Sep 16, 2014, 3:01 pm
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
United’s 24-hour flexible booking policy
and Ticket refund policies - Booking service fees
April 2020
Previous wording - Dec 2019
Note: United refers to this as "United’s 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
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
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
Archive thread: United’s 24-hour cancellation / flexible booking policy ... {Archive}
United;s web page: https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...ng-policy.html
United’s 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 aren’t eligible for changes within 24 hours, they’re 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.
Spoiler
Note: United refers to this as "United’s 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.
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.
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 don’t have to offer both options. ...
Airlines are free to choose between holding a reservation without payment in these circumstances or refunding after payment; they don’t have to offer both options. ...
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 ETCsArchive thread: United’s 24-hour cancellation / flexible booking policy ... {Archive}
United’s 24-hour cancellation / flexible booking policy ...
Aug 3, 2023, 9:29 pm
#106
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 2,280
Rule of thumb is same day, pacific time. If you cancel the same day then it will void the ticket and let the pending authorization fall off per card issuer's policy (not an active reversal of the authorization). If you cancel next day (but still within 24 hours), it will refund the ticket which shows up as a posted charge and credit.
Aug 21, 2023, 6:37 am
#107
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 48
Only found one data point on this from 2015, so seeing if anyone has more recent information.
Wondering about the following exclusion:
>> Reservations that are being held but have not yet been purchased are excluded.
I am waiting for an ETC to be issued and the agent kindly put the reservation on hold for me for 3 days. I have a confirmation number and can see the itinerary, but it says it is not ticketed yet.
Does this exclusion mean that if I purchase and ticket this in 2 or 3 days that there will not be a 24hr cancel period after the purchase?
If the ETC doesn't come through in time, I may just purchase the ticket without waiting, but would prefer to use the ETC.
Wondering about the following exclusion:
>> Reservations that are being held but have not yet been purchased are excluded.
I am waiting for an ETC to be issued and the agent kindly put the reservation on hold for me for 3 days. I have a confirmation number and can see the itinerary, but it says it is not ticketed yet.
Does this exclusion mean that if I purchase and ticket this in 2 or 3 days that there will not be a 24hr cancel period after the purchase?
If the ETC doesn't come through in time, I may just purchase the ticket without waiting, but would prefer to use the ETC.
Sep 5, 2023, 4:43 pm
#108
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 413
24 Hour Refund problem
I purchased on Basic economy on UA last month and realized within 24 hours I wanted to change. So I cancelled and rebooked the new flights within 24 hours. But when I went to cancel the system didn't seem to recognize that it was within 24 hours so I contacted the chat agent. Initially s/he indicated the same, but when I pushed on it, s/he acknowledged that it was eligible for full refund and said that s/he put in for the refund to original payment. I did save the transcript.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I see my credit card bill shows both transactions with only a credit for the $16 seat purchase fee, not the whole first reservation. I go to check status of the refund and it says "Approved" with a FFC for the total amount minus $99. I don't see a place there to appeal, it won't allow me to submit a refund request online because it has already been "refunded", and Customer Care won't let me submit a request because it only allows for past travel. I called the 800 number and they said I can only deal with this online. Any insight? Or is it time to dispute with my credit card (the United Explorer card)?
Fast forward a few weeks, and I see my credit card bill shows both transactions with only a credit for the $16 seat purchase fee, not the whole first reservation. I go to check status of the refund and it says "Approved" with a FFC for the total amount minus $99. I don't see a place there to appeal, it won't allow me to submit a refund request online because it has already been "refunded", and Customer Care won't let me submit a request because it only allows for past travel. I called the 800 number and they said I can only deal with this online. Any insight? Or is it time to dispute with my credit card (the United Explorer card)?
Sep 5, 2023, 5:11 pm
#109
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 14,891
I purchased on Basic economy on UA last month and realized within 24 hours I wanted to change. So I cancelled and rebooked the new flights within 24 hours. But when I went to cancel the system didn't seem to recognize that it was within 24 hours so I contacted the chat agent. Initially s/he indicated the same, but when I pushed on it, s/he acknowledged that it was eligible for full refund and said that s/he put in for the refund to original payment. I did save the transcript.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I see my credit card bill shows both transactions with only a credit for the $16 seat purchase fee, not the whole first reservation. I go to check status of the refund and it says "Approved" with a FFC for the total amount minus $99. I don't see a place there to appeal, it won't allow me to submit a refund request online because it has already been "refunded", and Customer Care won't let me submit a request because it only allows for past travel. I called the 800 number and they said I can only deal with this online. Any insight? Or is it time to dispute with my credit card (the United Explorer card)?
Fast forward a few weeks, and I see my credit card bill shows both transactions with only a credit for the $16 seat purchase fee, not the whole first reservation. I go to check status of the refund and it says "Approved" with a FFC for the total amount minus $99. I don't see a place there to appeal, it won't allow me to submit a refund request online because it has already been "refunded", and Customer Care won't let me submit a request because it only allows for past travel. I called the 800 number and they said I can only deal with this online. Any insight? Or is it time to dispute with my credit card (the United Explorer card)?
if you are absolutely sure that you canceled prior to 24 hours initially, and UA isn’t helping, I’d dispute - both the original fare and the $99 fee.
I suspect that if there was some sort of issue with your original attempt to cancel, and agent dealing with you was beyond 24 hours, system must not have accepted your refund, and so they charged the ‘upgrade’ to regular fee. That would also explain the FFC, which is all you would be eligible for if the system though you were beyond 24 hours.
If you do dispute though, I’d be careful and not use the FFC. This will only invite additional scrutiny, and UA will absolutely have a claim against you, and this could impact your status and MP account.
Sep 5, 2023, 5:26 pm
#110
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,857
If sure the timing was under the limit (what was the timing?) this is a DOT violation and a DOT complaint might be easier and less problematic than a chargeback.
Sep 5, 2023, 10:10 pm
#111
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 413
If sure the timing was under the limit (what was the timing?) this is a DOT violation and a DOT complaint might be easier and less problematic than a chargeback.
For sure. I wouldn't consider doing that until the whole thing is resolved.
Sep 5, 2023, 10:26 pm
#112
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,857
I went back to triple check. The "your united reservation...is processing" email came in at 11:41 (to my best recollection it was more or less immediate) and the eticket confirmation came in the same minute. The UA chat agent said the following day at 11:31 "I was able to cancel your reservation and submit the refund request. You may check on the email confirmation within 24 hours."...
Still suggest a DOT complaint vs a messier chargeback
Sep 5, 2023, 10:38 pm
#113
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 413
So something like 10 minutes short of the 24 hours. While it should have worked, that was really pushing the deadline, hence the common recommendation is leave an hour buffer.
Still suggest a DOT complaint vs a messier chargeback
Still suggest a DOT complaint vs a messier chargeback
Sep 6, 2023, 8:15 am
#114
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 14,891
If sure the timing was under the limit (what was the timing?) this is a DOT violation and a DOT complaint might be easier and less problematic than a chargeback.
Just as a data point, I filed a DOT complaint about UA refusing constantly to ticket an advertised fare (to India, as part of the SQ deal via SIN) - tried multiple times over several days. This was back in May. Also at the tome, just booked separately - one ticket to SIN and another SIN-BLR separately - ended up being pretty close to the same price. Completely forgot about until last week, when I finally got a [completely irrelevant] response from UA. I realize that is way beyond the limit allowed by DOT regs for a response, but aside from that, a complaint will only force UA to respond, and not necessarily to provide the actual refund. If UA is not responding, I’d argue a chargeback AND a DOT complaint could be in order. UA has been given more than one chance to provide the proper refund, which they did not do, and also still broke the regs, which still deserves a complaint regardless of presence of a chargeback. You could even include in the complaint that UA was in violation of their responsibilities and you needed to initiate a chargeback with your card in response, and that is not OK. Or something like that.
Sep 6, 2023, 9:11 pm
#115
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Saipan, MP 96950 USA (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands = the CNMI)
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton Silver. Life: UA .57 MM, United & Admirals Clubs (spousal), Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,055
Keep in mind that there is a chargeback time limit, something like 60 days after the statement on which the charge appears.
Since people often buy tickets in advance of travel, the chargeback deadline can be quite short.
Since people often buy tickets in advance of travel, the chargeback deadline can be quite short.
Sep 6, 2023, 10:37 pm
#116
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,857
In this case. we are talking about a problem that occurred inherently within 24 hours of purchase,
Nov 17, 2023, 11:30 am
#117
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 413
I purchased on Basic economy on UA last month and realized within 24 hours I wanted to change. So I cancelled and rebooked the new flights within 24 hours. But when I went to cancel the system didn't seem to recognize that it was within 24 hours so I contacted the chat agent. Initially s/he indicated the same, but when I pushed on it, s/he acknowledged that it was eligible for full refund and said that s/he put in for the refund to original payment. I did save the transcript.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I see my credit card bill shows both transactions with only a credit for the $16 seat purchase fee, not the whole first reservation. I go to check status of the refund and it says "Approved" with a FFC for the total amount minus $99. I don't see a place there to appeal, it won't allow me to submit a refund request online because it has already been "refunded", and Customer Care won't let me submit a request because it only allows for past travel. I called the 800 number and they said I can only deal with this online. Any insight? Or is it time to dispute with my credit card (the United Explorer card)?
Fast forward a few weeks, and I see my credit card bill shows both transactions with only a credit for the $16 seat purchase fee, not the whole first reservation. I go to check status of the refund and it says "Approved" with a FFC for the total amount minus $99. I don't see a place there to appeal, it won't allow me to submit a refund request online because it has already been "refunded", and Customer Care won't let me submit a request because it only allows for past travel. I called the 800 number and they said I can only deal with this online. Any insight? Or is it time to dispute with my credit card (the United Explorer card)?
Nov 17, 2023, 11:39 am
#118
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Floating around
Programs: UA 1K (1MM), DL Gold (1MM), Marriott LTT
Posts: 10,346
-RM
Nov 30, 2023, 5:56 am
#119
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: New York, NY, USA
Posts: 12,482
25-Hour Cancellation?
I just cancelled a UA ticket after 24 but before 25 hours. I was only presented with a choice to refund, no choice for FFC. 
I cancelled and no FFC showed up. Do I get a refund?
I cancelled and no FFC showed up. Do I get a refund?
Nov 30, 2023, 6:03 am
#120
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,064