What is a travel credit?
Value an airline keeps for you when a ticket is canceled and not refunded in money, to spend on a later ticket within a set time.
Travel credit, explained
Many fares that are not refundable in money leave the ticket's value as a credit with the airline, minus any fee the rules set. The credit has an expiry date and conditions on how it can be used.
If the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight to or from the US and you choose not to travel, you can usually ask for a refund instead of a credit.
Credits are usually tied to the traveler named on the original ticket and to the issuing airline, so they cannot always be used for another person or on a partner airline.
On a business class trip
A canceled business class trip to Paris leaves a credit with the airline, used a few months later for a trip to Rome.
Related terms
- Refundable fare
A fare you can cancel for your money back, sometimes minus a fee. A nonrefundable fare returns nothing, or only a credit with the airline.
- Fare rules
The conditions attached to a fare: whether you can change or cancel, at what cost, the minimum and maximum stay, stopovers and open jaws.
- Schedule change
When the airline changes the time, flight number, route or aircraft of a flight you have booked, after you bought the ticket.
Questions about a fare? Ask an agent
An agent explains the rules of every fare before you pay, by phone, email or WhatsApp, 24/7.
