Award Ticket Cancellation Policy: Which Points and Miles Are Refundable
⏱ 13 min read
Verified against each program's published terms in July 2026, and refreshed every 90 days. Award fees change constantly, so the number that governs your ticket is the one shown at checkout. Every program links to its own policy so you can confirm before booking.
Editorial disclosure: This article discusses credit card and loyalty program benefits for informational purposes. There are no affiliate links on this page. Opinions are mine, and no bank, airline, or hotel reviewed or approved this content.
- Atmos Rewards, American AAdvantage, United MileagePlus, Delta SkyMiles, and Southwest Rapid Rewards refund your points in full with no cancellation fee any time before departure. They are the most flexible points and miles you can hold.
- Southwest has the most forgiving deadline of any free cancel program: 10 minutes before scheduled departure.
- The deadline matters more than the fee. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Qantas stop refunding 24 hours out. Etihad stops at 72 hours. Miss it and you lose the points entirely.
- Points back is not the same as money back. JetBlue returns taxes as travel credit, not cash. Atmos never refunds its $20 partner award booking fee.
- Credit card transfers cannot be reversed, so you choose your cancellation policy at the moment you transfer, not when you book.
- The chart: cancellation rules for 30 programs
- Which airline miles cancel for free?
- How late can you cancel before departure?
- What does canceling actually cost?
- Do you get your taxes back too?
- What about hotel points?
- Which credit card points are most flexible?
- Frequently asked questions
- Scottie's Take
- Sources: every policy page
Most of us collect points to make expensive flights cheap. Then you fly out of HNL a few times with a family of four and you find the real prize: for kamaʻāina, an award ticket is the closest thing to a refundable ticket a regular family can get. Book it, watch the plan change, cancel it, get everything back. A cash fare does not work that way. But that flexibility is not evenly spread, and the gaps are wider than most people realize.
The chart: cancellation rules for 30 programs
Every program name links to that program's own published policy, so you can verify any row yourself. Fees are per person and assume no elite status, since elite tiers frequently pay less or nothing.
Tap any program below to open its cancellation details.
| Program | Cancel by | Cancel fee | Points back? | Taxes and fees | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atmos Rewards | Scheduled departure | $0 | Full | Refunded to card | $20 partner award booking fee per person each way is nonrefundable on tickets issued from July 1, 2026. Does not apply to Alaska, Hawaiian, or Horizon flights. $30 phone booking fee also nonrefundable, waived for Gold and Platinum. |
| American AAdvantage | Before first flight departs, within 1 year of ticketing | $0 | Full | Refunded to card | Partner awards often need a phone call to redeposit. Partially flown awards are not reinstated. |
| United MileagePlus | Scheduled departure | $0 | Full | Refunded to card | No show and it costs $125 to get the miles back. |
| Delta SkyMiles | Before departure. At least 72 hours for awards originating outside the US | $0 for Main Cabin and above originating in the US or Canada | Full | Refunded to card | Basic awards carry a charge assessed in miles, widely reported at 9,900 domestic and 19,900 international. A $150 redeposit fee can apply to awards originating outside North America. |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | 10 minutes before scheduled departure | $0 | Full | Refunded to card or held as flight credit | Miss the 10 minute cutoff and points can be forfeited. Basic fares can only be changed to a higher fare. |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | Before scheduled departure | $0 on most fares. $150 on Main Base and EvenMore Base | Full | Returned as JetBlue travel credit, not cash | Travel credit expires 12 months from original ticketing. Canceling by phone or chat adds $25 per person. |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 2 hours before departure | CAD 150 online on lowest fares. CAD 75 on Economy Flex. $0 on Latitude and Flexible | Full, minus fee | Refunded on unused value | Changing costs less than canceling, so switching to a Flexible award first and then canceling can be cheaper. Phone adds CAD 25. |
| British Airways Club | More than 24 hours before departure | $55, or £35 in the UK | Full, minus fee | Refunded minus the fee. If your taxes came to less than $55 you can forfeit the taxes instead of paying the fee | Cancel inside 24 hours and the Avios are gone. The option to forfeit the taxes only exists before that 24 hour deadline. |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | Latest check in time | €70, about $80 | Full, minus fee | Refunded minus the fee | Applies to Promo Rewards too. Flying Blue Platinum members pay nothing. |
| Singapore KrisFlyer | Before departure | $50 to $75 depending on award type | Full, minus fee | Refunded | No show and you pay an extra $100 economy, $200 premium economy, $300 business or first, on top of the cancel fee. |
| ANA Mileage Club | Before the originally booked flight departs | 3,000 JPY or 3,000 miles, about $20 | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Date and time changes are free but must be made at least 96 hours before the new flight. Some regions can only pay the fee in miles. |
| JAL Mileage Bank | Before the first sector departs, within 1 year of issue | 3,100 JPY, about $20 | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Changes are not permitted at all. You cancel and rebook, so you risk losing the seat. |
| Turkish Miles&Smiles | No hard deadline, miles can be redeposited after a no show | $70 | Full, minus fee | Refunded | No show and the redeposit fee jumps to $170. Both figures are a steep increase over the old $25 structure. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | Before departure | $120 or 17,000 miles | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Changing online is far cheaper at $50 or 7,500 miles. Fees are per person, per sector. |
| Qatar Privilege Club | 3 hours before departure | $25 more than 24 hours out. $100 between 3 and 24 hours out | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Inside 3 hours the Avios are forfeited and you only get taxes back. |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | At least 24 hours before departure | £70 on flights originating in the UK, $100 elsewhere | Full, minus fee | Refunded minus the fee. If your taxes came to less than the fee, for example $5.60 on a domestic award, Virgin typically keeps the taxes and refunds all your points instead | Cancel inside 24 hours and no points are refunded at all. The option to forfeit the taxes only exists before that 24 hour deadline. |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | At least 24 hours before departure | 6,000 points | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Qantas also lists a separate service fee of 4,500 to 7,700 points on economy award cancellations, so check the schedule for your fare. |
| Emirates Skywards | At least 24 hours before departure, per published fee schedules | Typically $75. $0 on Flex Plus awards | Full, minus fee | Refunded, sometimes as a credit note | The exact fee is set by your fare conditions and shown in Manage Your Booking. Date changes are about $25. |
| Etihad Guest | More than 72 hours before departure | Value: cannot be canceled. Comfort: 25% of the miles. Deluxe: $0 | Partial or none | Refunded | Nothing can be changed or canceled inside 72 hours. Etihad has revised this policy three times since 2024, so re-check before booking. |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Outside the 24 hours around departure | $50 to $200 by cabin and distance | Full, minus fee | Refunded | You cannot cancel online, and changes cost a flat $150. The fee is displayed during booking, so screenshot it. |
| Lufthansa Miles & More | Before departure | €50, or forfeit the miles | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Only date and time can change, not the route. You may take taxes back and forfeit miles instead of paying the fee. Some fare classes cost more. |
| Finnair Plus | Not published | €50 | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Changes are generally only allowed on Finnair operated flights. |
| Iberia Club | At least 24 hours before departure | €25, reported as about $40 for US members | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Fee covers Iberia, Iberia Express, and Air Nostrum only. Partner refund rules changed in 2026 and are now fare dependent, and members still report economy awards being nonrefundable. Read the conditions at checkout. |
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 24 hours before departure | €42.50 | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Same 24 hour cliff as the other Avios programs. |
| SAS EuroBonus | 1 hour before departure | $25 within Europe. $75 to or from North America and Asia | Full, minus fee | Refunded | One hour is among the most generous deadlines of any European program, but only if your points have not expired. |
| TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go | 24 hours before departure | €75 on TAP. €100 on partners | Full, minus fee | Refunded | No show costs $130 on TAP or $150 on partners just to recover the miles. |
| Thai Royal Orchid Plus | Not published | $60 within Thailand. $125 regional. $190 intercontinental | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Only dates and flight numbers can be changed. Allow about 3 days for miles to return. |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | Before departure | $50, and reportedly $0 if canceled online | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Route changes cost $50. Date changes are reported to be free. |
| Air India Maharaja Club | 24 hours before departure | 25% of the miles | 75% back | Refunded | Inside 24 hours it is treated as a no show with no refund. Elite waivers do not extend to others on the booking. |
| Aeromexico Club Premier | Not published | 1,930 MXN domestic, about $110. 2,900 MXN international, about $165 | Full, minus fee | Refunded | Change fees to and from the US run higher than the cancel fee, around $228. |
Every program name above links to that program's own published policy, checked July 2026. The full list of URLs is spelled out in Sources at the end of this article so you can audit any row. Two exceptions: Etihad Guest and Avianca LifeMiles do not publish stable public fee pages, and LifeMiles shows its fee only at checkout, so those rows link to published breakdowns of the official schedules. Iberia Club and Aer Lingus AerClub link to the shared Avios terms governing both. Delta does not publish its Basic award mileage charge on a public page, so that figure is sourced from fare rules as reported by multiple outlets. Currency conversions are approximate.
Which airline miles cancel for free?
Five programs refund your points in full with no cancellation fee any time before departure: Atmos Rewards, American AAdvantage, United MileagePlus, Delta SkyMiles, and Southwest Rapid Rewards. JetBlue TrueBlue is free too on everything except its cheapest Base fares. If flexibility is why you are booking with points, hold those.
For kamaʻāina that lineup is lucky. Atmos Rewards is the program most of us already have, and it sits in the free tier. American, United, Delta, and Southwest all serve Honolulu, so the flexible programs and the useful programs are largely the same list. For how Atmos works now, start with our Atmos Rewards guide.
Free cancellation is largely a US carrier feature. Most major US programs now waive award cancellation fees before departure, with basic economy awards the main exception. Almost every foreign program still charges something, from about $20 up to $200, and a few charge in miles or points rather than cash. So when a partner program prices an award cheaper in miles, add the cancellation fee before deciding it is the better deal.
How late can you cancel before departure?
The range is enormous. Southwest lets you cancel 10 minutes before pushback. SAS gives you 1 hour, Aeroplan 2 hours, Qatar 3 hours. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Air India all stop refunding 24 hours out. Emirates and Etihad stop at 24 and 72 hours respectively. Two outliers run the other way: Turkish will let you recover miles even after a no show, for $170, and LifeMiles can be canceled more than 24 hours after departure. Miss a deadline and you usually pay no fee at all, you simply lose the points.
This is what actually costs people money, because the fee gets the attention and the deadline does the damage. A $55 British Airways cancellation fee is cheap. Finding out the afternoon before your flight that your window closed that morning is not. If a program refunds up to departure, you can treat the award as a real placeholder. If it cuts off 24 hours out, you are holding a ticket you must decide on a day early, and that changes how you should use it.
Almost every award ticket touching the United States can be canceled free within 24 hours of booking under the US Department of Transportation's 24 hour rule, as long as you booked at least 7 days out. That is a same day undo button on any program, even the punitive ones. Use it to double check taxes, names, and connections before you are locked in.
What does canceling actually cost?
Anywhere from nothing to $200 per person. Six programs charge nothing on standard awards, though Delta and JetBlue both carve out their cheapest basic fares. The Japanese carriers are the bargain at roughly $20. The middle runs $50 to $80. The expensive end is Virgin Atlantic and Aeroplan near $100, Cathay at $120, and Avianca LifeMiles up to $200.
Two costs hide outside the chart. The first is the no show penalty: cancel on time and United charges nothing, forget and it costs $125 to recover your miles. Turkish charges $170, and Singapore stacks $100 to $300 on top of its normal fee. The second is the phone surcharge. British Airways, JetBlue, and Aeroplan all charge $25 or so more to cancel by phone than online. Cancel yourself, online, whenever you can.
One trick sits in Aeroplan's own fee table: changing a Standard award costs CAD 75 while canceling costs CAD 150, and Flexible awards cancel free. Switching to Flexible first, then canceling, can cost less than canceling outright. You only find things like that in the actual fee schedule, which is why every row links to one.
Do you get your taxes back too?
Usually yes, back to your original card within about 7 to 14 business days, with the points returned separately. Three exceptions matter:
- JetBlue does not refund taxes to your card. The cash goes into your JetBlue travel credit account and expires 12 months from original ticketing. Points come back instantly, the money stays locked at JetBlue.
- Atmos Rewards never refunds the partner award booking fee. That is $20 per person, each way, on awards involving a partner airline. A round trip to Tokyo on Japan Airlines for two costs you $80 even though the cancellation itself is free.
- British Airways and Virgin Atlantic let you trade taxes for the fee. If you cancel before their 24 hour deadline, you can forfeit the taxes you already paid instead of paying the cancellation fee. On a domestic American award booked with Avios where you paid $5.60, that turns a $55 cancellation into a $5.60 one. Inside 24 hours neither option exists, because no points are refunded at all.
This is the whole reason points beat cash on flexibility: an award refund returns real points and real money, while a canceled cash fare usually returns an airline credit with an expiration date. That gap is a real part of what your points are actually worth.
What about hotel points?
Hotel awards are far more rigid, because the deadline is set by the individual property rather than the program. World of Hyatt is the exception, with a program wide standard letting you cancel award stays up to 48 hours before check in for a full points refund. At Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, and Radisson, the window is whatever that specific hotel chose, and during a holiday week it can be a fixed date weeks out.
Cancel a hotel points booking after the deadline and you may lose more than points. Hyatt and Marriott can charge you the cash value of the stay instead, and members have reported losing a "free" night and receiving a four figure cash bill. Read the cancellation line on your confirmation email, not the brand's general policy page.
Practical takeaway for kamaʻāina: airline awards are the flexible half of the points world, hotel awards the rigid half. Lock the flights first with a free cancel program and hold the hotel until you are more certain.
Which credit card points are most flexible?
Transferable currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou, Capital One miles, Bilt, and Wells Fargo Rewards are the most flexible points you can hold, because they are not committed to an airline yet. The catch is the most important rule in this article: transfers are one way and cannot be reversed. The moment your points land in an Avianca LifeMiles or Etihad Guest account, they live by that program's rules permanently.
- Find the seat before you transfer. Have the flight and the exact mileage price on screen, then transfer, then book. Speculative transfers are how people end up with 90,000 miles stuck in the one program they never wanted.
- Favor cards earning US carrier miles when flexibility matters. Miles earned into Atmos Rewards, AAdvantage, MileagePlus, SkyMiles, or Rapid Rewards all sit in the free cancel tier. That is a real benefit that never appears in a card's marketing.
- Do not confuse a portal booking with an award. Paying with points through a bank travel portal creates a cash ticket, so the airline's fare rules apply and you may get an airline credit instead of your points back.
Worth noting for Atmos holders: the Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite waives the partner award booking fee, which is the only cash cost of canceling an Atmos partner award. If you are working out which cards make sense from here, see our roundup of the best cards for Hawaiʻi travelers and our Hawaiʻi to Japan guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which points and miles are the most flexible for canceling a flight?
Southwest Rapid Rewards is the most flexible of the free cancel programs, allowing cancellation as late as 10 minutes before scheduled departure with a full points refund and no fee. Atmos Rewards, American AAdvantage, United MileagePlus, and Delta SkyMiles also refund points in full with no fee any time before departure, which puts all five in the top tier.
Can you cancel an award ticket right before departure?
With most US programs, yes. Atmos Rewards, American, United, Delta, and JetBlue accept cancellations up until scheduled departure, and Southwest until 10 minutes before. Foreign programs are stricter: British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, and Iberia stop refunding 24 hours out, Qatar stops at 3 hours, and Etihad stops at 72 hours.
How much does Atmos Rewards charge to cancel an award flight?
Nothing. Atmos Rewards charges no change or cancellation fee on award tickets, and your points and taxes come back as long as you cancel before scheduled departure. The only cash at risk is the $20 partner award booking fee, per person each way, on awards involving a partner airline, which is nonrefundable. It does not apply to flights operated by Alaska, Hawaiian, or Horizon.
Are interisland award flights refundable?
Yes, and they are among the cleanest refunds in points travel. One way interisland awards on Hawaiian start at 4,500 Atmos Rewards points and follow the standard Atmos policy: no cancellation fee, full points refunded, taxes back to your card, as long as you cancel before scheduled departure. Because these fly on Hawaiian metal, no partner booking fee applies, so a canceled interisland award costs nothing at all.
What happens if I miss my award flight without canceling?
In most programs you forfeit the points entirely. A few let you buy them back: United charges $125 to redeposit after a no show, Turkish charges $170, and Singapore adds $100 to $300 on top of its normal fee depending on cabin. Canceling is always cheaper, even five minutes before the deadline.
Can I get credit card points back after transferring them to an airline?
No. Transfers from Chase, American Express, Citi, Capital One, Bilt, and Wells Fargo to airline programs are one way and cannot be reversed. If you cancel the award ticket, the miles return to the airline account, not to your card account. Only transfer once you have confirmed award availability and the exact mileage price.
Scottie's Take
Aloha ʻohana. Living here, our travel plans are never fully our own. Somebody's graduation moves. A tūtū gets sick. The one week you could all take off shifts because of work. Once I started treating "how easily can I undo this" as a real factor instead of a footnote, my whole approach changed. I stopped chasing the cheapest mileage price and started asking what the exit costs.
That is why I hold more Atmos Rewards points than anything else, and not only because we fly Hawaiian. I can book an award for the whole family in April, watch the plan fall apart in May, and get every point back without a phone call. For a family flying out of HNL, that beats saving 10,000 miles on a partner award I would be nervous to touch. The programs I stay careful with are the ones with a cliff. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are great value on the right routes and I still use them, but the 24 hour deadline goes in my calendar the moment I book. Etihad Guest I mostly leave alone.
If you have canceled an award recently and the fee or the timing did not match what you see above, please tell me. Drop a comment or reach out. Real data points from local travelers are how this chart stays honest, and I would rather correct it from your experience than from a press release.
A hui hou, Scottie
Sources: every policy page
Every figure in the chart traces back to one of the pages below. I have linked them in full so you can check any row yourself rather than take my word for it. Twenty six of the thirty go to the airline's own published terms. The four exceptions are labeled.
- Atmos Rewardswww.alaskaair.com/atmosrewards/content/faq/redeeming
- American AAdvantagewww.aa.com/web/i18n/aadvantage-program/answers-support/using-miles-for-travel.html
- United MileagePluswww.united.com/en/us/fly/mileageplus/award-redeposit-fees.html
- Delta SkyMileswww.delta.com/us/en/change-cancel/cancel-flightDelta does not publish the Basic award mileage charge publicly. That figure comes from fare rules as reported by multiple outlets.
- Southwest Rapid Rewardswww.southwest.com/fare-information/
- JetBlue TrueBluewww.jetblue.com/legal/flights-terms
- Air Canada Aeroplanwww.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/aeroplan/legal/aeroplan-flight-reward-policy.html
- British Airways Clubwww.britishairways.com/content/the-british-airways-club/about-the-club/terms-and-conditions
- Air France KLM Flying Bluewwws.airfrance.us/information/legal/edito-cg-flying-blue
- Singapore KrisFlyerwww.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/ppsclub-krisflyer/forms-and-fees/service-fees/
- ANA Mileage Clubwww.ana.co.jp/en/jp/guide/amc/award/international/refund/
- JAL Mileage Bankwww.jal.co.jp/jp/en/jalmile/use/jal/inter/cancel.html
- Turkish Miles&Smileswww.turkishairlines.com/en-us/miles-and-smiles/redeem-miles/redeem-miles-on-flights/award-travel-terms-conditions/
- Cathay Pacific Asia Mileswww.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/faqs/cathay-membership-programme/spend-miles-when-you-fly/can-i-cancel-my-ticket.html
- Qatar Privilege Clubwww.qatarairways.com/en/Privilege-Club/redeem-avios/award-ticket-fees.html
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Clubwww.virginatlantic.com/en-US/policies/virgin-atlantic-flying-club-terms-and-conditions-effective-from-30th-october-2024
- Qantas Frequent Flyerwww.qantas.com/us/en/frequent-flyer/discover-and-join/terms-and-conditions.html
- Emirates Skywardswww.emirates.com/us/english/help/faq-topics/cancelling-or-changing-a-booking/
- Etihad Guestonemileatatime.com/news/etihad-guest-award-change-cancellation-fees/Etihad publishes no stable public fee page. This is a documented breakdown of their official fee table, last revised November 2025.
- Avianca LifeMilesonemileatatime.com/guides/change-cancel-lifemiles-award-ticket/LifeMiles shows the fee only at checkout. This is a documented breakdown of the published schedule.
- Lufthansa Miles & Morewww.miles-and-more.com/row/en/general-information/terms-and-conditions/flight-awards.html
- Finnair Pluswww.finnair.com/us-en/service-fees
- Iberia Clubwww.avios.com/en-GB/terms-and-conditionsShared Avios programme terms, which govern Iberia Club.
- Aer Lingus AerClubwww.avios.com/en-GB/terms-and-conditionsShared Avios programme terms, which govern AerClub.
- SAS EuroBonuswww.flysas.com/us-en/travel-info/ticket-types/award-tickets
- TAP Air Portugal Miles&Gowww.flytap.com/en-us/miles-and-go/spend-miles/fees
- Thai Royal Orchid Pluswww.thaiairways.com/en_TH/rop/About/AboutRoyal_Service_Fees.page
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLandswww.evaair.com/en-us/infinity-mileagelands/mileage-award-program/mileage-redemption/award-ticket/star-alliance/
- Air India Maharaja Clubwww.airindia.com/in/en/manage/request-refund.html
- Aeromexico Club Premierwww.aeromexico.com/en-us/aeromexico-rewards/award-ticket
Last checked July 2026. If a page has moved or a fee has changed since, please tell me in the comments and I will correct the chart.
