Originally Posted by
jsloan
If a flight is cancelled, no-show penalties don't apply. (You can't no-show a flight that didn't take off). However, I agree that if you want to cancel a ticket on a flight that's operating, you'll want to do it prior to departure, and budget 60+ minutes for hold time unless you have Premier status.
Note if you aren't checked in, you'll want to cancel before the check in cutoff. Itineraries will get cancelled if you don't meet that deadline and don't cancel by then. You can always use OLCI and wait until departure.