Alaska Airlines currently offer a full airfare credit if you buy airfare and the price goes down at any time. Effective for tickets purchased on or after 9/1 they will no longer give any credit for price drops.
This comes on the heels of Alaska killing the ability to change or cancel tickets 60+ days before departure for free.
Clearly the days of Alaska being a friendly airline are going away as they become a larger player thanks to their Virgin America buyout.
- Southwest gives a full airfare credit for any price drops at any time.
- JetBlue gives a full airfare credit if the price drops within 5 days of the purchase. After 5 days you will be assessed a $75 fee unless you bought a Blue Flex fare. JetBlue Mosaic members can get a credit at any time with no fees.
- United has an unpublished fare drop policy as well. If your fare drops within 30 days of purchase, United will give you a voucher for the difference, less a $50 processing fee. Not all agents know about this policy, so you may need to ask for a manager or HUCA. Some agents will even waive the $50 fee, some agents will require that the amount of the voucher after the fee must be at least $50, and some agents may be willing to give a voucher even if it’s more than 30 days after purchase. United vouchers can be merged together and used by anyone, so be sure to check the airfare daily after you make a purchase.
Other airlines charge the full change fee for a price drop, which can be $200 or more. That means you’ll only get a credit when there’s a massive price drop.
Of course if you’re within the 24 hour free cancellation period (up to 96 hours on Priceline) you can always just rebook and cancel the old reservation.
Have you ever taken advantage of an airfare price drop policy?
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Delta has one too: When you book a flight on delta.com or via the Fly Delta app we guarantee you have purchased the best fare that Delta offers for the airports and type of itinerary that you request. If you find that your exact same Delta ticket is at least $10 lower on another U.S.–based travel website, then we’ll make it right by refunding you the difference and rewarding you with a $100 voucher for your next purchase. This guarantee is limited to published fares that Delta offers for the specific airports and type of itinerary that you request, with the same fare restrictions, and does not apply to combinations of separate one-way tickets.
That only applies on the day on the day of purchase. Anyone can just cancel and rebook within 24 hours on any airline.
This is for price drops after 24 hours.
In the delta case its still better to keep the original delta ticket and get a refund plus 100$ voucher
Sure, but that isn’t a fare drop policy, that’s just a low price guarantee on the day of purchase. Other airlines have that as well. Continental’s used to be great, but now most are gimmicks and never pay out due to fare class restrictions.
thank you for that response
What about tickets booked through chase travel portal with UR points? Can u get a refund for Alaska tickets?
Yes, I did it yesterday actually 🙂
Is there any way to signup for a tracker that will notify me via email if a price dropped on a purchased ticket?
Sure, Google Flights offers that.
Hi,when you say on JetBlue someday changes are free for mosaic members? what do you mean? you can call up the second after you book and switch over to a flight later that day or you have to wait till the day of the flight to call up and ask to switch over to a different flight that JetBlue is operating later that day. of course there is a risk of not being able to get a seat on a flight change request that you are requesting the day of the flight
with Mosaic you can make any changes you want as often as you want for free
I use Yapta to track all my flights including my Alaska flights. I have had several hundred dollars put in my “Alaska wallet” based on their price guarantee. Very sad to see that go away.