Upcoming Redemption bookings: should you cancel?

[SOPOOR]

If you have upcoming (say next 6 months) redemption bookings, and the cancellation policies are quite good, ie no fee/small fee

should you cancel them, or should you wait until last minute?

I cant see any benefit in cancelling now, except giving the opportunity for others who intend to travel

 

[daft009]

If i cancel my may & july redemption bookings 1.5mil miles will come back to my account
May does look like it will have to be cancelled, but I won't yet.
July *fingers crossed* we can still go.. gotta think positive right!

 

[SOPOOR]

If i cancel my may & july redemption bookings 1.5mil miles will come back to my account
May does look like it will have to be cancelled, but I won't yet.
July *fingers crossed* we can still go.. gotta think positive right!

ive got july and august through mutliple carriers,

other than not getting a reply from the airlines, as the refund policy is confusing as hell,

I cant really see any benefit in cancelling now, thank god I had no hotels booked

im sure there are people who will be more out of pocket through cancelaltions of hotels

 

[daft009]

i have 2 hotels booked for my may trip, ~AU$400 each
july trip we've paid 50% off an airbnb booking.. lets see

 

[Toula92122]

I have 5 points redemption flights booked for July. I've not cancelled any yet, as I'm hoping that the airline may cancel some of the flights and allow me to not have to pay cancellation fees. Otherwise I'm on the hook for about $1200 in fees and will have expired points on one of the redemptions which I'm hoping they will extend.

 

[SOPOOR]

I have 5 points redemption flights booked for July. I've not cancelled any yet, as I'm hoping that the airline may cancel some of the flights and allow me to not have to pay cancellation fees. Otherwise I'm on the hook for about $1200 in fees and will have expired points on one of the redemptions which I'm hoping they will extend.

my points arent due to expire soon, however, what happens to points that are expired and the flight is cancelled?

surely there is some legal/common sense clause that means you wont lose them

 

[Toula92122]

my points arent due to expire soon, however, what happens to points that are expired and the flight is cancelled?

surely there is some legal/common sense clause that means you wont lose them

I'm not sure whether legally you would have a position and my attitude is if they do well so be it, fighting for expired points is not a mountain I'm looking to climb. However, others likely would feel differently on that issue. My expiring points are with Krisflyer and they have previously been generous in extending expired points when having to cancel a rewards booking.

 

[SOPOOR]

I'm not sure whether legally you would have a position and my attitude is if they do well so be it, fighting for expired points is not a mountain I'm looking to climb. However, others likely would feel differently on that issue. My expiring points are with Krisflyer and they have previously been generous in extending expired points when having to cancel a rewards booking.

i think there is a big difference between you cancelling it for personal reasons or COVID reasons VS them cancelling the flights so you were not provided the service through no fault of your own,

 

[AdMEL]

Similar to others here, my partner, 3 y.o. and I have SQ J points redemption flights in late July to BCN, returning late August. Booking was 696,000 points, made in September last year, at which time, about half the points were about to expire (Oct). I’m hoping that SQ cancel the flights and give me all the points back, with an extension on the ones that were due to expire, but I’m not holding my breath, given the dates. Second option would be allowing reschedule to next year at around the same time (I’ve read comments to the effect that booking flights and amending later is a way to extend points that are about to expire, but not sure how that works in practice). I also considered cancelling and copping the points reduction, until I realised I would have to use the points by the end of next month, which won’t suit (preference is to postpone until European summer next year). Hadn‘t booked any accommodation (was about to start when this occurred) and car rental is cancellable, so out of pocket less than $500 in cash, excluding points. This has taken a great deal of planning to get everything to align - years to accrue the points, then to find flights, plus obtaining leave (have three months of long service booked from late May - first two months were to be spent in Port Douglas, for which we have have VA flight booked (almost $1,000) and I was just finalising accommodation for) - not sure I can get everything align again next year, or any other time.

 

[burmans]

Similar to others here, my partner, 3 y.o. and I have SQ J points redemption flights in late July to BCN, returning late August. Booking was 696,000 points, made in September last year, at which time, about half the points were about to expire (Oct). I’m hoping that SQ cancel the flights and give me all the points back, with an extension on the ones that were due to expire, but I’m not holding my breath, given the dates. Second option would be allowing reschedule to next year at around the same time (I’ve read comments to the effect that booking flights and amending later is a way to extend points that are about to expire, but not sure how that works in practice). I also considered cancelling and copping the points reduction, until I realised I would have to use the points by the end of next month, which won’t suit (preference is to postpone until European summer next year). Hadn‘t booked any accommodation (was about to start when this occurred) and car rental is cancellable, so out of pocket less than $500 in cash, excluding points. This has taken a great deal of planning to get everything to align - years to accrue the points, then to find flights, plus obtaining leave (have three months of long service booked from late May - first two months were to be spent in Port Douglas, for which we have have VA flight booked (almost $1,000) and I was just finalising accommodation for) - not sure I can get everything align again next year, or any other time.

I had this situation with my wifes points on SQ some time ago where points would have been expired on cancellation. SQ were quite proactive in explaining a way around this, from memory they put the cancellation on hold somehow (cant remember exact mechanism), we then had to make another booking within 12 months (booking, not redemption). Didn't have to be the same routing, just any booking.

An option may be to make a long dated change, any date though you may need to change again once a serious dates firm up. You may possibly cop change fees but SQ should be prepared to waive in current circumstance.