Return to Travel Planning
Your Guide to Cancellations, Waivers, Name Changes, Refunds, and Unused Tickets
All of our clients have been working diligently to gain a foundational understanding of how to apply the recent adjustments to cancellations within your travel program. The rapid pace of change over the past two years has created confusion and uncertainty. This document is designed to simplify the information, as well as include our responses to the most frequently asked questions for each aspect of ticket changes outlined below.
Refunds, or reimbursements for the purchase of non-refundable travel, are only available when the airline cancels or significantly delays the traveler’s flight. If your traveler booked their ticket through Travel Incorporated and meets this criteria, we will receive a notification from the airline of the cancellation or delay in the traveler’s flight and will contact your traveler directly to determine whether they want to have a refund processed (if eligible), retain the credit for future use, or book a new ticket. If refund is chosen, TI will submit the request on their behalf.
Unused Ticket Credits will be issued if a traveler cancels an active flight. The ticket will have a credit value applicable for future travel. Historically, credits were only available for one year from the original issue date, but due to COVID-19, most carriers have extended the expiration to two years, as well as waived the change fee which is typically applied to reissue a ticket.
Policies vary by airline; check the supplier websites specific to refunds and cancellation policies for the most up to date information by carrier.
Historically, most airlines apply fees for the reissue of unused tickets. As a response to the pandemic, multiple airlines are working in cooperation with their clients implementing short term changes to their policies and procedures to reduce the cost of reissuing the tickets with a variety of fee waivers. Below is a summary of the types of waivers and how you can apply further value:
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Exchange Penalty Waiver – Allows for changes to the original itinerary by dates as well as city/destination without incurring a change penalty (fare difference still applies). These waivers will be applied by a TI consultant when the traveler rebooks.
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If rebooking in Concur, currently only Delta, United and most recently American airlines waivers can be applied online.
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If a traveler is rebooking on another airline, they should call a consultant, or their credit could be applied without the waiver appended.
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Expiration Date Extension – Most airlines have extended the expiration dates of unused credits beyond the typical one year to two years or more in some cases.
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TI proactively monitors this information and updates our systems to accommodate these changes.
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Name Change waivers – Even if purchased through the company, unused tickets belong to the traveler. Due to the unfortunate reality of furloughed employees, as well as the reality that many companies have non profiled travelers working as contractors or as meeting guests, some airlines are offering the ability to process name changes with or without applying a penalty. These waivers are primarily offered only to companies with corporate agreements and/or small business accounts on those airlines.
If the traveler needs to cancel a trip: Do not cancel directly with the airline. If there is no change in the flight schedule by the airline, the traveler should cancel the flight in Concur or with a TI travel consultant prior to the departure date. TI will retain the unused ticket credit that can be applied toward a future flight on that carrier.
If the traveler has unused tickets: In most instances the traveler will have up to 2 years to reuse the credits. As long as the trip was cancelled through TI, we will have the credit information on file and will automatically try to apply on their next booking for that carrier.
Many airlines are offering waivers on the change penalty and only the fare difference will be applied to your next booking.
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Reminder: If the credit is on Delta or United, and recently American, the waiver will be applied in Concur. If the credit is on any other airline, it is best to call a consultant to ensure the penalty waiver is applied.
TI’s Trip Detail report provides air, car and hotel data, including segment status so you will know whether the trip is active, refunded, voided, or cancelled.
TI’s Open Ticket report will help you monitor the unused tickets that were not able to be refunded or voided. These are the tickets that can be reused and may be eligible for the various waivers.
TI’s Unused Ticket report will provide details of unused tickets that have been exchanged/applied to a new ticket.
Frequently Asked Questions by Topic
| Refunds | |
|---|---|
| How do I know if a ticket is eligible for a refund? | Refunds are only eligible for flights the Airline cancelled or significantly delayed & has to be managed on a case by case basis. |
| How can I monitor refunded tickets? | The status column of TI’s transaction reports will indicate whether TI processed a refund on that ticket. The Air Detail report can be run by “refund only”, and has an option to show the last 4 digits of the card used to issue and refund the ticket. |
| Waivers | |
| What types of waivers are being offered? | Due to COVID-19, airlines are offering a variety of waivers. These waivers include the ability to change the dates of a flight, or process a name change on a ticket, without incurring the typical penalty fees. |
| Does the expiration date on the open ticket report reflect the airline’s extensions? | Yes. |
| How do I know if a ticket is waiver eligible? | TI’s Open Ticket report provides a complete list of unused or open tickets. Which unused tickets qualify for a waiver will vary per that airline’s rules. See our COVID-19 Information Hub for a complete list of waivers by airline, this information is not available in report form. |
| How can TI help clients manage waivers? | TI attaches unused tickets to a traveler’s profile. Anytime a traveler books on that same airline, TI will apply any qualifying unused ticket to their next flight. Penalty waivers will be automatically applied when unused tickets are reissued by a TI agent.
In Concur, currently only Delta, United and American Airlines waivers can be applied, so if a traveler is rebooking on another airline, they should call a consultant, or that unused credit will be applied without the waiver appended. |
| UATP or Equity Card | |
| What is an Equity or UATP Card? | Some airlines will offer to convert the balance of unused tickets a client has on their airline onto a credit card which can then be applied to any future bookings for any traveler at their company. |
| Are there any limits to what the credit can be used for? | Yes. The credit can only be used for that particular airline flights, and only for the air charges for that particular airline. TI transaction fee would need to be applied to another form of payment. |
| Can TI use these UATP cards? | Yes. TI can program these card numbers for an agent and online booking form of payment. |
| Name Change | |
| Can unused tickets be applied for anyone at our company? | No. Unused tickets belong to the traveler, but some airlines are allowing name changes with and without applying a penalty. The waiver of the name change fee is different by airline, and sometimes based upon your having a corporate agreement and/or small business account in place. |
| Which of the major US airlines are offering waivers for the name change penalty, and what are the limitations? | Delta and United are offering name change penalty waivers for corporate clients.
American is offering name change penalty waivers for corporate accounts and small business accounts. On a case by case basis, Southwest allows tickets to be converted to LUV vouchers which can be reused by anyone. They may require a Letter of Agreement (LOA) be signed by the corporate client to indemnify them against liability as the contract of carriage states the ticket technically belongs to the traveler. |
| What is the best way to manage a name change if a ticket qualifies? | Because travelers have up to 2 years to reuse their credits, we suggest prioritizing tickets that are about to expire as well as those for non-profiled travelers. |
As always, Travel Incorporated is here to help you navigate your Return to Travel. Contact your account manager for more information.
To view previous articles in our Return to Travel Series, Click Here.