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How to Extend Your Expiring Airline Credits

Unfortunately, the reality for many of us is that many of the trips we were hoping to take have had to be cancelled for various reasons. Whether by choice, rerouting, or even due to closed borders, traveling has become much more difficult and sometimes impossible.

In our case, we are even cancelling trips which we had booked to replace our original trips! At the time, we were confident that the pandemic would surely be over by now!

Regardless of the reasons, many of us may be faced with airline credits that are expiring soon. So, what to do with those expiring airline credits to avoid losing them.

How long are airline credits good for?

Typically, non-refundable airline tickets are valid for a year from the date of purchase. That’s right, purchase, not flight departure date! While it’s true that airlines have been offering more generous terms for cancellation or postponement, there is not a lot of consistency. You should definitely check terms and conditions regarding cancellations, credits and refunds to ensure you don’t lose the money you paid.

Look on your airline website for policies, or the original email with the ticket when you purchased it. The terms are often based on the date of purchase and due to the pandemic and changing policies, you may have completely different conditions depending on when you bought your tickets.

In one circumstance, we had purchased a flight prior to the pandemic which we had to cancel. This left us with a credit on file to use. When I called to book a new trip for November (which seemed so far distant back in June!) we were sure we’d be able to fly. This is unfortunately looking less and less likely with borders still closed and the virus making a resurgence in some areas.

An interesting fact I learned from the agent was that purchasing a new ticket using the credit automatically resets the expiration date to a year from the new booking.

Book and extend your ticket’s expiration date

With the airlines offering generous no-fee cancelation policies nowadays, you can take a chance and book something using your credits before they expire ensuring you don’t lose them. This will also extend your ticket’s expiration date.

Besides, it’s fun to plan and book trips, especially trips that are ‘free’ using our airline credits. We are optimistic that next year, travel will once again be possible, and we can stop the ongoing cancellation and postponement saga of these trips and actually start taking them.

How are you doing with your travel credits? Has anyone called the airline to ask about extending expiring airline credits?

By Nathalie

Avid Traveler and Master Scuba Diver
Sharing stories, photos and insights about the places I’ve visited. Simply sharing my experience and giving travel tips to help others plan their own dream trip and travel independently.

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