Guide
Unused airline credits and refunds: what finance should track
When a flight is canceled or changed, the money comes back as a refund or a credit, or not at all. This guide explains the difference, what the US Department of Transportation's 2024 refund rule requires, and how to keep a register so credits are used before they expire.
This is general information for finance and travel teams, not legal advice. Rules change and depend on the itinerary and fare, so check the sources and the airline's own conditions for any specific ticket.
The difference
Refund or credit
A refund
The fare comes back to the card or account that paid for it. For finance, it's a receivable: expected, then received. Until it arrives, it isn't a saving.
A credit
The airline keeps the money and gives value to use on a future ticket. It's worth something only if the right traveler uses it with that airline before it expires, under the airline's conditions. Credits are often called travel credits, future flight credits, vouchers or unused tickets.
A credit is usually what's left of a nonrefundable ticket the traveler chose not to use. When the airline cancels or significantly changes the flight, US rules may entitle the passenger to a refund instead. That's the case to spot before a credit is accepted. The travel glossary has short definitions of both, and of the other terms on this page. When a flight is delayed rather than canceled, the flight delay compensation guide covers what EU, UK and US rules give passengers.
The US rule
DOT's automatic refund rule (2024)
Summarized in our own words from the Federal Register. DOT may have changed the rule or its enforcement since.
Each statement links to the Federal Register, checked Oct 21, 2026.
- The US Department of Transportation published its final rule on airline refunds on April 26, 2024. It took effect on June 25, 2024. Source
- It covers scheduled flights to, from or within the United States. When an airline cancels or significantly changes a flight and the passenger isn't offered, or turns down, alternative transportation and any travel credit, voucher or other compensation, the airline must refund the ticket without the passenger having to ask for it. Source
- A refund is prompt if it's made within 7 business days for a credit card purchase, and within 20 calendar days for other forms of payment. Source
- As amended in August 2024, a credit, voucher or other compensation an airline offers instead of a refund it owes must come with clear and conspicuous notice of the passenger's right to a full refund, and the passenger must affirmatively accept it. Ticket agents must tell passengers they're entitled to a refund, when that's the case, before offering an alternative. Source
- Where a ticket agent is the merchant of record for the ticket, the agent is responsible for providing the refund. Source
- The requirements for refunds after airline cancellations and significant changes had a compliance date of October 28, 2024. Source
What counts as a significant change
A change made by the airline where the passenger is scheduled for any of these:
- Departure 3 hours or more earlier, or arrival 3 hours or more later, than originally scheduled on a domestic itinerary; 6 hours or more on an international itinerary
- A different departure or arrival airport
- More connections than the original itinerary
- A downgrade to a lower class of service
- For a passenger with a disability, different connecting airports, or a substitute aircraft without an accessibility feature the passenger needs
Source (Federal Register, checked Oct 21, 2026)
Since 2024
Credits offered instead of a refund, and later changes
Each statement links to the Federal Register, checked Oct 21, 2026.
- After the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, DOT amended the rule: a credit or voucher offered instead of a refund for a canceled or significantly changed flight must remain valid for at least five years from the date it's issued, and the passenger must be told its terms, its expiry date and their right to a full refund. Source
- A passenger is treated as having asked for a refund if, for example, the airline offers no alternative flight or compensation for a canceled flight, or the passenger doesn't respond to an alternative flight before it departs without them. Source
- A transferable travel credit or voucher, valid for at least five years from the date it's issued, is owed only in specific cases linked to a serious communicable disease: a government ban, entry restriction or quarantine that stops the trip, or a declared public health emergency together with medical advice not to fly, in both cases only for tickets bought before the emergency was declared or the restriction began; or medical advice not to fly because the passenger has or is likely to have the disease and would put others at risk. Source
- That communicable-disease requirement had a compliance date of April 25, 2025. Source
- Under the 2024 rule, a flight given a new flight number counts as canceled. Since December 5, 2025, DOT has chosen not to enforce the refund requirements when a flight is only renumbered and the passenger is rebooked on it with no significant change or delay, while it considers changing that definition. The pause now runs until July 7, 2027. Source
Credit conditions
What to record for each credit
Conditions differ by airline, fare and how the credit was issued. These are the questions to answer from the airline's own conditions page, with the date you checked it.
- Who can use it
- Many credits can be used only by the traveler named on the original ticket. Some airlines allow some credits to be transferred to another person. Record which applies to each credit.
- The expiry date, and what it means
- Check whether the date is the last day to book, or the last day to travel, and whether it runs from the original ticket's issue date or the credit's. A credit that has to be used for travel by a date is worth less than one that only has to be booked by it.
- Where it can be used
- A credit is usually tied to the issuing airline, sometimes to the original route or point of origin, and sometimes only to certain booking channels.
- What it pays for
- A new fare that costs more needs the difference paid. A change fee may apply. If the new ticket costs less, the leftover value may be lost or kept as a smaller credit.
- How it's redeemed
- Some credits are redeemed with the original ticket number and the traveler's name; others are issued as a voucher code or held in a traveler's airline account. Keep whatever the airline needs to find it.
A credit register
How to keep one
Record it the day the ticket is canceled
Traveler, airline, last 4 digits of the ticket number, currency, remaining value, expiry date, whether it's transferable, and any conditions. Write down the date you checked the airline's conditions.
Keep refunds and credits apart
Money expected back is a receivable until it arrives. A credit is only worth something if it's used. Mixing them makes recovery look better than it is.
Review it every month
Sort by expiry. Anything expiring within the next 60 days needs an owner and a plan: the traveler's next trip with that airline, a transfer if it's allowed, or a decision to let it go.
Check before every booking
Before a new ticket is bought for a traveler, check whether they hold a credit with that airline. A credit that's never looked up expires unused.
Count it as recovered only when applied
Report open credits and applied credits separately, with the amount actually applied to new tickets.
Total by currency
Credits are held in the currency of the original ticket. Report each currency on its own, rather than converting at an arbitrary rate.
The tracker runs in your browser: it sorts credits by expiry, flags those within 60 days and totals each currency. Nothing is uploaded.
How silentVIP handles it
Credits and refunds for silentVIP clients
Unused ticket credits
Identify
A canceled nonrefundable ticket becomes a credit with the airline, ticket number (last 4 digits), value and traveler.
Check eligibility
We record whether it's transferable to another traveler and any airline conditions.
Track expiry
Credits are listed by expiry date, and anything expiring within 60 days is flagged in reports.
Apply
When the traveler books with that airline again, the credit is applied to the new ticket and marked used, with the amount applied.
Refunds
Every refund is tracked with an expected date and chased if it's late.
Reports show outstanding (expected but not yet received) and recovered (received) as separate totals, so an expected refund never counts as savings. Credits count as recovered only when applied.
Questions
Credits and refunds
Does the DOT refund rule apply when my traveler cancels a trip?
Is a travel credit as good as a refund?
How long are airline credits valid?
Sources
Where this comes from
- Refunds and Other Consumer Protections, final rule, 89 FR 32760 (April 26, 2024), on federalregister.gov (checked Oct 21, 2026).
- Refunds and Other Consumer Protections (2024 FAA Reauthorization), final rule, 89 FR 65534 (August 12, 2024), on federalregister.gov (checked Oct 21, 2026).
- Airline Refunds and Other Consumer Protections, notification of enforcement discretion, 91 FR 41556 (July 7, 2026), on federalregister.gov (checked Oct 21, 2026).
Last reviewed: Oct 21, 2026. Not legal advice. Spotted something out of date? Email support@silentvip.com.
Next steps
Read next
Unused ticket credit tracker
Paste a CSV of credits: sorted by expiry, flagged and totaled per currency.
Read more →Reporting and savings
Refunds, credits and spend in the portal's reports and monthly report.
Read more →Finance workflow
Month end for travel, from allocation to the monthly report.
Read more →See credits and refunds tracked for you
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