level in the loyalty program and how early you cancel your ticket. The change can be free or cost up to 100$
- United no penalty
- Singapore Airlines between 50 and 75$
In conclusion
Award tickets fall into the most flexible category. Of course, changes always depend on the availability of an award seat on the new flight, but in case of cancellation you do not lose your points and at most risk a few tens of dollars in penalty.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back