goslow

It seems that many airlines charge a fee to cancel a ticket, even if the ticket was sold as 'full fare' and reported as able to be cancelled.

Is there a list somewhere of all or most airlines and the canecllation fees they charge?

l etoile

Welcome to FlyerTalk. As your question is a more general one and not related to Asia, I'm going to move your thread to our TravelBuzz forum.

l'etoile
senior moderator

goslow

Thank you for the offer, but I am only interested in carriers within Asia. I understand that the US, for example, has different contractual law.

So far I have seen some Asian airlines with different charges based on destination, from $25-$100, while those from the middle east report no charge for a full fare cancellation.

lin821

That's not what Asia Forum is for though. Our destination fora are for destination-related discussion, say what to do, what to see, where to stay...etc.

For carriers-specific discussion, you should also visit and join the discussion in Airlines and Mileage Programs Forum and see which subforums spark your interest.

Welcome to FT!

Often1

Cancellation (and change) fees are largely a matter of air carrier + fare basis + point of sale + route. There is no general table, even for a single carrier.

Might be a difference cancellation fee for a CX mid-range fare purchased in the US from one purchased in Europe,from one purchased in Asia.

I would strongly caution against relying on anything other than the specific rules for the specific ticket at the specific time of purchase.

Carnforth

Cancellation fee is one of my criteria for choosing an airline for my intended destination.
I am quite happy with paying a cancellation fee and of course I'm well aware of the principle
that applies to flights, rail tickets, hotels and so on, that the cheaper the cost, the less the flexibility.
However, I typically book our long-haul flights 6 months or so in advance and paying higher fares/rates is outside my budget (although sometimes with hotels I'm happy to pay a premium for flexibility but try to avoid it mostly)
But increasingly I'm seeing more and more with business class tickets on the lowest fare brackets that there are 'no refunds'
I don't alter my flight plans on a whim but in six months time, circumstances may change but not enough to be covered by travel insurance.
Whilst I'd be happy to write-off the cost of an inexpensive easyJet flight should my circumstances change , I'm pretty reluctant to hand over a hefty wad of cash, say Ł4000+ in the knowledge that, in the event of an unforeseen occurrence, I will have to say goodbye to 100% of that amount.
KLM used to be my BC long-haul carrier of choice but since they have gone over to 'no refunds' I've moved elsewhere.
So, yes, I do find the OP's question an interesting one.

paperwastage

as other people mentioned above, cancellation fees vary a lot (even on the same airline) based on fare basis, fare rules, point of sale and other factors

the fare rules explicitly tell you the fees charged for change/cancellation

looks like a fullservice travel agent would work better, if you are not willing to look at the fare rules before purchase

goslow

I have found that some of the airlines have pages where they detail their various cancellation charges.

Using a travel agent is not a viable option as we tend to travel to several locations at a time without firm plans as to the dates or order. This year will be in Asia.

At times we will book a flight for 2-4 weeks ahead but may have changed plans as the date approaches.

With $100 cancellation fees it can sometimes be cheaper to simply buy a LCC ticket and risk the loss of the cheap fare. Or course some airlines also have different charges for changes vs cancellations.

A single web page with the details, or even with links to each carrier’s own pages, would be useful.

ijgordon

Either you'll find it via Google, or it doesn't exist and you'll have to build it yourself.

ft101

Not only build, but maintain it as well which would be a full time job. Unless it could become financially profitable it's not going to happen and I can't foresee that.

goslow

Perhaps what flying is missing is the equivalent of a site like seat61 is for train travel.

DragonSoul

You may have found your calling.

yyznomad

The problem is that cancellation fees are not necessarily slowly changing... you will find that many airlines change them on a yearly basis. It also changes when there are changes in fare schemes, to follow suit with other airlines, etc. I've seen some airlines change certain fee rules (including cancel fees) three or four times in one year.

paperwastage

i thought that was the whole point of a travel agent - they know more than you (on airline routes/cancellation policies), can help you book/cancel/route your trip

(Though it's rare to find an agent willing to do this for low commission on air fares, especially on LCC)

goslow

Is this the 1980's calling? Yes, there was a time when we used travel agents - because only they had access.

Ticket prices can change several times a day, so frequency of change shouldn't be a constraint. Perhaps there is no industry standard to how such details as cancellation fees are presented - and that would make central collection trickier.