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Flight and hotel prices are constantly shifting, so how do you know if you're getting the best deal? And what do you do if you realize that the price has gone down since you booked? In this guide, we'll go over what you need to know about checking for price changes and what to do if you see that the price has gone down.
Here's how you can reprice your hotels and flights to save money on trips.
Page Contents
The 24-Hour Rule
First, let's talk about flights and what to do immediately after booking. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires that airline carriers either hold your ticket price free of charge for 24 hours or refund the ticket cost if you cancel within 24 hours of booking. This means you have a short window to keep an eye on prices after you book, and you can cancel and rebook if you see a better option.
It's important to note that this is an either/or rule, so airlines typically offer to either hold the price for 24 hours or offer free 24-hour cancellation. Another important note is that the DOT rule does not apply to flights booked through a third party, like a travel portal or travel agent; however, those companies may have their own rules that follow suit. Just be sure to check the policy before booking.
How To Check for Price Changes
So, how do you actually check the prices of your flights after you've booked? There are a few options.
- Check manually. The first — and most tedious — option is to manually check each of the flights you have booked. This means regularly logging onto the website or app of the airline and checking the exact flight you have booked to see if the price is lower.
- Use Google Flights. Google Flights is a helpful tool when looking for low flight prices, but it's also a great way to keep track of flights you've already booked. Search for your exact flight, then set an email notification for price drops. That way, if the price goes down, you'll get an email about it.
- Use the Capital One Travel portal. Similar to Google Flights, you can set price drop notifications in the Capital One Travel portal. Another helpful thing about Capital One Travel is that it gives recommendations for whether or not you should book at a certain time. If the site's algorithm expects the price to go down, you'll be told to wait, rather than book. You could potentially save the headache of having to rebook a flight by waiting to book until Capital One Travel recommends it.
Take Advantage of Sales
Airline and hotel sales
Once you've set notifications for flights you've already booked, it's important to keep an eye out for any sales that hotels and airlines are running. They're especially common during holidays, but sales can be found throughout the year. Here at AwardWallet, we keep a running list of current promotions, so be sure to bookmark that page. Additionally, keep an eye on the AwardWallet Blog and enable blog notifications so you'll never miss a sale from your favorite airlines and hotels. Sales are an excellent time to rebook your flight and hotel reservations, as prices are lower than normal.
Shopping portals and bank offers
Shopping portals and bank offers are two more tools to be aware of when thinking about rebooking flights and hotels. Both of these are cash-back or points-added methods to maximize your spending. If you see an elevated offer for cash back or points, it's worth considering canceling and rebooking your flight or hotel to get the kickback. Shopping portals and bank offers work in similar, but slightly different, ways.
Shopping portals require you to start your shopping in the portal, select where you want to buy from, then continue to the specific website and shop like normal. It tracks your purchase and gives you a percentage back. When portals are running elevated offers, you can get as high as 20% back on certain purchases. Rakuten is a fan-favorite portal that allows you to earn either cash or Amex Membership Rewards points.
Similarly, bank offers give you a kickback on your purchase; sometimes it's a percentage, and sometimes it's a dollar amount. One big difference is that you need to add the offer to your card before making your purchase and then use that specific card; otherwise, you won't receive the bonus. If you have cards with either Amex or Chase, be sure to check your offers before making any purchases.
Making A Change
Let's say you've noticed that the price went down for your flight or hotel, or you found a sale or elevated shopping portal offer that you want to take advantage of. Now what?
Each airline carrier and hotel program has its own set of rules for changing a reservation. Some allow you to easily change at any time with no fees involved, others require you to cancel an existing reservation and rebook at the new price, while others will charge you a lot of fees that possibly negate the savings on the lower-priced ticket.
One important thing to note: If you book a basic economy airline ticket or a non-refundable hotel room, you likely won't be able to do any kind of repricing on your reservation without incurring fees. Be sure to check the policies before booking, so you're aware of your options if you end up wanting to rebook. Booking a refundable rate may cost more, but it also provides options for the future if plans change.
Flights
As we mentioned, airline policies for costs related to changing your flights will vary. This can impact your decision on whether it's worth canceling/rebooking a flight. See the following:
Let's briefly look at each of the main U.S.-based programs and how to go about changing your reservation.
Alaska Airlines
Alaska allows you to cancel your flight free of charge and receive the difference as a future flight credit. Once you've received your credit, which should be instant, you can rebook the ticket at the lower price.
American Airlines
If you booked a fully refundable cash flight, you can cancel and receive a refund to your original form of payment, then rebook at a lower rate. If you paid cash for a non-refundable ticket, you can cancel and receive a flight credit; this can be used to rebook at a lower rate. The leftover amount will stay in your account. If you booked an award ticket, depending on which rate you booked, you can either change your flight within your current reservation, or the miles will be redeposited into your account and can be used to rebook the flight.
Delta Air Lines
Delta allows you to easily change your flight at no charge. Go to “My Trips,” select the flight you'd like to change, then select “Change or Add Flights.” Choose your flight and finalize the booking. You'll receive the difference in price as a flight credit.
Frontier Airlines
According to Frontier, “All exchanges have no residual value when exchanged for a purchase of lesser value.” So basically, your only option for repricing a flight is to cancel and rebook, which incurs up to a $99 cancellation fee, depending on how far in advance you cancel. Award redeposits have a $75 fee. These costs may be worth it if the price drop is significantly more.
JetBlue
JetBlue allows you to cancel your flight for free, receive a flight credit, and then rebook at a lower cost.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest makes changes incredibly simple. Just go to your flight reservation and select “Change Flight.” You will see all of your options, including the price of your current reservation. If the new flight's price is lower than what you paid, you'll see a minus sign, which indicates the cash or points credit you'll receive to your account. Select the flight, then go through the confirmation process.
Spirit Airlines
Spirit allows you to cancel for free up to 60 days before your flight. This makes it easy to rebook if the price has dropped. Within 60 days of departure, you'll pay up to $119 in fees.
United Airlines
United does not charge change or cancellation fees; however, you won't be able to change your flight to the same flight at a lower price. Instead, you'll need to cancel, receive a credit, and rebook.
Hotels
Award bookings
Most hotels will require you to cancel and rebook your room at the new rate. If you're booking an award stay and have the extra points available, it's best to book the new room first. This prevents the room (or discount price) from disappearing. After securing the new reservation, cancel the previous one. This works well for IHG, Hilton, Hyatt, Choice, and Wyndham. Note that points refunds are generally instant, but they can sometimes take a few days.
Marriott makes the process even easier by allowing you to change your reservation without needing it cancel it first. To do this, Just go to “My Trips,” then “View/Modify,” then “Edit Room.” You'll see the new price listed and can select “Update” to change your reservation and have the points difference returned to your account.
Cash bookings
As we mentioned earlier, if you want the ability to reprice your hotel room, you need to book a refundable room rate. Non-refundable or prepaid rates will not be eligible for changes. Assuming you book a refundable room, it should be very easy to follow the same process as we listed above. Book the new room at the lower rate, then cancel the old one and get your money back. Easy peasy.
Bottom Line
As you can see, it's beneficial to consistently check the prices on your airline and hotel reservations — or to set alerts that will track these on your behalf. Overall, it's fairly easy to modify a reservation or cancel and rebook, and it's well worth the effort to get some of your points or cash back.
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