How to Change Your Airline Ticket

If you need to switch your travel dates, find out how to do it without getting charged.

Kaitlin Pitsker's avatar
By
published
in How Tos

I bought an airline ticket for the wrong day. Is it too late to change it?

9 Financial Fumbles You Can Fix

Federal rules require U.S. and foreign airlines selling flights in the U.S. either to give travelers 24 hours to cancel a ticket that was purchased at least seven days before departure or to hold a reservation at the quoted fare for 24 hours, after which it disappears unless you confirm and pay.

Most major U.S. and foreign airlines go with the first option, allowing travelers to cancel a ticket booked directly through the airline, without penalty, within 24 hours of purchase. (Third-party booking sites, such as Expedia and Priceline, do not have to comply with the federal rule, but most offer a similar window for canceling some kinds of tickets.)

From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance

Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues

CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/y99mlvgqmn1763972420.png

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

Sign up

Kaitlin Pitsker
Kaitlin Pitsker
Associate Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Pitsker joined Kiplinger in the summer of 2012. Previously, she interned at the Post-Standard newspaper in Syracuse, N.Y., and with Chronogram magazine in Kingston, N.Y. She holds a BS in magazine journalism from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.