Reading Time: 8 minIt's always a gamble when it comes to booking a flight. Do you book now, or wait to see if the price drops? Or are you taking a chance that prices will rise, making your trip even more expensive?
Fortunately, airlines have made it much easier in recent years to get a credit or even a refund if your flight price drops after booking — whether you paid with miles or cash. So, what’s the best approach to ensure you lock in the lowest fare?
Getting the difference back if your fare drops is easy, but it requires some effort. After booking, you'll need to keep an eye on price changes yourself.
While I personally make it a habit to check flight prices every morning, even after I've booked, I realize not everyone has that kind of time. Luckily, there are tools that can do it for you automatically.
When searching with Google Flights, you can track the price of an individual flight by clicking on it, then toggling on the "Track prices" switch at the top of the booking page. After that, you'll receive an email each day when the fare goes up or down.
Or, if you'd prefer to track the price of every flight across an entire day, you can bring up a set of search results by entering the origin and destination into Google Flights, picking a date, and then selecting the "Track prices" switch on the search results page itself.
But Google Flights only tracks cash airfares. Fortunately, this is where Points Path comes in handy.
Points Path Pro users and Founders Club members can track the points price of any flight in Google Flights by clicking the small "i" icon under the current points price of a flight, then choosing "Track price" from the pop-up that appears.
If your flight drops in price, you can then rebook your ticket at the new lower fare.
With some airlines, you'll have to cancel and rebook, while others allow you to reprice your fare right within your already existing reservation. It may also depend on whether you booked with miles or cash.
We've gone through the policies of each major U.S. airline, so you'll know the rules if your flight drops.
As a general rule of thumb, as long as you haven't booked a basic economy fare, you can re-price your fare. This sometimes involves canceling and rebooking your flight for free, or simply changing your flight right within your reservation. If you booked with miles, you'll get the difference in miles back, but for cash flights, you'll typically end up with a credit (unless you booked a refundable fare type).
With Alaska's "Main" and "Premium" fares, you can cancel without being charged a fee and get a travel credit that you can use to rebook at the lower price. The remaining credit value can then be used on a future flight, up until the expiration date (although travel can take place up to 11 months later).
On the other hand, if you originally booked one of Alaska's basic economy fares — branded as "Saver" fares — you'll only get a 50% credit, and only if your flight is canceled at least 14 days in advance.
For flights booked with Alaska miles (now Atmos points), you can also cancel without a fee, and the miles will appear back in your account immediately. You can then rebook at the lower price. Note that if you used your miles for a partner award, the partner award fees are nonrefundable.
With the exception of basic economy tickets, essentially all American flights can be canceled and rebooked at no cost.
When you cancel, you'll get a trip credit for the full amount you paid, which you can then use to rebook at the lower price while keeping the difference for a future flight. Trip credits expire one year from issue date (although if you aren't an AAdvantage member, the expiration date is only six months).
American also allows you to change your flight online without rebooking and receive a trip credit for the difference. However, you can't select the same flight you've already booked. So if you're trying to capture a price drop, you'll need to cancel and rebook.
With a basic economy ticket, you can still cancel and rebook, but you'll be charged a $99 fee for canceling, which is a good reason to avoid basic economy fares when you can. Note that this fee is for flights within the United States, where other destinations have higher fees.
One major advantage of American trip credits is that you can use them to book tickets for other people. Many other airlines only allow you to use their credits to book travel for the original passenger.
If you booked your flight using American miles, you can also rebook if the fare drops. In most cases, you can simply change your flight and choose the new, cheaper fare option. The one exception is Web Special awards, which require you to cancel and rebook.
Delta flights booked in any cabin other than basic economy and originating in the U.S. or Canada have no change fee. You can either change your flight online or call to reprice your ticket if you're not changing flights.
In either case, you'll end up with an eCredit for the difference in price. Delta eCredits expire one year from when the flight was originally purchased, but you only need to book with it by that date, not travel by then.
Delta basic economy fares that depart from the U.S. can't be changed, but they can be canceled for a fee starting at $99, depending on the flight's destination.
For flights booked with Delta miles, the same rules apply. Most fares can be changed for free online or repriced by calling Delta, and the difference in miles will go back to your SkyMiles account. Although flights originating outside of North America sometimes incur a fee.
But basic economy fares cost 9,900 miles to be canceled if it's a domestic flight, and 19,900 miles for international flights, with the remaining miles redeposited into your account.
For all JetBlue fare types except its basic economy "Blue Basic" fares, you can re-price your flight right within your reservation — without having to cancel and rebook. For a Blue Basic fare, you can cancel and rebook, but there's a fee associated, so you need to make sure that the difference in price makes up for the fee.
For paid fares, you'll receive the difference as a credit that's valid for a year from when the flight was initially booked. This is the "book by" date, not the "travel by" date, and credits can be used to book for other passengers.
Flights booked with JetBlue points work similarly, where the difference in points will be redeposited back to your account.
Although Southwest has made some changes recently, the airline is still favorable when it comes to re-pricing your flight if your fare goes down in price. Just note that the refund you receive depends on the fare bucket booked.
Most Southwest flights — whether booked with cash or points — can be repriced right in your existing reservation, without any fees. Even if you want to keep the same flight, you can "change" your flight online, but pick the exact same flight, and you'll immediately get the difference back if the price has dropped.
The one exception is Basic Fares, where you'll need to cancel your flight first — for no fee — and then rebook the exact same flight. Just keep in mind that this can be problematic for a round-trip flight if one direction goes up in price. Because of this, we typically recommend booking two one-way flights, especially if booking a Basic Fare.
For paid Basic and Choice fares, you'll end up with a flight credit. Basic fares come with a non-transferrable 6-month credit, where Choice fares offer a more flexible, fully transferrable 12-month credit (from the booking date). And since Choice Preferred and Choice Extra fares are fully refundable, the difference will be refunded to your original form of payment.
And for reservations booked with points, the points will go back into your Southwest account immediately.
The one time you'll need to take an extra step is if you have a reservation booked with a Southwest Companion Pass. In that case, you'll first need to cancel your companion's reservation. Then, once you reprice or rebook the flight, you can add the companion back onto your reservation.
Except for basic economy fares, all United flights that originate in the U.S. can be changed or canceled for no fee. If the price goes down, you can call United to have them reprice the fare and get a flight credit for the difference.
If you purchase a United basic economy ticket, you cannot change it. You can cancel, but you'll be charged a fee for doing so and receive a partial credit for the difference. The fee varies depending on your itinerary, but the credit amount will be displayed before you finalize the cancellation.
United doesn't offer basic economy mileage tickets, so all flights booked with miles have no fee to change or cancel. Any difference in miles will go back into your United account.
