How to book flight tickets with 24 hour FREE cancellation on Expedia – A step-by-step guide

Expedia offers FREE cancellation on flight tickets within 24 hours of booking. If your plans change or if you find a better deal, you can simply cancel your flight tickets within 24 hours of booking and get a full refund. You can book flight tickets with 24 hour FREE cancellation on Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Priceline.

Why book flight tickets with 24 hour FREE cancellation?

FREE cancellation within 24 hours of booking is very convenient if you are on the lookout for a perfect flight deal. Or, you just want to book something in case the prices go up. It is also the easiest and foolproof way for your onward or return flight proof.

Without further ado, here is the step-by-step guide on how to book flight tickets with 24 hour FREE cancellation on Expedia.

IMPORTANT
The 24-hour cancellation is not actually from Expedia instead, it’s a US Department of Transportation (DOT) regulation. It applies to all “premium” US airlines and their international partners. It DOES NOT apply to “budget” airlines.

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Step 01. Browse to Expedia.com (not co.uk, not co.ph, etc)

• Go to the Expedia’s US website expedia.com (see picture above)

• If you are redirected to Expedia’s regional site (such as expedia.co.ph, etc), click on the US flag at the bottom of the homepage. It will take you to Expedia’s US site expedia.com (see picture above)

NOTE
24-hour FREE cancellation option is only available on Expedia’s US website (expedia.com) and not on any of Expedia’s regional websites such as expedia.co.uk, expedia.co.ph, etc.

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Step 02. Search for flights

• Enter Flying From, Flying To, Departing, Travelers, etc.
• Click on the “Search” button

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Step 03. Select a refundable flight

• On the next page, you will see a list of flights
• Look for a convenient or cheapest flight that has “Free cancel w/in 24 hrs“
• Make sure “Free cancel w/in 24 hrs” is indicated for the flight you want to select (see picture above)
• Click on the “Select” button for the flight you want to book

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Step 04. Review your flight

• On the next page (named “Review your trip”), you will see the details of the flight you have selected
• Make sure there is “Free cancellation within 24 hours of booking!” next to the “Continue Booking” button
• Also, make sure there is “Tickets are non-refundable 24 hours after booking …” under the “Important Flight Information” section
• Click on the “Continue Booking” button

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Step 05. Complete your flight booking

• On the next page (named “Secure booking – only takes a few minutes”), you will see the form to fill in the passenger and payment details
• Make sure there is “Free cancellation within 24 hours of booking!” on the top of the page

• Scroll down and make sure there is “Free cancellation within 24 hours of booking!” under the “Review and book your trip” section
• Fill in the passenger and payment details
• Click on the “Complete Booking” button

• You will be taken to the flight booking confirmation page

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Step 06. Make a note of the date/time by which you must cancel your flight booking

• Click on “View My Itinerary” on the flight booking confirmation page
• You will be taken to the “My trip” page for the flight booking you have just made

• Click on the “Manage reservation” link
• The page will automatically scroll down to the “Manage reservation” section

• Check the date/time below the “Cancel flight” link
• It must be something like “Free until Thu, Jun 16, 11.59p PDT“
• Make sure to cancel your flight booking within this date/time to get a full refund
• Note: If you do not see the date/time yet, wait a few minutes and refresh the page.

IMPORTANT
There were incidents where the “date/time” by which you must cancel the flight booking was less than 24 hours. Therefore, as soon as you complete your booking, check the date/time by which you must cancel your booking. Make sure you cancel your flight booking within that “date/time”. If you fail to cancel within that “date/time”, you CANNOT cancel anymore and CANNOT get a refund.

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Step 07. Check and retain your fight confirmation email

• Check your email for Expedia flight booking confirmation
• Make sure the email has a “Change or cancel this reservation” link in it (see picture above)
• Retain this email till you cancel your flight booking

NOTE
If you don’t see the “Change or cancel this reservation” link in your email, call Expedia customer service right away. This happened to me once. The booking can still be canceled for FREE within 24 hours, but you would need to call Expedia customer service for that.

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Step 08. Cancel your flight booking within 24 hours

When you decide to cancel your flight tickets within 24 hours, you can do so from your email or from “My Trips” on expedia.com

Email

• Go to your Expedia booking confirmation email
• Click on the link “Cancel” in “Change or cancel this reservation“
• You will be taken to the “Cancel your flight” page on expedia.com
• Follow the prompts and cancel the ticket

My Trips on expedia.com

• Go to Expedia’s US site expedia.com
• Click on the “My Trips” link at the top of the page

• Click on “All purchases“
• You should see your flight booking under the “Coming up” section
• Click/select the flight booking that you want to cancel
• You will be taken to the flight reservation page of that booking

• Click on “Manage reservation“
• The page will automatically scroll down to the “Manage reservation” section

• Click on the “Cancel flight” link
• You will be taken to the “Cancel your flight” page

• Click on the “Cancel my flight” button

• You will be asked to confirm: “Are you sure you want to cancel your flight?“
• Click on the “Yes, cancel flight” button

• You will be taken to the cancellation confirmation page
• Verify that the page says “Your booking has been cancelled!“

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Step 09. Verify if the flight booking has been cancelled

• Click on the “My Trips” link at the top of the page
• Click on “All purchases“
• Verify that the cancelled flight booking is now showing in the “Completed” section
• Click/select the flight booking that you have just canceled

• Verify that the flight reservation page says “Reservation Canceled“
• Also, verify that the “New Total” is now “$0.00“

• Check your email for the flight booking cancellation confirmation
• Verify that the email says “Your flight has been cancelled“
• Retain this email until you receive your refund

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Step 10. Receive a full refund in a few days

• Most of the time, you will see the airline name in your credit card transactions instead of Expedia or expedia.com
• After the flight booking has been canceled, keep an eye on your credit card transactions
• You should receive a full refund of the flight booking in a few days

NOTE
Most times a hold on the funds will be placed on your credit card at the time of booking. It takes about 24-48 hours for the hold to turn into a confirmed transaction. If you cancel your booking within 24 hours, the hold is usually dropped and you will not see any transactions from Expedia on your credit card at all as if you have never made a payment on Expedia.

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That’s it! The procedure to book flight tickets with 24 hour FREE cancellation on Expedia. The procedure is exactly the same on Orbitz, Travelocity and Priceline as well.

Have you ever used Expedia’s 24-hour FREE cancellation feature? Let me know your experience in the comments below.