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Uniteds 24-hour cancellation / flexible booking policy ...

Old Sep 16, 2014, 3:01 pm
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Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Related topic: Change Fees "Gone For Good"(WW ex-USA,non-BE), credit for lower fare!, BE waiver

United;s web page: https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...ng-policy.html

Uniteds 24-hour flexible booking policy
and Ticket refund policies - Booking service fees
April 2020
We know that life happens, and you may need to change your travel plans unexpectedly. United's 24-hour flexible booking policy gives you the freedom to make changes to select reservations within 24 hours of booking and ticketing, without being charged change fees if you made your purchase one week or more before the flight was scheduled to depart. This includes canceling your reservation and requesting a full refund of the ticket price. Although Basic Economy reservations arent eligible for changes within 24 hours, theyre still eligible for a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours and you made your purchase one week or more before the flight was scheduled to depart. Please view the terms and conditions below for more details.Terms and conditions
  • Applies to tickets booked at united.com, United City Ticket Offices, airport ticket counters or with the United Customer Contact Center.
  • The 24-hour timeframe begins at the time you book and ticket your reservation.
  • Requests for refunds will be credited back in the original form of payment, except for purchases made with a United Gift Certificate, which will be credited back in the form of electronic travel certificates.
  • Group tickets are subject to the terms of the group contract.
  • Tickets purchased using e-certificates are excluded. (New April 2020)
  • Reservations that are being held but have not yet been purchased are excluded.
  • Any FareLock fees paid to hold a reservation will not be refunded.
Previous wording - Dec 2019
Spoiler
 









Note: United refers to this as "Uniteds 24-hour flexible booking policy", not just cancellations. UA includes routing changes, pricing changes, fare class changes, ..... as well as simple cancellations. But the timeframe is based on the original purchases and not reset by a change. Only a cancellation and then separate rebooking would achieve that.

Reservation booking service fees and close-in booking fees for award tickets are refundable only if you cancel your reservation within 24 hours of purchase. These sometimes may take an extra request.

Starting 2016Q4 ticket receipts state
Refunds Within 24 Hours

When you book and ticket a reservation through united.com, the United mobile app, the United Customer Contact Center, at our ticket counters or city ticket offices, or if you use MileagePlus miles to book an award ticket, we will allow you to cancel the ticketed reservation without penalty and receive a 100 percent refund of the ticket price to the original form of payment if you cancel the reservation within 24 hours of purchase and if the reservation is made one week or more prior to scheduled flight departure.
The website link does now mention the 7 day restriction (new 2017Q2) and the CoCs has contained the 7 day restriction for awhile. This is allowed by the DoT rules. However, no reports yet of UA enforcing the 7 day restriction.

DOT 24 refund rule, announcement
DOT requires airlines to either hold a reservation for 24 hours without payment or refund a paid ticket even a non-refundable one if you cancel within 24 hours of purchase and you purchased your ticket more than 7 days before your flight.

Airlines are free to choose between holding a reservation without payment in these circumstances or refunding after payment; they dont have to offer both options. ...
76 Fed. Reg. 23110, 23166, Apr. 25, 2011

Further DOT Guidance on 24 hour rule
Note the present UA implementation in practice is more generous -- no 7 day limitation enforcement as of yet.
UA's 24 hour rule was in place long before the DOT requirement .

Note -- a changed ticket does not get a new 24-hour free cancel period -- that benefit only applies to the original purchase.

Does the 24 hour rule apply to award tickets?
Yes

Does the 24 hour rule apply to close in bookings?
Yes but cancellation must be done before scheduled departure.
While the policy revision in 2018 add the DOT allowed 7-day exemption, UA has generally allowed this and not enforced the 7-day exemption. There has been just one FT reported situation where the 7-day was enforced and it had other factors.

In the case of credit card purchases, on a cancellation, the credit charge may be left pending and never finalized. So in the end it is as if it never happen.

Basic Economy tickets -- are they projected by the 24 hour rule?
Yes, UA is allowing cancellation of BE tickets in the first 24 hour (consistent with DOT requirements. But as UA allows changes also of other fares in the first 24 hours, it will not allow that of BE . The distinction is minor but

Book a reservation with ETC but cancelled with 24 hours, will the ETC be refunded?
Yes it should but UA can be rather slow on this and occasionally will drop the ball. You may need to followup. Note the refunded ETC will have the same expiration as the original ETC. (So, not a way to extend the ETC ) -- Note in late 2020, UA's practice does seem to have changed to issuing NEW ETCs

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Uniteds 24-hour cancellation / flexible booking policy ...

Old Mar 12, 2023, 11:29 pm
  #61  
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Originally Posted by BigFlyer
So which is it - does the 24-hour cancellation rule apply to tickets bought less than 7 days before departure or not?
Several years ago, UA updated their policy to add the seven-day exception, in line with the minimum DOT requirement. I can recall exactly one report of UA ever trying to enforce it -- I don't remember the details exactly, but there were other successful refunds after that case.

If you absolutely need to be able to get a refund, a refundable ticket is your best bet. If you'd prefer a refund, but would accept future flight credit if it came down to it, then I think it's OK to continue to rely on this unpublished exception with the knowledge that it may disappear at any time.
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Old Mar 13, 2023, 12:10 am
  #62  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
Several years ago, UA updated their policy to add the seven-day exception, in line with the minimum DOT requirement. I can recall exactly one report of UA ever trying to enforce it -- I don't remember the details exactly, but there were other successful refunds after that case.

If you absolutely need to be able to get a refund, a refundable ticket is your best bet. If you'd prefer a refund, but would accept future flight credit if it came down to it, then I think it's OK to continue to rely on this unpublished exception with the knowledge that it may disappear at any time.
As a test, I started a booking for a Basic Economy ticket for less than 7 days out. On the "Traveler Info" page in the booking process, if you expand the section labeled "terms and conditions" it says: "All customers booking at united.com may request a 100% refund within 24 hours of ticketing." Seems pretty unequivocal that you can get the refund in 24 hours, even in the case of a Basic Economy ticket.

Not sure this is any way to run a railroad - having a policy on your website which is not followed and is contradicted on another part of the website.
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Old Mar 13, 2023, 12:53 am
  #63  
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Originally Posted by BigFlyer
Not sure this is any way to run a railroad - having a policy on your website which is not followed and is contradicted on another part of the website.
Unfortunately, UA's site has several examples of this type of contradiction. For practical purposes, it seems that everyone has 24 hours and the 7-day thing isn't enforced. A cautious customer could take a screenshot of the verbiage you quoted prior to purchase. If UA were to decide to contest one, I suspect they'd back off upon being presented with the screenshot, although it might take a DOT complaint to get someone at UA to read and to understand the request.
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Old Apr 7, 2023, 2:51 pm
  #64  
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
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Hello,
I scanned thru the link but didn't find the answer. I have purchased a international business class (Europe to Newark) refundable fare. What is the latest I can cancel this ticket and still get a full refund back to my credit card? Can I cancel 6 hours before and get full refund or do I have to be more than 24 hours prior to departure. This ticket is a lot of $ and I don't want to be stick with a credit for that amount.
Thanks,
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Old Apr 7, 2023, 2:56 pm
  #65  
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Originally Posted by HGFNJ
Hello,
I scanned thru the link but didn't find the answer. I have purchased a international business class (Europe to Newark) refundable fare. What is the latest I can cancel this ticket and still get a full refund back to my credit card? ...,
As a refundable fare, there is no 24 hour rules and certainty up to start of boarding this is cancelable And in most case refundable after the flight.
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Old Apr 7, 2023, 3:14 pm
  #66  
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
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Wow. Ok. I also called United as I posted this message. The CSR took some time to review and said if I cancel before 24 hours, no issue; but within 24 hours, and I might only get a credit but not a refund. Kind of sucks. Want to go with WineCountry's answer, which I thought made sense.
May be call again and also check?
I have had this happen (different answers by different CSR) in the past.
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Old Apr 7, 2023, 4:07 pm
  #67  
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Originally Posted by HGFNJ
Wow. Ok. I also called United as I posted this message. The CSR took some time to review and said if I cancel before 24 hours, no issue; but within 24 hours, and I might only get a credit but not a refund. Kind of sucks. Want to go with WineCountry's answer, which I thought made sense.
May be call again and also check?
I have had this happen (different answers by different CSR) in the past.
The best answer is to read the fare rules. CSR guesses are useless.
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Old Apr 7, 2023, 5:49 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by HGFNJ
Wow. Ok. I also called United as I posted this message. The CSR took some time to review and said if I cancel before 24 hours, no issue; but within 24 hours, and I might only get a credit but not a refund. Kind of sucks. Want to go with WineCountry's answer, which I thought made sense.
May be call again and also check?
I have had this happen (different answers by different CSR) in the past.
Pull up your reservation under My Trips on United.Com; underneath the itinerary information box, on the right side, there are some links, Fare Rules, Email Receipt, etc. Click the fare rules one.
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Old Apr 10, 2023, 1:04 pm
  #69  
 
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Fare refund

I booked a domestic US ticket and then cancelled within 24 hours of booking. I assumed that I'd get a full refund of the fare.

However, the booking/cancellation was within 7 days of flight. Instead, I seem to have got a travel credit for a future flight. Is that SOP for United when you cancel within 24 hrs of booking, but within 7 days of travel? Or is this a mistake, and should I be contacting customer service for an actual refund?

Also, can these credits be used to pay for award travel expenses (such as partner fees, taxes etc.)? I tried a 'book with credit' and it didn't show these credits at the payment stage as a payment method.
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Old Apr 10, 2023, 1:08 pm
  #70  
 
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Originally Posted by Prancer
I booked a domestic US ticket and then cancelled within 24 hours of booking. I assumed that I'd get a full refund of the fare.

However, the booking/cancellation was within 7 days of flight. Instead, I seem to have got a travel credit for a future flight. Is that SOP for United when you cancel within 24 hrs of booking, but within 7 days of travel? Or is this a mistake and I should contact customer service for an actual refund?
Their policy has been implemented more generous than the DoT requirement of 7 days in advance of departure/the text on the UA website, generally allowing anything within 24 hours of booking up to the time of departure. You can try calling to request them to send it to refunds or save the call time and just open the request on united.com/refunds; asssuming of course the reservation was made direct through a United channel and not through a TA/OTA.

Originally Posted by Prancer
Also, can these credits be used to pay for award travel expenses (such as partner fees, taxes etc.)? I tried a 'book with credit' and it didn't show these credits at the payment stage as a payment method.
No, taxes/fees for an award need to go on a card.
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Old Apr 10, 2023, 1:11 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by Prancer
I booked a domestic US ticket and then cancelled within 24 hours of booking. I assumed that I'd get a full refund of the fare.

However, the booking/cancellation was within 7 days of flight. Instead, I seem to have got a travel credit for a future flight. Is that SOP for United when you cancel within 24 hrs of booking, but within 7 days of travel? Or is this a mistake, and should I be contacting customer service for an actual refund?
SOP is a refund to the original form of payment. There have been a couple of cases recently where the computer seemed to get that wrong, especially if you were close to 24 hours. What did the website say when you tried to cancel?

UA does give itself an out to provide credit, instead of a refund, within 24 hours but also within 7 days of booking, as allowed by the DOT, but I only remember one person saying UA wouldn't refund, and lots of other people (myself included) who have had no issues even since they added that disclaimer.

Originally Posted by Prancer
Also, can these credits be used to pay for award travel expenses (such as partner fees, taxes etc.)?
No.
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Old Apr 11, 2023, 12:06 pm
  #72  
 
Join Date: Jan 2023
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If I buy a fully refundable economy the day before travel but cancel it the day of travel because of last minute family changes l, its not subject to any 7 day rule right, I get a full refund to credit card?
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Old Apr 11, 2023, 12:37 pm
  #73  
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Originally Posted by chairflyer101
If I buy a fully refundable economy the day before travel but cancel it the day of travel because of last minute family changes l, it’s not subject to any 7 day rule right, I get a full refund to credit card?
There is no 7-day rule for refundable fares, you can actually cancel and get a refund post-flight
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Old May 14, 2023, 3:14 pm
  #74  
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Anyone ever had the 24h period lapse early? In other words, go to cancel, say, 22h after purchase, and it is charging the cancellation fee already? Never seen this before, but that just happened for me. I triple-checked booking time to be sure I didn't mess up. Had to call in to get it processed correctly.

As an aside, it was calculating the cancel penalty in a weird way too, but it would have been to my benefit (if it were valid at all, that is). It seems like a bug erroring in customer's favour, but I am annoyed it made me call at all, so I'm not going to be bringing it to their attention.
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Old May 14, 2023, 3:53 pm
  #75  
 
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I have an ETC and a FFC that I wish to combine to use on a round-trip purchase. Obviously United does not allow both to be used in 1 transaction so is the correct move to book a fake flight with the ETC, wait 24 hours and then cancel? This would give me another FFC and then I could use both on the roundtrip purchase. Any problems with this plan?
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