How to rebook your flight for free when the price drops

Reading Time: 7 min

It'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 cancel and rebook your flight for free. If you booked with miles, you'll get all your miles back when you cancel and can use them to rebook. With cash flights, you'll typically end up with a credit for the difference rather than a refund.

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, you can also cancel without a fee, and the miles will appear back into 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.

Read Alaska's change and cancellation policies here

With the exception of basic economy tickets, essentially all American flights can be cancelled 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 when the flight was initially booked.

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 cancelling, which is a good reason to avoid basic economy fares when you can.

One major advantage of American trip credits is 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.

Read American's change and cancellation policies here

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 cancelled for a fee that runs between $99 and $400, 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.

But basic economy fares cost 9,900 miles to be cancelled if it's a domestic flight, and 19,900 miles for international flights, with the remaining miles redeposited into your account.

Read Delta's change and cancellation policies here

For all JetBlue fare types except its basic economy "Blue Basic" fares, you can cancel your flight and rebook for no fee. Any remaining credit is 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. As long as you don't book a Blue Basic fare with points, you can cancel and get all your points back, then rebook for free. However, you can't change a flight booked with points — you'll need to cancel first, then rebook.

The one downside of cancelling a JetBlue points ticket is that any taxes and fees you paid aren't refunded back to your original form of payment. Rather, they're returned as a travel credit, which you must use within 12 months of your original booking date.

Read JetBlue's change and cancellation policies here

Southwest is by far the best airline when it comes to getting your money back if a fare goes down in price.

All 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.

For paid reservations, you'll get a flight credit that never expires for any difference in price. 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.

Read Southwest's change and cancellation policies here

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 goes down, you can call United to have them reprice the fare and get a fight 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.

Read United's change and cancellation policies here