sokolov

It has been long standing practice on expediaforTD.com (and I understand also on expedia.com and expedia.ca), to facilitate free flight cancellations before the first midnight PST after the booking was made - not quite as good as the 24 hour policy North American airlines tend to have, but still nice to have.

However, AFAIK, you always had to call in.

Today, I have noticed for the first time that flights can be cancelled for free online on expediaforTD.com. You have to go to "Itineraries", then pick the flight and scroll down to "Manage Reservation". The refund is to the original means of payment.

I presume it is the same on expedia.ca and expedia.com. Can anyone confirm?

Please excuse if this is not a recent change. I only discovered it today.

seawolf

Cancellation policy is way better than airline 24 hour cancel. Many airlines don't even give you the 24 hours if the departure date is less than 7 day from ticketing date.

OTA cancellation is actually end of day next business day. If you ticket on Friday, you actually have until Monday night to cancel even if you are ticket less than 7 days from departure. And yes you can do it online on expedia/orbitz/travelocity and priceline.

sokolov

That does not jive with my experience with Expedia. I booked Sunday afternoon, and the deadline was Sunday midnight (PST), not Monday midnight.

seawolf

I suggest checking again. That alone would have been against US DOT regulation because it would have to offer a minimum of 24 hours cancellation on itinerary departing more than 7 days from booking. I'm assuming you were looking at expedia.com not expedia.ca.

sokolov

The US DOT regulation applies to bookings made directly with airlines, not to bookings made through an OTA.

As for checking again, just look at the screenshot I posted above. The screenshot was only few minutes old at posting time, and the end of the cancellation period is clearly Sunday 23:59, not Monday.

seawolf

Current time is MAR 2 1PM Eastern. I just booked a flight for MAR 5.

Expedia shows Free until Fri, Mar 3, 11:59p PST

paperwastage

and for airlines marketing to USA consumers

AA.com markets to USA consumers, covered by rule

americanairlines.co.uk doesn't count

vincewy

Since Expedia is located in WA, what time does Expedia use for booking? Their headquarter or user's local time?

For example, if I book something Tuesday morning at 1 am EST, it is still 10 pm on Monday in Seattle area, in this case, is my ticket fully refundable by 23:59 Tuesday PST or 23:59 Wed PST?

Both of the scenarios above have more than 24-hour windows.

seawolf

It goes by Expedia's time zone. You should be able to cancel until Tuesday night 23:59 PST as the ticket was issued Monday PST.