Yes it’s a case of looking carefully as the wording is not always clear. A free change can mean exactly that - nothing more to pay - or it can mean no fees to make the change but you have to pay the fare difference.

Eurostar also offers free changes but you need to pay any fare difference for example and change 7 days in advance (but with 7 days you can change for a fee and fare difference)

Aa to the OP my personal policy is not to include the day of travel in the 7 days at all as it then avoids any mess with is it 168 hours before departure. So if I was flying on a Saturday I would cancel no later than the previous Saturday.


it is something that the travel trade could make clearer. BA Holidays give you a date by which you need to pay the balance of your holiday by which is 3 weeks before departure but they actually give you the specific date you don’t have to guess. And that 3 weeks doesn’t include the day of departure.