In light of the ongoing pandemic, United Airlines is extending the timeframe available for its customers to redeem their flight credits on tickets that were purchased between May 1, 2019, and December 31, 2021.
While travel credits are typically valid for up to one year, the carrier is pushing all of those expiration dates back to December 31, 2022.
United provides two types of credits: future flight credits and electronic travel certificates, which are subject to different limitations. Future flight credits may only be used by the customer who originally booked a trip that was later canceled or who transferred their ticket to a cheaper flight and received the fare difference as a credit.
Electronic travel certificates, on the other hand, are credits that can be transferred to another passenger. Future flight credit holders can use their credit to book a flight with one of United's partner airlines, while travel certificate holders are limited to United flights only.
A United spokesperson told Travel + Leisure that any electronic travel certificates that would otherwise expire between August 1 and December 31, 2021, will also remain valid through the end of 2022 instead.
Customers who had planned on traveling this past week to places where severe weather caused flight cancellations may be grateful for the extension. Plenty of people had been bound for New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania where hundreds of flights were canceled after the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit the East Coast, bringing torrential rains, flooding and even a tornado.
Days before, when Ida made landfall in Louisiana, all flights into and out of New Orleans were also canceled due to the impact of what was at that point a Category 4 tropical storm, which struck 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina. While it didn't cause the same level of devastation, Ida did knock out the city's power grid, caused major flooding and structural damage, and prompted evacuations.
Other travelers who are simply reevaluating their upcoming trip plans due to the widespread transmission of COVID-19's Delta variant across the nation may also be glad to hear of United's decision to extend flight credits through the end of next year.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
