This is a question that might have crossed your mind if you've had a disruption in your travel plans. It can be a difficult judgement call trying to decide if you want to change or cancel your flights when trying to reorganise your journey. In this article we'll go over a few of the options you have as well as what best practices are, so you can make an informed decision.
When something comes up that prevents you from taking your flight on the planned date, it can be tempting to jump the gun in response and cancel your tickets straight away. But this isn't always the right approach. Often times you can lose your ticket and won't be offered a refund, as airlines have strict regulations about cancellation.
This can be mitigated by adding some protection to your ticket. For example, if you book through Alternative Airlines you will be able to add Cancellation Protection to your booking, which protects you if you can't make your flight due to a personal emergency. This can include stuff like court summons, personal injury or the failure of transport (public transport or personal vehicle).
Changing your flight can be a bit of a pain at times. There is a ton of rules and regulations, and it can feel totally overwhelming. But there are times when changing your flight rather than cancelling it could save you a lot of money and time. Before you decide to change your flight details, remember to check our Terms of Service, which would have been distributed to you with your ticket. In there, we outline their policies in regards to changing your flight.
If you are able to change your flight, the question arises: Should you? Changing your flight is the right choice if you have another date in mind which works for your vacation. When you book through Alternative Airlines, we will typically prefer this option as we want to keep your business. If you are unsure of a future date where you would like to move your flight, its sometimes worth rebooking the flight first and then rescheduling your plans around it if possible.
If your flight gets cancelled due to a fault on the airlines end, they will typically put you on the next available flight to your destination. But this doesn't always work out for the passenger. There are situations in which the flight might be moved to the following day, throwing a wrench in your plans. When this occurs you have a couple of options.
Firstly, you can request a refund in lieu of a new flight. This will allow you to try and rebook the flight with another airline, possibly allowing you to make a last minute departure following your originally planned one. Alternatively you can reach out to our customer support to reschedule your flight to a different date entirely if another one would work better for you. You can do this online through our booking portal, or if your flight gets changed while you're already at the airport, you can go to the helpdesk of the airline your ticket is booked with.
Our friendly customer service team are available to help if you have any questions about changing or cancelling your flight. Get in touch with us through our contact page today and we'll be happy to help!
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Changing your ticket usually incurs some kind of admin fee. How much changing flights costs and all of the other terms and conditions can be found in your Contract of Carriage provided by the airline. Some airlines offer flexible fares that allow for changes without a fee, while others charge a change fee and any difference in fare price.
The 24 hour cancellation policy refers to a rule that is enforced by most aviation authorities around the world such as the Federal Aviation Authority in the USA or the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK. The rule dictates that each passenger is entitled to cancel their tickets within 24 hours of booking.
If you miss the deadline for changing your flight, you may have to cancel your original ticket and purchase a new one, which could be significantly more expensive.
Generally this isn't possible. If you check in for your flight, and then are subject to delays or cancellations then the only group with the authority to change your flight is the airline if they deem it necessary.
