Cancel an Award Ticket Before Departure: What It Costs

Usually yes, and usually free — if you cancel before your first flight departs. American Airlines, Delta, United, and Southwest have each removed the redeposit fee that used to apply on most award-ticket cancellations, so on all four programs a normal pre-departure cancellation returns your points or miles at no charge. The cost shows up in edge cases instead: United charges $125 to redeposit miles after a no-show, Delta's Basic-style award fares can be non-cancelable, and American's reinstatement window is capped at one year after the ticket was issued. Check your program's current rule and your own ticket type before you cancel.

This page does not claim your exact ticket's fee — award fare rules vary by fare class and route even within one program. It gives you the general policy each program publishes today, dated, so you know what to expect before you open the cancellation screen.

The short answer

For most award tickets on these four programs, canceling before departure returns your points with no redeposit fee. The three things that change that answer are: missing your flight without canceling first (a no-show), booking a restricted low-fare award class that the program does not let you cancel, and canceling by phone instead of online where a phone-booking fee may not be refunded.

Cancellation cost table by program

Program	Redeposit fee (pre-departure, standard award)	Known exception	Source
American Airlines AAdvantage	None — cancel before your first flight departs and miles are reinstated, generally automatically if you cancel on aa.com	Reinstatement window is capped at 1 year after the ticket issue date; Sale-imposed nonrefundable taxes are not refunded; co-payments for mileage upgrade awards are non-refundable	AA: Using miles for travel, accessed 2026-09-16
Delta SkyMiles	None, for tickets originating in the US or Canada (including joint-venture and codeshare-operated flights), excluding Delta Basic	Delta Basic award tickets may be non-cancelable or non-changeable depending on origin; policy for awards originating outside the US/Canada varies by itinerary — not published as a single flat rule	Delta: Travel with Miles, accessed 2026-09-16
United MileagePlus	None, for cancellations made before scheduled departure	$125 flat fee to redeposit miles after a no-show (missed flight, not canceled first)	United: MileagePlus Program Rules, accessed 2026-09-16
Southwest Rapid Rewards	None, for cancellations made at least 10 minutes before scheduled departure	Points return to the Rapid Rewards account that booked the ticket, not necessarily the traveler; missing the 10-minute cutoff risks forfeiting the booking	Southwest: Fare Information and Rules, accessed 2026-09-16

Not published by any of the four programs on the pages checked for this draft: a universal deadline that applies to every fare class, or a guarantee that phone-booking fees are refundable on cancellation. Treat those as Not published — confirm them on your own ticket's management screen before you cancel.

Pre-cancel checklist

Work through this before you press cancel.

Check	Write your answer
Program	Which loyalty program issued this award ticket?
Fare/award class	Is it a standard saver-style award, or a restricted low-fare class (like Delta Basic)?
Origin	Does the itinerary originate in the US/Canada, or elsewhere?
Booking channel	Booked online, or by phone?
Time to departure	Are you canceling with time to spare, or close to a no-show?
Current screen fee	What fee, if any, does your own cancellation screen show right now?
Reinstatement deadline	If it's American, is this within 1 year of the ticket issue date?
Decision	Cancel now, keep the ticket, or call the program to confirm first?

If the "current screen fee" row is blank because you have not opened the cancellation flow yet, do that before deciding — the programs' general policies above are the starting point, not a substitute for your own ticket's screen.

Worked example: is the no-show fee worth risking?

Say you hold a United award booked for 60,000 miles and you are unsure whether you can make the flight. Canceling in advance costs nothing. Letting it ride and no-showing costs a flat $125 redeposit fee.

Using the site's cents-per-point formula (cpp = (dollars ÷ points) × 100), a flat $125 fee spread across 60,000 miles works out to:

cpp cost = (125 ÷ 60,000) × 100 = 0.21 cents per mile

That 0.21 cpp is a hypothetical, clearly labeled cost of doing nothing — it is not automatically "cheap," because it is on top of losing your seat and needing to rebook separately. Compare it against what you think those miles are worth in a real redemption using our free Points vs Cash calculator: if your typical redemption is worth more than roughly 1–1.5 cents per mile, paying $125 (or better, just canceling online first) is far cheaper than letting the miles sit at risk of forfeiture as a no-show.

When "not published" should make you pause

If your program's page does not state a clear rule for your exact situation — a restricted fare class, an international-origin itinerary, or a partner-operated segment — do not assume the general policy above applies. Call the program and get the fee, if any, confirmed before you cancel. A single phone call costs less than an unexpected redeposit fee or a forfeited award.

If the flight itself changed rather than something on your end, start with the schedule-change guide — canceling and rebooking with new points is a different decision from a voluntary cancellation. If you are trying to decide whether the taxes and fees on an award make it worth keeping in the first place, the award-taxes guide walks through that math. And if a booking mistake means the traveler's name needs to change instead of the ticket being canceled outright, use the passenger-name guide before you cancel and rebook from scratch — a name correction is sometimes cheaper than starting over.

FAQ

Can you cancel an award ticket and get the points back?

On American, Delta, United, and Southwest, yes for most standard award tickets canceled before departure — none of the four charges a redeposit fee for that case as of the pages checked on 2026-09-16. Restricted fare classes, no-shows, and some international-origin itineraries are the exceptions.

Does canceling an award ticket cost anything?

Usually no fee applies if you cancel before your flight departs on a standard award fare. United charges $125 only after a no-show. Delta's Basic-style award tickets may be non-cancelable. Confirm your own ticket's fare class before assuming it is free.

What happens if I miss my flight without canceling first?

On United, you can still recover the miles, but only by paying a $125 no-show redeposit fee. On American, missing the flight without canceling can forfeit the entire award — check the cancellation screen the moment you know you will not make it, not after.

Do all programs refund cash taxes and fees when you cancel an award?

The four programs checked for this draft each describe refunding cash taxes and fees to the original payment method after a qualifying cancellation, generally within about a week, separate from the mile/point redeposit. Confirm the exact timeline on your own cancellation confirmation.

Is there a deadline for getting reinstated miles back after cancellation?

American states a cap of 1 year after the ticket issue date for mile reinstatement. Delta, United, and Southwest did not publish an equivalent flat deadline on the pages checked for this draft — treat that as Not published for those three and confirm with the program if your cancellation is unusually delayed.

Claim ledger

Claim	Source	Status
American Airlines reinstates AAdvantage miles and refunds eligible taxes/fees up to 1 year after ticket issue date, with no fee to reinstate, if canceled before the first flight departs.	American Airlines, Using miles for travel, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from the AAdvantage support page; verify again before policy-sensitive updates.
Delta waives the redeposit/change fee on award tickets originating in the US and Canada, including joint-venture and codeshare flights, excluding Delta Basic.	Delta Air Lines, Travel with Miles, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from Delta's SkyMiles page; international-origin specifics not fully published, noted as such.
United does not charge a redeposit fee on award cancellations made before departure, but charges $125 to redeposit miles after a no-show.	United Airlines, MileagePlus Program Rules, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from United's official program rules page.
Southwest returns Rapid Rewards points at no charge for cancellations made at least 10 minutes before scheduled departure.	Southwest Airlines, Fare Information and Rules, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from Southwest's official fare information page.
Live award availability, current award prices, and ticket-specific fare-class restrictions are not claimed here.	Writer limitation note, 2026-09-16	Intentionally excluded because these require the reader's current account and ticket screens.

Sources

Sources checked for this draft on 2026-09-16:

American Airlines, Using miles for travel: https://www.aa.com/web/i18n/aadvantage-program/answers-support/using-miles-for-travel.html
Delta Air Lines, Travel with Miles: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/how-to-use-miles/travel-with-miles
United Airlines, MileagePlus Program Rules: https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mileageplus/rules.html
Southwest Airlines, Fare Information and Rules: https://www.southwest.com/fare-information/

This article intentionally avoids live award prices, live award availability, and ticket-specific fare-class rules beyond what each program's page states as of the access date above. Confirm your exact fee on your own program's cancellation screen before you cancel.

Sources

Related guides