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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 a 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 due, here is the step-by-step guide on how to book flight tickets with 24 hour FREE cancellation on Expedia.
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Step 01. Browse to Expedia.com (not co.uk, not co.ph, etc)
- Browse to the Expedia’s US website expedia.com (see picture above)
- If you are redirected to an 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 the Expedia’s regional websites such as expedia.co.uk, expedia.co.ph, etc.
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Step 02. Search for refundable flights
- Enter Flying From, Flying To, Departing, Travelers, etc.
- Click and expand “Advanced options” (see picture above)
- Select “Refundable flight” option (see picture above)
- Click on “Search” button
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Step 03. Select a refundable flight
- On the next page, you will see a list of refundable flights
- Look for a convenient or cheapest refundable flight
- Make sure “Free cancel w/in 24 hrs” is indicated for the flight you want to select
- 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 “Continue Booking” button
- Also, make sure there is “Tickets are non-refundable 24 hours after booking …” under “Important Flight Information” section
- Click on “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 “Review and book your trip” section
- Fill in the passenger and payment details
- Click on “Complete Booking” button
- You will see the flight booking confirmation page
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Step 06. Check and retain your fight confirmation email
- Check your email for Expedia flight booking confirmation
- Make sure the email has “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 “Change or cancel this reservation” link in your email, call Expedia 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 07. 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
- Go to your Expedia booking confirmation email
- Click on the link “Cancel” in “Change or cancel this reservation“
- You will be taken to “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 “My Trips” link on the top of the page
- Click on “All purchases“
- You should see your flight booking under “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 “Manage reservation” section
- Click on “Cancel flight” link
- You will be taken to “Cancel your flight” page
- Click on “Cancel my flight” button
- You will be asked to confirm: “Are you sure you want to cancel your flight?“
- Click on “Yes, cancel flight” button
- You will be taken to cancellation confirmation page
- Verify that the page says “Your booking has been cancelled!“
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Step 08. Verify if the flight booking has been cancelled
- Click on “My Trips” link on the top of the page
- Click on “All purchases“
- Verify that the cancelled flight booking is now showing in “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 till you recieve your refund
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Step 09. Receive full refund in a few days
- Most of the times, 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 become a confirmed transaction. If you cancel the 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.com.
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That’s it! The procedure to book flight tickets with 24 hour FREE cancellation on Expedia. The procedure is exactly 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.
Very informative as usual, one thing I would like to ask.
3 days ago I was looking for flights within US cities.
Today when I was trying to make bookings the fares are almost double!!
Please advise what happened or any particular reason for this?
Thanks.
If you are booking tickets last minute, the prices fluctuate drastically.
That being said, if you are booking tickets far ahead and you still see the prices change every day, it could be that the airlines are raising their prices on purpose. They use cookies and when they see that you are searching a lot, they raise their prices. In that case, you should try clearing your cookies or use Incognito mode in your browser.
Hi,
Do you know if any ‘admin fee’ or ‘booking fee’ is charged and not refunded or is the total amount fully refunded?
Thanks
Chas
Hi Chas! There is no “admin fee” or “booking fee”. Your full amount will be refunded provided you cancel within 24 hrs or the date/time mentioned in your booking confirmation. Refer to Step 07 above. You should see a date/time under “cancel” link. You must cancel before this date/time.
Thanks for the info… what about a person who cancels often fights with expedia (because ia a nomad or whatever) is there a chance it could be banned or something?
I haven’t heard any issues like those. In my opinion, booking and canceling tickets every few months is perfectly fine. If you mix that with actual flight and hotel bookings, you will not have any issues at all.
Hello! How many days till they fully refunded the amount if I am to use a debit card to pay? Thanks! Great info!
Hi Janica! I have always received my refunds within 1-2 business days. There might sometimes be a delay from the bank’s side but from Expedia side, the refund is processed in just 1-2 business days.
I am British, by paying in dollars do you know if I would be charged a conversion fee? I contacted expedia, but they said I should use .co.uk and not .com – not helpful.
Hi Lisa! Yes, your bank will charge a “foreign transaction fee” since you will be paying in dollars. There is no work around that. But, more and more banks are offering credit cards with “no foreign transaction fee” these days. It would probably be helpful to get one for your travels.
I cancelled my tickets within 24hrs. When I checked ‘my trips’ it says that it’s cancelled, the amount is NOT zero – it still shows the amount for the tickets?
Hi Kalina! In that case, give Expedia a call to check on your cancellation. In my opinion, you should still receive the refund since your cancellation was within your 24 hours window.
Hi Thirumal,
thank you for this helpful information! I want to try this out but I´m afraid to lose a lot of money if in the end the free cancellation doesn´t apply. For example in Step 4:
Also, make sure there is “Tickets are non-refundable 24 hours after booking …” under “Important Flight Information” section…
In my case it shows:
Tickets are refundable. Cancellations are permitted, fee may apply…
Do you think this makes a difference or will it still be a free cancellation?
Thank you
If you want to make sure a particular ticket can be cancelled within 24 hrs, give a call to Expedia to confirm. The wordings can be slightly different in different situations. But in doubt, calling and verifying with Expedia is the best bet.
Hi. I”m about to do this for a friend who is traveling and needs a ticket to proof he is exiting the country. Do you have a number that you use to contact Expedia? I want to call them before I book just to make sure that I am booking a refundable ticket, but I’m never sure the best way to get ahold of companies like that. If you’ve got a number you can share, that would be great. I’ll be calling from Costa Rica!
Here are the steps to contact Expedia
– Go to https://www.expedia.com/service/#/articles/397/34/12324
– Scroll down to “Still need help?”
– Click on “If you need assistance with canceling your flight, please contact us”
– A popup will appear and you will see the phone numbers at the bottom