Planning holidays can be a stressful endeavour when stacked on top of how busy every day life already is. It's easy for plans to ebb and flow, change in size, scale and most importantly change date. This makes booking flights in advance a risky business, as unforeseen circumstances can cause you to reconsider your plans. Considering how common this is, one question remains: Why can't you cancel flights?
The driving reason behind your ticket being near impossible to cancel is because most airlines really would rather you don't, so they make it as inconvenient as possible. They will often charge double standard fare prices for 'fully refundable tickets' (that incur hidden fees) and hide the intricacies of cancellation deep within the fine print. So why are Airlines so reluctant to let you cancel, even if you aren't planning to show up for the flight?
1. Fraud Protection: Airlines have security protocols to prevent fraudulent claims, which may include verification processes for cancellations to ensure that they aren't illegitimate.
2. Regulations: Many airlines are beholden to regulations regarding cancellations and refunds, especially within a certain timeframe after booking. This means there is a lot of corporate red tape to claw through before you get your refund.
3. Revenue Management: Airlines carefully manage their revenue through pricing strategies and seat inventory management. Allowing easy cancellations after the first 24 hours may impact their revenue projections and seat availability, so they try to avoid this happening at all costs.
If you are booking some plans you think might change and you want some extra peace of mind and want to receive a full refund without having to pay a Cancellation Fee, you can check out our Cancellation Protection Coverage at checkout when you make a reservation with Alternative Airlines.
With Cancellation Protection, you can cancel your flight if you are unable to make your check in due to any unforeseen circumstance such as mechanical breakdown, injury, theft of documents, and adverse weather.
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Your ability to cancel your flight will depend on the terms and conditions of the airline you have booked with. Most airlines offer a 24 hour grace period after booking, during which you can cancel your flight and get a full refund.
After that however, policy varies wildly. Some may offer a method of cancellation through their website, others through a customer support service, others might make it slightly more complex. Regulations on this matter vary a lot by region so we suggest checking your airlines policy.
Alongside Cancellation Protection Coverage, Alternative Airlines offer Lost Baggage Protection, where we will compensate up to $2000 USD if your bag is lost in transit and can't be tracked within 96 hours of disappearance.
No, Cancellation Protection doesn't let you cancel for any reason. However, when your purchase Cancellation Protection through Alternative Airlines you can protect the cost of your flight if you need to cancel for specific reasons such as 'emergency circumstances'. We recommend that you purchase Cancellation Protection at checkout for a small fee, in case you can no longer make your flight due to any emergency reason.
