- Typically airline tickets must be used within 12 months of when they’re issued. United announced that tickets purchased between 5/1/19-3/31/20 are valid for 24 months, so you can cancel a ticket and rebook to use it within 24 months of issuance. The ticket can only be used by a traveler, but it can be used for all itineraries sold by United.
- Alternatively, you can request an electronic travel certificate valid for use by anyone within 24 months, but these are only valid on United flights.
- If United cancels your flight you can request a cash refund.
- United announced that they will no longer require passengers to wait a year to get a refund when they cancel a flight or change the flight schedule by more than 6 hours. You can now request an immediate cash refund. Thanks DoT!
- United announced that due to new business hours at Newark Airport, they are changing their flight times between Newark and Tel Aviv between April 6-May 3.
- Ironically, the new flight times line up with what used to be flight 84/85, but they are now numbered 90/91.
- The flights will be operated by a 787-10, which is a downgrade for business class passengers and an upgrade for coach passengers.
- Flight 90 from Newark to Tel Aviv will be changed from 10:50pm to 4:25pm
- Flight 91 from Tel Aviv to Newark will be changed from 11:25pm to 12pm
- As these new flight times are greater than a 6 hour schedule change, you can choose to get a full cash refund!
- United is still in the process of changing the flight times, so it may take a few days until the schedule is updated.
Will these changes help you get a refund?
HT: CHFF
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41 Comments On "United Extends Ticket Validity To 2 Years, Ends 1 Year Wait For Refunds; Tel Aviv Flight Changes Mean You Can Now Get A Refund!"
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So how can they make me fly to TLV if there is a lockdown and have to Quarantine for 14 days when my entire trip is only 8 days, i don’t get it
Nobody is making you fly.
You can get a 2 year voucher if you can’t fly.
Of you can get a refund for major schedule changes.
Got a refund for a ticket that they gave Me a flight with a 5 hours difference of the takeoff.
Nice!
I guess they got the message loud and clear from the DoT.
Airlines should allow people to change their cancelled flights and not pay fare difference. I bought $30 nyc-chi tickets for pesach and would accept in lieu of refund an opportunity to fly in next year (exact date TBD). What I don’t want is a credit.
I would take that anytime! But then everyone would grab $30 flights to Fl and save them for future use. Wud b nice tho…
Yup, dream on.
@dan if I book a United MileagePlus ticket for any time in 2020 and cancel within 30 days I would get a full refund and no redeposit fee?
Yes.
If I wanna change my flight from June to October will they charge me difference in fare?
Yes.
Thanks.
Dan, thank you for all that you do. I purchased a r/t ticket on 2/15/20, for travel to EWR/TPA on 4/9/20 – 4/12/20. The wedding was canceled, and I canceled the flight. There was waiver in place at the time that gave me a change fee free travel credit, which had to be used by 12/31/20. Would this new 24 month extension supersede that? If so, that would be great.
Yes.
As the flight is cancelled, you can also try calling for a refund.
Thanks Dan.
i got this email
Flight Number: UA 84 90 (change)
From: Newark, NJ (EWR-Liberty Intl.)
To: Tel Aviv (TLV-Ben Gurion)
Status: CONFIRMED
Depart: 4:20 PM 10:45 PM (change)
Arrive: 9:55 AM 4:20 PM (change) +1 day
Class: Coach
i accepted the change, can i still get a refund ??
Call United and reject it.
Thanks for your help !!
How much of a refund do I get if took the outbound flight and my return flight was canceled? Is it 50% of what I payed?
Finally! This is great news I cancelled a trip for nov due to no longer needing to go to Madrid and I can finally re book with no change fee! This is great news
Unrelated to United, but I just called Southwest to refund tomorrow’s canceled flight (I waited until it was canceled – thanks Dan) and they said even though I used travel credits to book the ticket they will refund the amount onto my credit card! And then they did the way back too! I’ll wait to see it show up…
If I have a flight booked in the summer do you think i should wait it out and hope it gets changed or cancelled or take the voucher now? Also do you have to pay a fee?
Yep, my parents were supposed fly from Israel to Newark yesterday and I called United to cancel. They were trying to push the travel certificate on me but since the flight was changed by more than 6 hours, I pulled the DOT card and they agreed to a cash refund
I was booked on United flight 90 yesterday (April 6) and followed your advice to wait until the day of the flight to cancel. I checked flight status in the morning and saw the schedule change. I called United and got a refund even before their announcement. Thanks Dan for your very sound advice to wait to cancel.
@Dan-My daughter was in Israel for the year. Due to all the changes she is now booked on a trip from EWR to TLV (half of a booking already flown since this was her trip home for Pesach)as well as a TLV to EWR (her original booking when she left for the year back in Sept 19)under separate itineraries.
Do you have any idea how the refund/travel credit will work for those.
@dan Is there some source from United for this new cash refund policy? Could not find this anywhere online.
I linked to it in the post.
Call United and insist on a refund if you’re affected.
The link only says for tickets issued in march ….
False.
I have a ticket on united ewr-tlv on May 6 10:50 pm – May 13 12:00 pm. As it looks like from their schedule they’re going to cancel my return flight. But they said they won’t give me a refund until it’s officially cancelled. When could I expect them to announce their cancellations for May 13?
I got full refunds today, thanks to Dan!
What about cancelling a United mileageplus ticket that was booked on a partner airline? Ticket was booked through the United site. Would United still redeposit all miles and refund all taxes? Also, is there a risk in waiting, for example if the flight is later in 2020, that perhaps United will change this generous policy if the Covid situation improves? Thanks for your advice.
Should be handled as a united award booking.
If I have a basic economy ticket scheduled to Jackson Hole on June 25 (and I don’t think I am planning to go), do you think I should wait to see if flight is changed/cancelled so I can get full refund, or get flight credit (which they appear to say I need to do before April 30). Am I reading policy wrong?
My wife, daughter, and niece were scheduled to fly direct from Washington DC to Israel at the end of June and return early July. I just noticed that they changed the flight to go from IAD to EWR to TLV and back the same way via EWR. We are looking to get a cash refund (booked directly with United) and trying to figure out the best way to do this. When I go to ‘manage my trip’, it leads me to the flight changes with the only option to ‘continue with schedule change’. There’s a link at the top that leads me to the schedule change policy and a form to request a refund, but it says I have to cancel my reservation first before requesting the refund. Will clicking the ‘continue with schedule change’ link force me to accept the change in itinerary? I also bought travel insurance…should I just go through that? Thank you!
Your travel insurance won’t help you for this!
@Dan please advise people that they should NOT buy travel insurance thinking it will protect them from COVID-19 related…
@AGYB I bought these tickets in January before the coronavirus pandemic. Also, looking at the language of the insurance, it does not say that it excludes pandemics. But regardless, it looks like I can just ask for a refund because the tickets were changed.
Just call for a refund
Dan, if united (booked through csr) changed a flight from ewr>tlv orig departure May 6 10:45pm to 7:30pm, anyway to receive a refund? Chase emailed me if accept the change
I called United and they agreed to refund my ticket on April 9th, but still no refund yet. I just called back to check and they said it could take up to a month to process. Anyone else waiting on refunds that haven’t processed yet?
Please advise:
I got a round trip from tel aviv to newark thru washington, used the way in, return ticket was cancelled. The whole flight was $630. Should i get a cash refund or keep the credit for future flight?
How much will they give me back? Are they giving me credit for one flight newar- tel aviv ? Or will i have to pay the price difference?