Repricing flights: What you need to know about canceling trips when you find a cheaper fare

Although coronavirus pandemic-era travel restrictions may be well behind us, one thing remains from those times: Flight bookings are generally more flexible.

Most major U.S. airlines still let you rebook award and revenue tickets if the price drops or plans change. In the case of a price drop, you can rebook your flights to the new lower fare and pocket the difference. While this practice sticks at American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and other carriers, there's one noteworthy exception: Southwest Airlines.

Before the pandemic, Southwest was one of the only airlines that let customers rebook their flights for free in any fare class, even if they booked the cheapest Wanna Get Away fare. However, this has become more complicated since the airline replaced Wanna Get Away fares with Basic fares. This new fare class restricts changing or canceling its cheapest flights, and flight credits now expire after six months.

Here, we'll discuss what you need to know about rebooking flights when the price drops with major U.S. airlines, including an in-depth look at Southwest's new policies.

Rebooking flights when the price drops

Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United Airlines allow you to change or cancel award and paid tickets when the price drops. The only major exception is basic economy tickets, which are usually not changeable or require a significant fee to change or cancel.

This chart shows the change and cancellation fees (or lack thereof) for most major U.S. airlines. We've excluded Southwest Airlines since we'll cover it in the next section.

In most cases, changing your ticket is simple: Pull up your reservation on the airline's website, and click the change or cancel button. Some airlines will let you change your ticket to the new lower fare without canceling your reservation. Meanwhile, others require you to cancel and rebook your ticket if you'd like to get your original flight at a lower price.

What to know about rebooking Southwest tickets

Previously, you could easily rebook or cancel any Southwest fare, including the cheapest Wanna Get Away fares. Regarding a revenue ticket, you'd get a flight voucher that never expired for the difference when rebooking for a lower fare. Meanwhile, if you booked a flight with Southwest Rapid Rewards points, the difference between your originally booked fare and the new lower fare would be deposited into your account.

But that all changed last month when Southwest replaced Wanna Get Away fares with more restrictive Basic fares. Here's what to know about rebooking them.

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Basic fares can't be changed without upgrading, but they can be refunded

There are several downsides to booking Basic fares, including earning just 2 points per dollar spent on your ticket (versus 6 points per dollar with Wanna Get Away fares). Perhaps the most disappointing part of Basic fares, however, is that they can only be changed if you upgrade to a higher fare class, like Wanna Get Away Plus.

If you cancel a Basic ticket, you'll receive a flight voucher that expires in six months. On the bright side, points are still fully refunded, while taxes and fees are refunded as a voucher.

Thankfully, Wanna Get Away fares booked before May 27 can still be changed or refunded, per the old rules. This means revenue tickets receive a Southwest voucher that never expires, and you can freely change your revenue and award flights. Likewise, Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime and Business Select fares continue to have more relaxed rules across the board.

Repricing round-trip Basic fares is complicated

Since you can't change Southwest's Basic fares without upgrading them, it's more complicated to rebook them if the price drops.

Now, you need to cancel your trip entirely to get a refund of your points or a flight voucher. Once you receive the refund, you can rebook your flights at the current market rate. While this seems simple enough, a problem arises for round-trip tickets. You must cancel your entire itinerary if one leg drops in price, then rebook it outright.

This can be a problem if, say, your outbound leg drops in price but the inbound ticket has increased. You cannot protect the lower cost of your inbound ticket when you cancel the entire itinerary. In fairness, this is the case with many major U.S. airlines, but it was not the case before the switch from Wanna Get Away to Basic.

One way to hedge against that is to book one-way itineraries instead of combining them into a single round trip (more on that below).

Is it worth booking Southwest Basic fares?

It depends on how you travel. If you tend to book the cheapest fare and are totally sure you'll take the flight, booking Southwest's basic fares might still be worthwhile. After all, American, Delta and United do not allow changes or cancellations on most basic economy tickets. In turn, Southwest's basic fares are more flexible than the competition at the cheapest level.

But if you think your plans might change, booking a more premium Southwest fare type or a standard economy ticket with another airline might be worth considering.

Even at the Wanna Get Away Plus level, flight vouchers expire within 12 months of issuance. But unlike Basic fares, you can transfer these flight credits to another person. Anytime and Business Select fares remain refundable to the original form of payment, though they tend to be significantly more expensive than Basic or Wanna Get Away Plus.

Tips for repricing tickets

Rebooking flights when the price drops is simple enough, but here are some quick tips to make it easier.

Book one-way flights when possible

Most airlines won't let you cancel just one leg of your itinerary, which makes it challenging to reprice your flights if one leg drops in price after booking. If it's the same price to book two one-way tickets, it's advantageous to book them over a round-trip itinerary so you have more flexibility to change your flights if the price drops on one leg.

How to find price drops

On revenue tickets, you might consider tracking the price of your flights on Google Flights. If you pull up the flight you booked and toggle the "Track prices" button, you'll get an email whenever the price changes. If you see the price change, rebook quickly to pocket the difference.

Tracking prices is less straightforward with award tickets; generally, you'll have to check periodically by searching the airline's website. However, Points Path — a Google Chrome extension that shows award pricing on Google Flights — gives award tracking to premium members. This works similarly to tracking prices on Google Flights, as Points Path will email you when it sees a tracked flight change in price.

Bottom line

Southwest has made some significant changes this year, from rolling out checked bag fees to introducing assigned seating. However, the most frustrating change for many is the move from Wanna Get Away to Basic fares. You cannot change Basic fares, and canceling a flight will give you a voucher that expires in six months.

Meanwhile, it's business as usual at other U.S. airlines. Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue and United let you rebook most economy tickets booked with cash, or points or miles as long as you do so before departure. The only exception is basic economy, which is typically not changeable or cancelable.

Related reading:

• The best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare
• Best airline credit cards
• What exactly are airline miles, anyway?
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
• The best credit cards to reach elite status