We tend to book our trips well in advance and love travel planning. At any given time, we may have the next 2 or 3 (or even 5) trips in various stages of planning.
In fact, we often do our planning around finding a great price on airfare. If something pops up that looks good, we’ll book the flight with a give or take number of days (so we get the best price!) and then work our itinerary accordingly.
The one drawback with this had been that while booking early would often get us a good price, if ever we had to cancel, the airlines used to issue a travel credit that was valid for 12 months from the date of the ticket purchase!
In other words, if we book 10 months in advance and have to cancel a month before the flight, we may only have 3 months to use the travel credit! Not always easy, especially if there are other trips already booked in the coming months.
This happened to us recently where we had a flight booked with American and due to a family emergency, we had to cancel it a month before flying. While travel insurance covers many matters, we rarely take the expensive cancel for any reason insurance, and in our case, there was no claim to be made.
Related post: 6 Types of Travel Insurance for Peace of Mind on Your Next Trip
To our surprise, American issued a credit that was good for 12 months from the date we cancelled. This was a big relief as we really didn’t know what we could have done with a big credit expiring in just a few weeks. So while we hated to cancel the wonderful trip we had planned, the good news is that with 12 months to plan, we will surely find another equally exciting trip to do. In fact, we already have our eye on some tickets for our summer wedding anniversary!
So, if you are concerned about cancelling a flight for credit and how long you might have to use it, rest assured that with American you’ll get a full 12 months from the date of cancellation with trip credits issued after April of 2024. This may vary by airline, so be sure to read the cancellation policy. See also our travel tip on extending these credits: Are You Leaving Points on the Table?
Finally, another trick we found out about during the pandemic that’s still valid today was about how to extend expiring airline credits.
Check out our travel planning guide: Planning Your Dream Trip…On Your Own!