Award change and cancellation fees
What it costs to change an award ticket, cancel it and get the miles back, in every program on this site, with the deadline that applies and whether taxes come back. The US carriers have mostly dropped these fees; most foreign programs still charge, and a few charge for changes too. Every row links to the program's own fee page.
Written and reviewed by the Points Plug team. Last reviewed .
| Program | Change | Cancel and redeposit | Deadline | Taxes refunded | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United MileagePlus | None on flight award tickets | Not confirmed; the redeposit fee page could not be read | Before departure | Not confirmed | United: award redeposit fees (page loads only with JavaScript) |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | None on aa.com; more miles or fees may apply after ticketing | None; miles reinstated | Before the first flight departs, within 1 year of ticketing | Yes | AAdvantage FAQ: booking, holds and cancelling award tickets |
| Delta SkyMiles | None for US and Canada origins; Delta Basic awards pay a fee in miles | None for US and Canada origins; Delta Basic awards pay a fee in miles | Before departure; 24-hour risk-free cancellation | Not stated | SkyMiles program rules |
| Alaska Atmos Rewards | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Alaska Airlines: about award options and partner booking |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Standard and Lowest fares C$75 online or C$100 by phone; Flex, Latitude and Flexible free | Standard and Lowest C$150 online or C$175 by phone; Flex C$75 or C$125; Latitude and Flexible free | At least 2 hours before departure, or the ticket is forfeited | Yes, except taxes that are non-refundable by law | Aeroplan Flight Reward Policy |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | None on Main, EvenMore and Mint; US$150 on Base fare awards | Same as change; points returned to the account immediately | Not stated on the pages read | Not stated | JetBlue: redeeming points help page |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Not stated; changes go through the Contact Center within one year of issue | US$30 to US$100 by fare on Avianca awards (Flex 30, Classic 50, Light 75, Basic and Business 100) | Ticket unused, still valid and issued within the last year | Not stated; the cash part of Miles + Money is refunded as miles | Avianca help centre: refund fees on tickets redeemed with Lifemiles |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Date change Saver US$25, Advantage and Access free; route or cabin US$25; partner change US$50 | Saver US$75; Advantage and Access US$50; wholly unused tickets only | Before departure; a no-show costs US$100 to US$300 plus the redeposit fee | Yes, within about 6 weeks | KrisFlyer service fees |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | US$50 or 7,500 miles per ticket online; US$40 or 6,000 miles more offline | US$120 or 17,000 miles | Change before the original flight date; cancel before the ticket expires | Yes, to the original card | Cathay FAQ: cancelling an award ticket |
| Korean Air SKYPASS | KRW 30,000 reissue (C$30 from Canada) | Free 91 or more days before departure; 3,000 miles at 90 days or less; 10,000 miles after the ticket expires | Before departure; a no-show penalty applies by cabin | Yes, for the unused portion | Korean Air: international award ticket changes and refunds |
| JAL Mileage Bank | International JAL awards cannot be changed (cancel and rebook); partner awards allow date and flight changes | JPY 3,100 international and partner; JPY 1,000 domestic | Online until 3 hours before an international flight or 20 minutes before a domestic one | Yes, to the original card | JAL: cancellations and refunds of award tickets |
| ANA Mileage Club | Free: ANA flights only to another flight on the same segment and date; partner awards date and flight changes up to 96 hours out | 3,000 miles or 3,000 yen per person | Before the first flight departs; requests close 30 days after the ticket expires | Yes, for unused awards | ANA: Changes and refunds for international flight awards |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | Change Fee per passenger once ticketed; amount not confirmed | Points re-credited less a Cancellation Refund Fee; amount not confirmed | No reissue within 24 hours of an international departure; a started reward counts as used | The refundable proportion less the cancellation fee | Qantas: Classic Flight Rewards |
| Virgin Australia Velocity | 4,500 points or $35 domestic; 7,500 points or $60 international and partner, per person | Same as the change fee; nothing back once travel starts | 24 hours before departure | Not stated; refunds exclude booking and credit card fees | Virgin Australia: Velocity Reward Seat fare rules |
| British Airways Club | £35 or €42.50 (US dollar figure not read); free on Gold Priority Rewards | £35 or €42.50; no service charge for Gold | More than 24 hours before departure for a refund | Yes when cancelled more than 24 hours out; no cash refund inside 24 hours | The British Airways Club: booking and service fees |
| Lufthansa Miles & More | €50 per person per rebooking on static awards | Miles and surcharges refunded less at least €50, or a taxes-only refund | Before departure; a no-show forfeits every alternative | Yes; proportional if the ticket is partly used | Miles & More: award flight terms and conditions |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Fee not confirmed; a change cancels the ticket and issues a new one | Fee not confirmed; allowed in full before the first flight, subject to the fare conditions | Before the first flight departs | Yes, taxes and airport charges | Air France: Flying Blue general conditions |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | TRY 450 domestic or US$70 international per transaction | Same processing fee; refundable within one year of issue | Before departure; a no-show reissue costs TRY 1,050 or US$170 | Yes, within two years | Miles&Smiles award travel terms and conditions |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | £70 from the UK; US$100 from the US or elsewhere | £70 or US$100; all points re-credited less the fee | Outside 24 hours of the outbound flight | Yes outside 24 hours; inside 24 hours no points or surcharges come back | Flying Club terms and conditions (effective 30 October 2024) |
| Emirates Skywards | Flex Plus free; Saver fee not confirmed | Flex Plus free; Saver fee not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Emirates Skywards FAQ |
| Etihad Guest | Deluxe free, Comfort AED 200 and Value AED 600 on Saver Awards, plus any fare difference in miles | Deluxe free, Comfort 25% of the fare, Value not allowed | More than 72 hours before departure (tickets issued from 13 November 2025) | Not confirmed | Etihad help centre: fares FAQ (Saver Award change and cancellation table) |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | US$25 more than 24 hours out; US$100 at 3 to 24 hours; not allowed inside 3 hours | Same as change; free for Gold and Platinum main members | Up to 3 hours before departure | Yes, eligible government and airport taxes; no Avios back after a no-show | Privilege Club: award ticket fees |
Notes by program
- United MileagePlus
United serves its MileagePlus rules and fee pages only through JavaScript, so the cells marked not confirmed could not be checked against United's own pages. The no-change-fee rule is from United's November 2025 newsroom release.
- American Airlines AAdvantage
Partner awards and trips already started need a call to Reservations to get the miles back. Expired and partly used awards are not reinstated.
The 24-hour rule applies to award tickets too: cancel within 24 hours of booking for a full refund if the booking was made at least 7 days before departure.
- Delta SkyMiles
Awards for travel starting outside the US and Canada may be non-cancellable or changeable only for a fee. Once travel has started the award counts as used and no miles come back for the unused part.
Cancelling a Delta Basic award costs a mileage charge that is deducted before the rest of the miles are redeposited; the Delta pages read do not give the amount.
Some partners add a surcharge to award redemptions. Same-day changes cost US$75, waived for Gold, Platinum and Diamond Medallion.
- Alaska Atmos Rewards
The Atmos Rewards redeeming FAQ loads only with JavaScript, so Alaska's change, cancellation and partner booking fees could not be confirmed on its own pages. The partner booking rule comes from Alaska's award advisory page.
Alaska says Summit Visa cardholders save up to US$25 per person on every round-trip partner award booked with points (card announcement, August 2025).
- Air Canada Aeroplan
Fees may be waived for eligible elite status members. A forfeited reward ticket is no longer valid for travel or points reinstatement.
- JetBlue TrueBlue
JetBlue's fare page says a change or cancellation fee applies to any Base fare award; its fee schedule sets the Base fare change and cancellation fees at US$150 per person.
Cash + Points bookings allow one voluntary change, online only; after that the unflown segments must be cancelled and rebooked at the current fare.
Booking, changing or cancelling by phone or chat costs US$25 per person, waived for Mosaic members, lap infants, bookings of more than seven people, JetBlue Vacations packages and customers unable to book online, among others. Bookings made seven or more days before departure can be cancelled within 24 hours without a fee.
- Avianca LifeMiles
Once a segment has been flown, only the date or time can change; route changes and refunds are not allowed.
The miles used must not have expired, and refunds go to the registered account holder.
Fees published for partner awards were not found on a readable LifeMiles page.
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Tickets are valid 12 months. A refund needs both the miles and the ticket to be still valid.
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Open-jaw, mixed-carrier, upgrade and companion awards cannot be changed online. Award tickets are valid 12 months from issue.
- Korean Air SKYPASS
Refund fees are waived within 24 hours of purchase. Miles already expired at refund time are forfeited.
- JAL Mileage Bank
A no-show makes the ticket void with no miles back. Expired miles are not returned, and partly used awards are not reinstated.
- ANA Mileage Club
Miles that have expired by the time a refund is processed are not returned.
A round trip cannot be converted to a one-way award or the reverse, and neither the passenger nor the member supplying the miles can be changed.
Tickets must be started within one year of issue and completed within one year of the first flight. Since April 15, 2025 unused international and partner awards can be refunded online on the Reservation Details page.
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
The Qantas fee schedule page could not be read, so the fee amounts are not shown. Changes before ticketing are free, phone changes add a Service Fee per passenger, and cancellations work the same way for Qantas, oneworld and partner rewards (terms clauses 14.5.5, 14.5.7 and 14.6.2).
- Virgin Australia Velocity
A passenger who checks in but does not fly gets no refund or credit, and names cannot be changed.
Itineraries to, from or via the US booked at least 7 days before departure can be cancelled within 24 hours of confirmation without penalty.
Phone bookings cost $40 or 5,200 points per person on Virgin Australia domestic and short-haul international flights and $70 or 8,800 points on partners that can be booked online.
- British Airways Club
A no-show cancels the onward and return flights and the Avios cannot be re-credited.
The refund wording read was for Avios and Money bookings; the US dollar fee amounts were not on the readable page.
- Lufthansa Miles & More
A partly used award gets a proportional refund of taxes and no miles back. Online refunds for bookings with several passengers only work for the whole booking.
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
flyingblue.com serves its fee pages only through JavaScript, so the change and cancellation fees for each reward fare could not be confirmed. The right to cancel before the first flight and the taxes refund come from Air France's general conditions.
Reward tickets are valid for 12 months from issue. Expired rewards are not refunded, replaced or extended.
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Award tickets expire one year after issue. Miles used for seat fees are refundable within one year.
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
The terms in force until October 2024 guaranteed 12 reward seats per Virgin Atlantic flight; the current terms use every-seat language instead.
- Emirates Skywards
The Classic Rewards section of the programme rules could not be retrieved, so the Saver change and refund fees are not shown. Free Flex Plus changes and refunds are on Emirates' own page.
- Etihad Guest
The amounts and the 72-hour cut-off come from the Saver Award table in Etihad's fares FAQ for tickets issued or reissued from 13 November 2025. The Etihad Guest FAQ still says Promo seats can be changed up to 24 hours before departure and cancelled up to the flight, so the two Etihad pages disagree; the table is the newer rule.
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Awards that are neither used nor cancelled expire one year after issue.
How to use these rules
Free cancellation changes how you should book. In Delta, United and Alaska a speculative award booked at a good price costs nothing to hold, so book when you see the seat and cancel later if plans change. In a program that charges US$75 to US$175, wait until the trip is likely.
The deadline matters more than the fee. Almost every program requires the cancellation before the first flight departs; a no-show usually forfeits the miles. Set a reminder for the day before.
If a cancellation would leave you with miles you will not use again, compare the redeposit fee with what the balance is worth in cash before paying it.
Award fee FAQ
- Which airlines let you cancel award tickets for free?
- Delta, United and Alaska redeposit miles free for most awards booked by US members, American waives its fee for most awards, and Virgin Atlantic charges a flat fee. Most foreign programs charge between US$25 and US$175 per ticket, and Turkish and JAL charge for changes as well. The table lists every program.
- Do I get taxes back when I cancel an award?
- Usually yes for government taxes, less any cancellation fee, and carrier surcharges are refunded by most programs. A few programs keep a non-refundable booking fee. Each row says what the program refunds.
- What happens if I miss the deadline to cancel?
- Most programs require cancellation before the first flight departs; after that the miles are forfeited or a no-show fee applies. Some programs, including Delta and Flying Blue on Light awards, treat certain fares as non-changeable from the moment of booking.
- Are partner award cancellations more expensive?
- Sometimes. KrisFlyer, Aeroplan and Turkish charge different fees for partner awards, and phone-only bookings may carry a service fee on top. The notes column flags the programs where partner awards differ.