Originally Posted by jsloan

Don’t rush to cancel, even if you decide that there’s no way you’re interested in taking the trip, no matter the situation in July. If the situation continues, UA is likely either to open up a waiver or cancel a flight that you’re on. If they cancel a flight, give them a few days for it to appear in your record and then call Chase to get a refund. If they issue a travel waiver, you’ll need to check the terms to see if it allows you a refund or just allows you to reschedule travel without paying a change fee.

If your flight isn’t cancelled, and there’s no waiver, the change fees for United award travel are $75 when changes are made more than 60 days prior to departure, or $125 otherwise. If you have status with United, these fees are reduced. United is also waiving change fees on a case-by-case basis, even outside of a waiver, so you can call and ask about that if necessary, but I’d wait until about 61 days prior to travel to see what happens.

It is extremely unlikely that you will not be able to get cash back from UA for the points that you purchased. Instead, they will redeposit them for future use.