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How to recover miles and points if you cancel your trip
Limit non-essential travel, and recover your points.
We are doing our best to protect each other and ourselves from coronavirus by practicing safety measures like social distancing and limiting non-essential travel. Because of this, you might need to cancel several of your rewards flights in the coming months. In most cases, you should be able to retrieve your rewards points, though, you may have to pay a fee to get them back.
How to recover travel miles with airlines
The steps you’ll need to take to recover travel miles vary greatly from airline to airline. Under normal circumstances, you’ll need to pay a fee to cancel and reschedule your flight. This effectively returns your rewards points for future use. However, some airlines have started posting fee exemptions to the rule in response to travel restrictions.
| Airline | Typical cancellation fee | Emergency exemptions for fees |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $125 | See details below |
| American Airlines | $150 (plus $25 for immediate mile restoral) |
|
| Delta | $150 |
|
| Frontier | $75 |
|
| JetBlue | Up to $200 depending on fare |
|
| Southwest | None | N/A |
| United | Between $25 and $125 depending on date and status |
|
Alaska’s policy in depth
Exemptions for Alaska are a bit more nuanced:
For tickets purchased on/before February 26, 2020:
Original Travel Dates
March 9, 2020 – April 30, 2020
New Travel Dates
March 9, 2020 – February 28, 2021
Exception Policy
- You must change or cancel your flight prior to departure if you:
- Purchased a Saver fare for travel through April 30, 2020. You may cancel your trip without a fee and deposit the funds from your account wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel.
- Purchased a nonrefundable First Class, main, or award ticket for travel through April 30, 2020, you may change your trip without a fee. New travel must be completed by February 28, 2021. A fare difference may apply to your new itinerary. You can cancel your trip without a fee and deposit the funds into your account wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel.
- This waiver is valid only for tickets issued by Alaska Airlines
- Tickets issued by other airlines with a different carrier code are subject to the waiver policy of the other airline.
- If you purchased your tickets through a third party, you’ll need to contact them directly for assistance.
For tickets purchased February 27, 2020 to March 31, 2020:
Original Travel Dates
February 27, 2020 – February 28, 2021
New Travel Dates
February 27, 2020 – February 28, 2021
Exception Policy
- You must change or cancel your flight prior to departure
- If you purchase a Saver fare between February 27, 2020 and March 31, 2020 for travel through February 28, 2021, you may:
- Cancel your trip without a fee and deposit the funds into My Account wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel.
- If you purchase a nonrefundable First Class, main, or award ticket between February 27, 2020 and March 31, 2020 for travel through February 28, 2021, you may:
- Change your trip without a fee. New travel must be completed by February 28, 2021. A fare difference may apply to your new itinerary.
- Cancel your trip without a fee and deposit the funds into My Account wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel.
- This waiver is valid only for tickets issued by Alaska Airlines.
- Tickets issued by other airlines with a different carrier code are subject to the waiver policy of the other airline.
- If you purchased your tickets through a third party, you’ll need to contact them directly for assistance.
How to recover points with hotels
Compared to recovering your miles with airlines, it’s much easier to have your hotel reward points restored during a cancellation or rescheduling.
| Hotel | Fee for restoring points | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Best Western | None | Cancel based on reservation policy |
| Hilton | None | Cancel within 48 hours of reservation |
| Hyatt | None | Cancel based on reservation policy |
| Marriott | None. Fees for hotel cancellation charges only | Cancel based on reservation policy |
| Radisson | None. Fees for hotel cancellation charges only. | None |
| Wyndham | None | None |
As you can see, you won’t pay a fee for having your hotel points restored so long as you cancel within the hotel’s cancellation policies.
How to recover points from credit card travel portals
If you book a flight or hotel with your credit card points through a travel portal, whether you can get your points back greatly depends on your card’s rewards program.
Chase Travel
Chase is rather lax when it comes to point refunds on cancellations. According to the Chase site, “If a refund is granted for travel booked in whole or in part with points, you’ll receive a credit to your points balance for the amount of points used.”
Chase allows you to cancel bookings directly from the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, so you should receive your points shortly after cancellation. You’ll forfeit your points, however, if you don’t show your travel arrangements.
Note that Chase is relying on travel partners for cancellation or rebooking waivers. That means if your airline isn’t waiving a cancellation fee, Chase won’t cover the extra charge. You can cancel or reschedule your bookings through Chase’s COVID-19 resource page.
Amex Travel
Like Chase, Amex allows you to directly cancel bookings on its Membership Rewards site. Unlike Chase, Amex only refunds bookings in statement credits, even if you paid with points.
As for fee waivers, Amex also relies on partner policies, though does offer a waiver on flight modifications made through Amex Travel. According to Amex’s coronavirus resource page:
“If you booked your travel with American Express Travel and you need to change/cancel a booking, we’ll be honoring our airline, hotel, cruise, and car partners’ travel policies. As an additional measure, we’ll waive the American Express Travel fee on flight modifications made now through April 30, 2020.”
To cancel or reschedule your Amex travel plans, head to Amex’s travel alert page.
Bottom line
With coronavirus protections throwing a wrench into travel, airlines are making it easier to cancel or reschedule without losing your points or paying a fee. Make sure to check each airline’s COVID-19 travel policies for further instructions on canceling or rescheduling your flight.
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