How to Redeem Unused Flight Credits for Post-Pandemic Journey

While the pandemic is not still in excess of, vaccinated Americans have begun to think about journey strategies for the spring, summer months and drop of this yr.

In accordance to TripAdvisor, Might by way of August are proving to be the most popular months for domestic vacations, and quite a few vacationers also hope to fly internationally later on in the calendar year, pending vaccine rollouts throughout the globe.

As several travelers figured out previous spring, canceling programs for pandemic-linked motives didn’t qualify you for journey reimbursement underneath most credit rating card journey insurance policies ideas, specifically if you made the choice to journey soon after information of the Covid-19 pandemic was widespread.

Even so, lots of airways accommodated purchaser requests for flight vouchers past 12 months when a great deal of the planet went on lockdown and nonessential journey was discouraged. I had roundtrip flights booked to and from San Antonio (just about every a single-way, on two distinct airlines) for early March 2020, ideal when the pandemic strike, but Southwest and Delta both offered flight vouchers when I determined to terminate.

For the earlier 12 months, my flight credits have been fully out-of-sight, out-of-brain. But not long ago, I appeared into redeeming them for impending weddings and other trips I’d put on the back again burner. I did so with a compact jolt of stress, thinking if they’d expired in the previous yr given that it really is been so prolonged given that I believed about them.

Here’s how to test the status for flight credits from a previously refunded flight:

1. Locate the e-mail receipt for the first flight. Notice your confirmation variety and/or ticket figures (you will probably want this data).
2. Check out the airline’s web site and research for “redeem flight credit score” or “verify travel cash.” For an example, watch Southwest’s “Look at Journey Money” webpage. (You can also do a Google search for “AIRLINE Identify + Vacation Credit history.”)
3. Variety in the requested information and click on “post” or “test cash.”
4. Look at your travel credits and their expiration dates.
5. When ready to purchase, go by the method again and glimpse for the alternative to “redeem” or “use unused credits” to an future flight.

Alternatively, you can also connect with the airline client service line directly and check with for particular help.

The good thing is, most airlines pushed back voucher expiation dates until eventually late 2021 or even 2022. My Delta credit, for instance, was owing to expire in December 2021, but the airline prolonged all flight credit score expirations by December 2022.

Similarly, many hotel loyalty packages are featuring extensions for points. If you have an airline credit score card, the rewards typically don’t expire as very long as very long as the account is open and in good standing.

If you happen to be nervous about scheduling journey, you may want to look at generating reservations utilizing a vacation credit score card. They frequently supply cardholders protections when it will come to cancellations and interruptions thanks to motives like purely natural disasters, surprising medical emergencies and extreme temperature. Travel playing cards commonly appear with supplemental positive aspects like luggage security (if your suitcase is misplaced or stolen in transit), journey accident insurance plan and no overseas transaction charges.

Below are Select’s picks for the top travel benefits cards: