Perhaps you’ve just spent the last couple of years chasing points deals and working out which card to buy what with. You’ve racked up the points and booked your dream trip. But what if something goes wrong and you need to amend your booking? What about cancellation fees if you need to abandon your journey altogether?
As it happens, it depends on the airline and frequent flyer program. Here’s what you need to know.
This guide is current as of 24 March 2025.
What do I need to know about cancelling a points booking?
One very important thing to note is that you’re bound by the terms and conditions of the airline you’ve booked with, not the airline you’re flying with (if those two are different).
Depending on the complexity and timing of your booking, you might be able to cancel or change it with a few clicks for nothing. In some cases though, you could be looking at fees upwards of US$200. You might be able to cancel any time before departure, or you may have to finalise any changes at least 24 hours before the flight.
However, when all is done and dusted, you’ll usually be eligible for a full refund of the points used, as well as any cash co-payments remaining once fees are taken into account. This makes reward bookings a great tool to have when booking travel during these uncertain times.
It’s important to know all these details before we even go into the fees involved. You should be able to find this information relatively easily with most programs, but we’ve also included links below.
What are the change and cancellation fees for popular frequent flyer programs?
| Last updated: 24 March 2025 |
We are focusing on the airline programs that most Australia-based travellers would likely have their points with, such as Qantas Frequent Flyer, Velocity Frequent Flyer, Cathay Pacific’s Cathay, KrisFlyer, Skywards and Etihad Guest.
And for those who buy miles from Alaska Mileage Plan, American Airlines AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club and United MileagePlus, we’ve got you covered too.
| Airline program | Change | Cancellations | Source & additional info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 5,000 points | 6,000 points | Qantas Frequent Flyer Fee Schedule Cancelling or changing a Reward flight booking |
| Velocity Frequent Flyer | 4,500 points or $35 for domestic 7,500 points or $60 for international | 4,500 points or $35 for domestic 7,500 points or $60 for international | Velocity Reward seat conditions |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | Waived indefinitely | Waived indefinitely | Alaska Airlines Fees |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Waived indefinitely | Waived indefinitely | AAdvantage® program updates |
| British Airways Executive Club | AU$63 (+AU$25 service fee if over the phone) | AU$63 (+AU$25 service fee if over the phone) | Depends on your 'region of departure' (Australia is assumed in this table). Change/cancellation fee waived for Gold Priority Reward bookings. Phone service fee waived for Gold members British Airways reward flight booking and service fees Executive Club terms and conditions |
| Cathay Pacific's Cathay | US$50 or 7,500 Asia Miles | US$120 or 17,000 miles | Asia Miles FAQs |
| Emirates Skywards | US$25 (free on Flex and Flex Plus awards) | US$75 on Saver awards, US$50 on First Flex awards and free on Flex Plus awards. | Figures are for Saver award tickets — more generous provisions for flexible tickets Emirates FAQs |
| Etihad Guest | 100 AED | 75% of the miles spent on the ticket | Etihad Guest terms and conditions |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | US$25/free for Saver/Advantage for date change if travelling on Singapore Airlines. US$25 for change of route, cabin class or award type for tickets issued for flights on Singapore Airlines. US$50 for change of flight, date, route or carrier for tickets issued for flights on partner airlines. | US$75/US$50 for Saver/Advantage | US$25 or 2,500 KrisFlyer miles offline/phone service fee (waived if can't perform action online) Singapore Airlines Service Fees |
| United Airlines MileagePlus | Waived indefinitely | Waived indefinitely, although a US$125 fee applies if requesting an award redeposit after a flight's scheduled departure time. | Most fees previously charged by United no longer apply. United change fees |
The information in the table is applicable to reward flight bookings only. All the airlines have different change/cancellation policies regarding other services (e.g. hotel and car hire) booked with points.
What should I know about airline change and cancellation fees?
You’ll be charged per person, per booking
Any fees charged will be levied per person, per booking — not per sector. It means that if two people are on an itinerary and you want to change a flight, you’ll get charged the applicable change fee twice.
But if you wanted to change multiple flights within the same booking, the overall change fee is still usually the same.
Try to not be a ‘no-show’
A no-show is simply where you fail to turn up for a flight, and haven’t changed or cancelled it previously.
Some airlines have a clear no-show policy, while for others there’s no mention of it at all. For the most part, it’s definitely to be avoided, as it can (and probably will) void any further flights on the same booking with no possible avenue for a refund.
In many cases, penalties for no-shows and late cancellations aren’t to be found anywhere, except to say they are ‘not permitted.’ That suggests you’d be forfeiting all the points and money paid.
You (usually) won’t get expired points back
In most cases, expired points are not refundable or able to be reinstated (here’s the exception for Qantas). So booking a flight a year into the future with points that are about to expire, with the intention of cancelling said flight won’t get you anywhere.
Changes might not always be possible after your journey commences
For the most part, fees and charges might be different if your journey has already begun. That would be the case if you have started your trip and now want to change your return flight. In some cases, if your journey has begun, you can’t make voluntary changes to any further flights without forfeiting your points entirely.
Changes that require a ticket to be re-issued are not permitted within 24 hours of departure or once travel has commenced.
– Qantas website
Faced with an involuntary change or cancellation mid-way through your trip? In that case, the airline should help you out while waiving all fees.
How can I minimise change and cancellation fees?
Being that reward flights often need to be booked a fair way in advance, it’s not uncommon for them to need to be changed.
1. Give your loyalty to an airline with low change and cancellation fees
This is certainly easier said than done, but it’s still worth thinking about.
In the case of buying miles though, your decision could certainly be swayed by how costly it may be to change any award redemption. Any money saved from buying those miles could easily get swallowed up by a simple change.
Remember the fare conditions are based on who the miles are with, not who you fly with. If you’re buying American Airlines AAdvantage miles and flying Qantas, you’re still bound by AA’s rules and fees.
2. Change, don’t cancel to minimise fees
For some airlines, the changing of flights is free, while cancellation will incur a fee.
In the case of KrisFlyer, date changes are free as long as you’re travelling on a more expensive Advantage award with Singapore Airlines and aren’t wanting to change the destination.
3. Wait until the last minute to cancel
If the airline has a considerable schedule change, you may be due a full refund if you elect not to accept the change. This is obviously different between airlines and not something to rely on. However, it could work so long as you’re happy for your points to be tied up until the last minute.
And this only works if you don’t need the miles from the cancelled booking to make another, of course.
4. Book return flights as separate reservations
Depending on your itinerary, it may be worth booking your outbound and return segments separately. If you book in this fashion, you avoid the risk of inadvertently cancelling your return flight if you’re a no-show. This also means you can change your return booking after your journey commences.
There is a downside to doing this. If you need to change both your outbound and return journeys, you’ll be slugged with fees twice.
5. Ask and you may receive a waiver of change or cancellation fees
You never know your luck, and there’s never any harm in asking for a fee waiver. You may have more success with a waiver in the case of a change (especially if you had a good reason), as opposed to a cancellation.
ANZ Rewards Velocity Platinum
- Sign-up Bonus:
- Up to 80,000 bonus Velocity Points
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- Earn 1.5 ANZ Reward Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases up to $2,000 per statement period, then 0.5 Reward Points per $1 you spend on eligible purchases above $2,000 per statement period. Keep on your auto redemption to transfer your ANZ Reward Points to Velocity Points. 2 Rewards Points for 1 Velocity Point.
- Annual Fee:
- $149 p.a.
- Get up to 80,000 bonus Velocity Points + $50 back with the ANZ Rewards Platinum Credit Card. Earn 60,000 bonus Velocity Points and $50 back when you spend $3,500 on eligible purchases the first 3 months from approval, plus 20,000 bonus Velocity Points when you keep the card for over 15 months from activation.
Summing up
Reward booking change fees vary greatly between airlines. There’s certainly an argument for taking this into account when choosing which airline to give your loyalty to.
In some cases, it may not even be worth the trouble of cancelling the trip if you deem your points to be worth less than any cancellation fee. Don’t forget that a no-show can nullify the rest of your travel, though.
Many airlines also have more generous fee waiver policies now versus several years back. In the US, American Airlines and United Airlines have also permanently abolished change fees for domestic US bookings, which is a great outcome.
Additional reporting by Chris Chamberlin. Previous reporting by Matt Moffitt.
Hi
I have searched high and low for an answer but can not find one….
Question: I have a reward seat for Singapore- Sydney in Business, with SIA, the points used on that flight have expired, so if I was to cancel I would lose them all. However I have a successful waitlist confirmation for the First Class Suite- Can I cancel my business class seat and use the expired points towards my waitlist first class (plus additional points).
Thanks
Has anyone heard of a rule where Qantas will not allow you to change your award seat flight if it is past 12 months from the booking date? I booked flights in May for travel in February and I want to change my return leg to December. Call centre are telling me that I cannot fly past May as that is a year after booking. I thought the ticket validity is a year and I could rebook any date up until 12 months after departure?!
Hi Brandon,
I just thought i’d share my experience with velocity/virgin australia
I booked a reward flight for my family in Jan 2024, and that day found it was unsuitable due to school starting earlier than expected.
I tried to call the virgin call centre on that day but it was unfortunately out of their hours (?8pm EST).
I have just been on the phone with them (the next morning) and they said that I would be charged $60/ticket as my call was not within 2 hrs of booking the flight! And even if it was within those 2hrs, it was “up to the discretion of the call centre attendant”!
To me that is outrageous, especially if you offer a 24/7 online booking, but limited call centre hours.
It is also outrageous how opaque these rules are when booking. I was advised this is all part of the terms set out when I booked, but i’ve done a search and find no reference to any such rules.
I have also had experienced (within the past 2 months) where they processed a refund within 24hrs with no issue, no questions asked, they even said it was because it was within 24hrs.
i eventually wheedled a waiver but they said it was strictly a “once off”.
Good to see American AAdvantage was included. Zero fees to cancel/change, and miles deposit back withing 5 minutes or so and taxes are back a day of so later. Thats for Qantas awards in Business using AAdvantage miles. Not quite sure how qantas go with refunding taxes and miles or how long it takes. And good luch calling a Qantas call centre where staff are frnakly clueless and don’t seem to have the IT or awards we can see online on AA.com and Qantas.com
SQ sent me this the other day, seems they’re extending free rebooking/cancellation again – https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/us/travel-info/precautionary-measures/covid19-information-centre/complimentary-rebooking/#/book/bookflight
Thanks QFFlyer, have updated the table with this info.
Thanks, guys!
We have noticed that on VA’s website (not VFF), it states only bookings created before 30/April/2021 can enjoy the fee waived until Jan22. Not sure if the policy still applies to the new tickets?
Thanks.
https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/plan/fare-types/velocityrewardseat/
“Velocity will waive fees for any changes and cancellations you make for travel up to 31 January 2022, for reward seat bookings made by 30 April 2021.”
Hi, your Qantas Frequent Flyer Link (Cancelling or changing an Reward flight booking) in the table is a dead link.
Thanks Scott, a new link is now provided (https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/member-offers/flexible-classic-flight-rewards.html)
Very useful article thanks.
I may have to change a reward booking in the new year at short notice. I’m using the last of my Etihad points to book Virgin Australia domestic economy Mel- Per.
Any insight into what happens if you change an award booking at short notice but there is no further award availability left?
If I’ve understood your question correctly, if there is no award availability on your desired date, then you wouldn’t be able to change the date. However, given that availability is greater in Economy than Business Class, your chances of being able to change are higher.
Hi Matt, with the revamp in Qantas rewards program kicking in next month (18/09), what would happen to reward bookings made prior to 18 Sep if you need to make changes post 18 Sep?
In my case, last week I redeemed 78k Qantas points for a business class ticket from SYD to TOK for travel in May 2020.
If I was to change my flight date (not cancellation) say in Oct 2019 but still maintain the same business class seat, would I need to pay for the difference in points when the new rates come into effect 18 Sep?
Hope this makes sense?
Thanks
Hi Bob
If you make any changes from 18 September 2019, you will be subject to the new points requirement.
FYI, BA don’t charge a fee for online cancellations if they are made within 24 hours of making the booking.
For example, if I book NYC -> SFO First Class with a stopover with Delta via Velocity, and I later see a better reward flight where I can go direct business, will there be a penalty?
Thanks in advance!
Yes, unfortunately, there would be a change fee of 7,500 points or $60. In my experience, if there is not any nonstop availability at the time of booking for that popular route (between US East and West Coasts), it probably will not open up later on.
Do you know if it is possible to cancel one leg of a return trip for velocity award bookings?
Also, if it is possible to cancel one person off an itinerary for velocity award bookings where multiple people are booked?
According to their website, ‘Cancellations and refunds are permitted prior to the commencement of any travel…Refunds or re-credit are not permitted once travel has commenced’. As for multiple people, I’m not 100% sure—best to phone Velocity.
Note that there is no discount for booking a return trip with Velocity Points, so best to book two one-ways in the future in order to increase flexibility.
Thanks for the information and tips. Very well summarized and listed and has made it easy for me to find out what I may be in for if i try to change my return flights and possible avenues to avoid additional charges if I do. Cheers.
Our pleasure. Good to hear!
Hi all, I’d LOVE some urgent help with this today if possible. I’ve read everything above, and Etihad’s T&Cs that you link to. But I’m still not clear!
If I book an Etihad Guest seat with my Velocity points (through the Velocity call centre), and then need to cancel it – do I lose all the costs of the taxes & fees? These can be really high for business/first bookings (like $1500 AUD) hence it’s so important to know what I’m up for here.
I’d be OK with losing 10% of the points and paying a $150 fee, but not sure about this.
Thanks so much in advance.
I have made a few flight changes on a RTW Qantas Classic Award Itinerary a few days ago and am yet to be billed the 5000 pts per person + service fee. Do they often delay deducting the points and fees? I’ve already received my new itinerary via email. I would’ve been happy to lose the points because they were so helpful in finding me suitable flights!
Velocity have this written about their cancellations:
Exception: Reward Seats on itineraries to, from or via the United States
Does this mean flights booked to/from the USA cannot be cancelled to get the points back?
Flights to/from the US have to allow 24 hours to cancel a ticket – that’s for all airlines. Just below what you’ve copied is:
Im on the phone w/’Prabu’ @ KF at moment.
I have a confirmed booking SIN – BCN 10/9/17 Economy (70k pp), however this morning i noticed Prem Econ. same flight, same details only diff is an upgraded class at a cheaper rate.
So when i called this morning (on hold for 20min) they promised to call back to assist me in reserving this prem. econ flight (i needed time to check forum re costs of changing class etc). They never did call me back, so i call them just now.
So Prabu tells me that this is indeed not the cost of the flight, that is the cost of an upgrade. Despite me willing to send him screenshots of the flight details and after a 30min robust conversation where he
wants me to ‘rationally undersand that SG does not have pre. econ cheaper than economy’ & that he is adamant that I am, ‘at best incorrect’ he ‘updates’ his position to finally agree with me.
OK so, prem econ. flight SIN – BCN is now 62,500, but im told that i have to forfeit the point diff, 7500 points per person PLUS $28 SGD PP.
The result – in THIS experience SG really really let me down, at best.
But also the ‘cost’ of changing an award flight is not just monetary but also point difference EVEN if the class is cheaper than the originating one
Nett result is Im feeling a little scammed and raw.
I should also mention that Prabu wanted to initially charge me an extra 126k point as a cost of cancelling one class.
Moral of the story it really depends who you get at SG…
That sounds like a frustrating situation.
This week, I had to change an existing First Class Suites booking from Singapore to Hong Kong (37,500 KrisFlyer miles) to Business Class (27,500). KrisFlyer will not refund you the difference in miles (10,000), so you have to cancel the existing booking for a $30 USD fee, wait about a week for your miles to be refunded into your account, and then make the new booking.
That is the best way to avoid losing the miles difference but the availability for the new seat may disappear in the meantime – that’s the risk.
If you’re a Krisflyer Gold member or PPS, cancellation fees on SQ award bookings are only USD15 per ticket.
Thanks. Have added that in.
I was able to cancel a Qantas reward booking – domestic, business class – online and on the same day of travel (only about 3 hours prior to departure) and that was possible, although I was of course slugged the 6,000 cancellation fee.
I just called Singapore Airlines to change the date on a redemption booking but as I was asking to change to a date past the 12 month validity of the ticket, they will charge me with a reissue fee of $20USD.
Can I quickly check that if cancelling a return domestic award ticket via Virgin is 4500 altogether rather than 9000 points??
Cheers
Yep, the fee is per itinerary so if both flights are on the same itinerary it should be 4,500.
Can I read from this that the cancellation fee for a KrisFlyer redemption is $30USD as well as the fees that have been charged for the redemption flight?
Fantastic work! I always thought that most bloggers focus too much on price (in miles) and not enough on other factors like changes fees or convenience of booking/ cancelling/ making changes. E.g., for me the ability to book online is very important as calling can take hours and you are also dependent on reaching a competent agent (e.g., Lifemiles horror stories). I know HUCA is always a possible solution (no guarantees of course that you get a better agent next time!).
But unless you are a student/ unemployed/ have no job/ other hobbies, the opportunity cost of having to spend multiple hours on the phone (on top of the research work you’ve done to find the best flights and availability for your desired flights!) quickly eats up the whole point of using miles, which is flying comfortably for less! Your time has a value, maybe it’s wiser to spend a little bit more but save a few hours?
As a data point, I’ve found Alaska Airlines hotline extremely easy to reach (usually less then 2 minutes waiting time) and the agents have all been very competent so far (I redeemed for CX J longhaul after purchasing Alaska Miles as recommended here).
I needed to cancel a qantas classic award flight recently (Feb 2016) from brisbane to melb which i did via the website about 3 days before departure. I was suprised to get a full points and cash refund.
winning 🙂 sometimes you get lucky!
An awesome guide as always – thank you.
Although it’s probably obvious (and is in the terms and conditions if you read enough of them), Velocity Award seats on partner airlines are always treated as International when it comes to cancellation even if the flight is, strictly speaking, domestic (JFK-LAX on Delta or Virgin America, for example).