Award ticket change and cancellation fees vary wildly from one airline program to another. One of my favorite things about booking award tickets with foreign programs is that many of them have more reasonable change and cancellation fees than the major domestic US programs (you pay the change or cancellation fees assessed by the ticketing carrier rather than the carrier operating your flight). This post lays out the key information for award changes and cancellation policies of the transfer partners of each of the major international programs with an easy-reference table of contents below.

Elite members often pay less

It’s worth noting that if you have elite status with the ticketing airline (the airline whose miles you are using to book the ticket), you may pay reduces fees or no fees at all. The fees indicated in this post assume no elite status and thus should be the highest you would expect to pay with each partner.

Award ticket change and cancellation fees by transfer program and partner

Amex Membership Rewards transfer partners award ticket change and cancellation fees

AeroMexico Club Premier

• Deadline: Not specified
• Change fee:
  • Domestic (presumably Mexico): 1,070 MXN (about $61 USD)
  • International: 1,930 MXN (about $110 USD)
• Cancellation fee:
  • Domestic:  1,930.00 MXN (about $110 USD)
  • International:  2,900.00 MXN (about $165 USD)
• Notes: AeroMexico isn’t known for great customer service, but you can refer to this page for award change fees.

Air Canada Aeroplan

• Deadline: 2 hours prior to departure
• Change fee: $100
• Cancellation fee: $150
• Notes: I believe the fees above are in Canadian dollars.

Air France KLM Flying Blue

• Deadline: Latest check-in time
• Change fee: €50
• Cancellation fee: €50
• Notes: Note that in the past, it was not possible to change or cancel Promo Rewards, but these days those award tickets can be changed or cancelled for the same 50 Euro fee (a fare difference will apply on changes).

ANA Mileage Club

• Deadline: Before departure. Most blogs say up to 24 hours before departure. This page on the ANA site says “Customers must change their flight award before the departure of their originally reserved flight and up to 96 hours prior to the departure of their preferred flight.” In other words, you need to make the change at least 4 days in advance of the flight you want to change to — though in my experience, I made a change barely 24 hours in advance of departure that pushed my trip back one day (i.e. new departure was 48 hours from the time of the change), so YMMV.
• Change fee: $0 (none for time/date/routing/destination)
• Cancellation fee: 3,000 miles
• Notes: Miles will not be refunded if their expiration date has passed.

Avianca LifeMiles

• Deadline: None (LifeMiles at least theoretically allows cancellation even after departure, though YMMV on getting a competent agent)
• Change fee: $150
• Cancellation fee: Varies. $50 for a ticket within a single region, $200 for tickets between regions
• Notes: You can see the change and cancellation fees during the booking process. It’s always worth taking a screen shot of that type of information for your booking.

British Airways Avios

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change fee: $55
• Cancellation fee: $55
• Notes: If the taxes & fees on your ticket were less than $55, British Airways allows you to instead forfeit those fees rather than pay $55. However, in practice, they sometimes still refund the taxes. This makes British Airways a very good option for booking American Airlines flights in many instances given much lower fees than you’d pay if ticketed through AA.

Iberia Avios

• Deadline: 24 hours before departure
• Change fee: €25 for Blue, Premium Economy, or Business Class (oddly, this page says there is no penalty for changes/cancellations on Full Economy). Only on flights operated by Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, and British Airways
• Cancellation fee: €25 for Blue, Premium Economy, or Business Class (oddly, this page says there is no penalty for changes/cancellations on Full Economy). Only on flights operated by Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, and British Airways
• Notes: Iberia Avios bookings on most airlines are totally nonrefundable. You can only change or cancel if your flight is operated by by Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, and British Airways (except for flight series 5xxx). This makes Iberia a poor choice for most oneworld partner bookings as there is no way to change or redposit.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

• Deadline: None specified
• Change fee: $50 or 7,500 miles if done online / $90 or 13,500 miles if done over the phone (fees are per person, per sector)
• Cancellation fee: $120 or 17,000 miles

Delta SkyMiles

• Deadline: 10 minutes prior to departure for domestic awards. 72 hours for travel originating outside the US.
• Change fee: None for Main Cabin or above tickets on flights originating from the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, India and the Caribbean. Basic Economy tickets are not typically changeable or cancellable.
• Cancellation fee: None for Main Cabin or above tickets on flights originating from the United States or Canada. Basic Economy tickets are not typically changeable or cancellable. For tickets issued for travel originating in Korea, tickets will be refunded to original form of payment after deducting the cancellation charge. For tickets issued for travel originating in Europe, the cancellation charge is €200 for tickets issued on or after February 23, 2023 (€150 for tickets issued prior to that date). For tickets issued for travel originating in the United Kingdom, the cancellation charge is £200 for tickets issued on or after February 23, 2023 (£150 for tickets issued prior to that date). For tickets issued for travel originating in Africa, Middle East and India, the cancellation charge is $200 for tickets issued on or after February 23, 2023 ($180 for tickets issued prior to that date).

El Al

• Variable. According to this page, “Award ticket conditions, including conditions for change, cancelation or no-show for the flight will be specified during the Award ticket reservation process and before purchase of the ticket.” It further notes that the previous fee schedule was canceled.

Emirates Skywards

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change fee:
  • Date change: $25
  • Destination change: $75
• Cancellation fee: $75
• Notes: There is no cost to change or cancel Flex Plus awards.

Etihad Guest

• Deadline: 96 hours prior to departure or you’ll pay an additional 10% fee
• Change fee: $30
• Cancellation fee: 10% of the miles
• Notes: A cancellation fee of 10% of the miles could be fairly significant for premium cabin international travel.

Hawaiian Airlines

• Deadline: None specified
• Change fee: No fee on Main Cabin awards or higher
• Cancellation fee: No fee on Main Cabin awards or higher
• Notes: If you have an award ticket combined with a revenue fare, the more restrictive policy will apply and you will only be charged one fee. Full details on this page.

JetBlue TrueBlue

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change/cancellation fees: None for any fares except Blue Basic. Blue Basic fares are subject to a change/cancel fee of $100 per person for travel within North America, Central America, or the Caribbean, or $200 per person for all other routes.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change fee: 5,000 points
• Cancellation fee: 6,000 points
• Notes: Fees are quite reasonable for international long-haul flights but would be significant on shorter itineraries (and unfortunately, one of the best uses of Qantas points is for short-distance American Airlines itineraries, where these fees would be comparatively substantial). See this page for a full schedule of fees. Note that the schedule of fees also notes a service fee of 4,500 to 7,700 points for cancellation of economy class awards.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

• Deadline: None specified
• Changes:
  • Change of date / route / class / add a stopover for travel on Singapore Airlines or Silk Air: $25
  • Change of date / route / class on partner airlines: $50
• Cancellation fee: $75
  • Note that if you no-show, you pay an additional fee on top of the change or cancellation fee:
    • Economy: $100
    • Premium Economy: $200
    • Business or First: $300
• Notes: Singapore long had even cheaper change and cancellation fees for partner bookings, but those fees increased a couple of years ago to the rates seen above.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

• Deadline: 24 hours in advance
• Change fee: $50
• Cancellation fee: $50 (Note: If your original taxes were less than $50, Virgin Atlantic will allow you to simply forfeit the taxes. This is especially useful for Delta flights originating in the US as the taxes are generally only $5.60).
• Notes: Keep in mind that you must change or cancel at least 24 hours in advance. They will technically allow cancellations within 24 hours of departure, but you won’t receive any miles back.

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners award ticket change and cancellation fees

Air France KLM Flying Blue

• Deadline: Latest check-in time
• Change fee: €50
• Cancellation fee: €50
• Notes: Promo Rewards can not be cancelled or refunded. They typically can not be changed but changes have been temporarily allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

British Airways Avios

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change fee: $55
• Cancellation fee: $55
• Notes: If the taxes & fees on your ticket were less than $55, British Airways allows you to instead forfeit those fees rather than pay $55. However, in practice, they sometimes still refund the taxes. This makes British Airways a very good option for booking American Airlines flights in many instances given much lower fees than you’d pay if ticketed through AA.

Iberia Avios

• Deadline: 24 hours before departure
• Change fee: €25 for Blue, Premium Economy, or Business Class (oddly, this page says there is no penalty for changes/cancellations on Full Economy). Only on flights operated by Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, and British Airways
• Cancellation fee: €25 for Blue, Premium Economy, or Business Class (oddly, this page says there is no penalty for changes/cancellations on Full Economy). Only on flights operated by Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, and British Airways
• Notes: Iberia Avios bookings on most airlines are totally nonrefundable. You can only change or cancel if your flight is operated by by Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, and British Airways (except for flight series 5xxx). This makes Iberia a poor choice for most oneworld partner bookings as there is no way to change or redposit.

Emirates Skywards

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change fee:
  • Date change: $25
  • Destination change: $75
• Cancellation fee: $75

JetBlue TrueBlue

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change/cancellation fees: None for any fares except Blue Basic. Blue Basic fares are subject to a change/cancel fee of $100 per person for travel within North America, Central America, or the Caribbean, or $200 per person for all other routes.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

• Deadline: None specified
• Changes:
  • Change of date / route / class / add a stopover for travel on Singapore Airlines or Silk Air: $25
  • Change of date / route / class on partner airlines: $50
• Cancellation fee: $75
  • Note that if you no-show, you pay an additional fee on top of the change or cancellation fee:
    • Economy: $100
    • Premium Economy: $200
    • Business or First: $300
• Notes: Singapore long had even cheaper change and cancellation fees for partner bookings, but those fees increased a couple of years ago to the rates seen above.

Southwest Rapid Rewards

• Deadline: About 10 minutes prior to departure
• Change fee: None
• Cancellation fee: None
• Notes: Southwest has the easiest award change and cancellation policy in the business. Up until they close the boarding door (about 10 minutes prior to departure), you can change or cancel with no fee. You may pay the difference in Rapid Rewards for changes, but sometimes they don’t even change a difference. Cancellations are immediately redeposited in your account and points do not expire.

United Mileage Plus

• Deadline: Prior to departure or else you are subject to the no-show fee
• Change fee: None
• Cancellation fee: None
• No show: Redeposit miles for $125 in the event that you no-show the award.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

• Deadline: 24 hours in advance
• Change fee: $50
• Cancellation fee: $50
• (Note: If your original taxes were less than $50, Virgin Atlantic will allow you to simply forfeit the taxes. This is especially useful for Delta flights originating in the US as the taxes are generally only $5.60).
• Notes: Keep in mind that you must change or cancel at least 24 hours in advance. They will technically allow cancellations within 24 hours of departure, but you won’t receive any miles back.

Citi Thank You points transfer partners award ticket change and cancellation fees

AeroMexico Club Premier

• Deadline: Not specified
• Change fee:
  • Domestic (presumably Mexico): 1,070 MXN (about $61 USD)
  • International: 1,930 MXN (about $110 USD)
• Cancellation fee:
  • Domestic:  1,930.00 MXN (about $110 USD)
  • International:  2,900.00 MXN (about $165 USD)
• Notes: AeroMexico isn’t known for great customer service, but you can refer to this page for award change fees.

Air France KLM Flying Blue

• Deadline: Latest check-in time
• Change fee: €50
• Cancellation fee: €50
• Notes: Promo Rewards could not be cancelled or refunded in the past, but now they can be changed or cancelled for the same 50-Euro fees shown above (plus any fare difference in the event of a change).

Avianca LifeMiles

• Deadline: None (LifeMiles at least theoretically allows cancellation even after departure, though YMMV on getting a competent agent)
• Change fee: $150
• Cancellation fee: Varies. $50 for a ticket within a single region, $200 for tickets between regions
• Notes: You can see the change and cancellation fees during the booking process. It’s always worth taking a screen shot of that type of information for your booking.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

• Deadline: None specified
• Change fee: $50 or 7,500 miles if done online / $90 or 13,500 miles if done over the phone (fees are per person, per sector)
• Cancellation fee: $120 or 17,000 miles

Emirates Skywards

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change fee:
  • Date change: $25
  • Destination change: $75
• Cancellation fee: $75

Etihad Guest

• Deadline: 96 hours prior to departure or you’ll pay an additional 10% fee
• Change fee: $30
• Cancellation fee: 10% of the miles
• Notes: A cancellation fee of 10% of the miles could be fairly significant for premium cabin international travel.

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

• Deadline:
• Change fee: $50
• Cancellation fee: $50

Qantas Frequent Flyer

• Deadline: 24 hours prior to departure
• Change fee: 5,000 points
• Cancellation fee: 6,000 points
• Notes: Fees are quite reasonable for international long-haul flights but would be significant on shorter itineraries (and unfortunately, one of the best uses of Qantas points is for short-distance American Airlines itineraries, where these fees would be comparatively substantial). See this page for a full schedule of fees.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club

• Deadline: 3 hours prior to departure (cancellations within less than 3 hours prior to departure forfeit miles and are only eligible for refund of taxes).
• Change fees:
  • More than 24 hours in advance: $25
  • Between 3-24 hours in advance: $100
  • Within 3 hours or after departure: Miles are nonrefundable
• Notes: The fee to change Qatar award tickets at least 24 hours in advance is very reasonable, but don’t wait until the last minute to get on the phone and cancel. See this page for fees including reduced fees for elite members.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

• Deadline:
• Changes:
  • Change of date / route / class / add a stopover for travel on Singapore Airlines or Silk Air: $25
  • Change of date / route / class on partner airlines: $50
• Cancellation fee: $75
  • Note that if you no-show, you pay an additional fee on top of the change or cancellation fee:
    • Economy: $100
    • Premium Economy: $200
    • Business or First: $300
• Notes: Singapore long had even cheaper change and cancellation fees for partner bookings, but those fees increased a couple of years ago to the rates seen above.

Thai Airways Royal Orchid

• Deadline: Not specified
• Change fee:
  • On Thai Airways:
    • Economy / Premium Economy: $85
    • Royal Silk / Royal First: $120
  • On Star Alliance Partners: $125
  • Name change: $190 or 20,000 miles
• Cancellation fee:
  • On Thai Airways within Thailand: $60
  • Regional / International: $125 or 10,000 miles
  • Intercontinental: $190 or 15,000 miles
• Notes: Dates or flight numbers can be changed, but all other changes require a cancellation/redeposit and the terms here indicate that you should allow 3 days for miles to redeposit. The redeposit fee schedule can be found here.

Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles

• Deadline: None (miles can be redeposited after no-show)
• Change fee: $70
  • Note: No-show fee to change and reissue a ticket is $150.
• Cancellation fee: $70
  • Note: No-show fee to redeposit is also $150 (you pay this to redeposit if you no-show the flight)
• Notes: These fees mark a substantial increase over the old fee structure of $25 to change or cancel.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

• Deadline: 24 hours in advance
• Change fee: $50
• Cancellation fee: $50
• (Note: If your original taxes were less than $50, Virgin Atlantic will allow you to simply forfeit the taxes. This is especially useful for Delta flights originating in the US as the taxes are generally only $5.60).
• Notes: Keep in mind that you must change or cancel at least 24 hours in advance. They will technically allow cancellations within 24 hours of departure, but you won’t receive any miles back.

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