--- title: All 4 Major Airlines Now Give Refunds if You Cancel Tickets Within 24 Hours description: Until today, American Airlines allowed customers to "reserve" seats for 24 hours, but would not refund money once tickets were purchased. authors: - name: Alicia Adamczyk url: https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 201 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk former_staff: true published: '2016-04-01T16:34:51.000Z' modified: '2016-04-01T16:34:51.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Airlines - American Airlines - pubdesk - Travel word_count: 175 canonical: https://money.com/american-airlines-refund-tickets/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![160401_EM_AmericanAirlines](https://img.money.com/2016/04/160401_em_americanairlines.jpg) America Airlines will finally [refund ticket purchases](http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2016/03/american-airlines-will-offer-refunds-within-24-hours-of-ticket-purchase-starting-friday.html/) within 24 hours of the sale, according to the *Dallas News,* catching up to other major airliners that have had the same customer-friendly policy available for years. Until today, American Airlines allowed customers to "reserve" seats without paying for the tickets for 24 hours. But the airline would not refund any money if the tickets were actually purchased. Starting today, they'll provide a 24-hour grace period for travelers who made mistaken reservations or need to change or cancel their itinerary. The airline is also [dropping the 24-hour](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2016/03/31/american-airlines-will-no-longer-let-travelers-hold-flight-reservations-for-24-hours/) reservation feature, though passengers using their frequent flyer miles to book flights will still be able to hold flights for 24 hours. Delta, United, and Southwest [already offer](http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2016/03/american-airlines-will-offer-refunds-within-24-hours-of-ticket-purchase-starting-friday.html/) a 24-hour refund like the one American is instituting. American Airlines says it is switching from 24-hour holds to the cancellation policy so travelers will be less confused. [![Best college education image](https://content.money.com/wp-content/themes/money2018/img/college-site-banner-02.png)](https://best-colleges.time.com/money/search-colleges/?xid=cm-mcpFindTheCollegeWidget) As *The Washington Post* noted, the hold policy wasn't without its benefits; customers could use the 24-hour window to find potentially cheaper flights, without repercussions. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/american-airlines-refund-tickets/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Budgeting", "item": "https://money.com/budgeting/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "All 4 Major Airlines Now Give Refunds if You Cancel Tickets Within 24 Hours" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/american-airlines-refund-tickets/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/american-airlines-refund-tickets/", "name": "All 4 Major Airlines Now Give Refunds if You Cancel Tickets Within 24 Hours", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-04-01T16:34:51.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/american-airlines-refund-tickets/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/american-airlines-refund-tickets/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-04-01T16:34:51.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "All 4 Major Airlines Now Give Refunds if You Cancel Tickets Within 24 Hours", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/04/160401_em_americanairlines.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1398, "caption": "160401_EM_AmericanAirlines" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alicia Adamczyk", "url": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2016/01/alicia-headshot-2.jpg?quality=85&w=640&h=640&crop=1", "email": "alicia.adamczyk@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-04-01T16:34:51.000Z", "description": "Until today, American Airlines allowed customers to \"reserve\" seats for 24 hours, but would not refund money once tickets were purchased.", "abstract": "Until today, American Airlines allowed customers to \"reserve\" seats for 24 hours, but would not refund money once tickets were purchased.", "@id": "https://money.com/american-airlines-refund-tickets/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2016-04-01T16:34:51.000Z", "wordCount": 175, "keywords": [ "Airlines", "American Airlines", "pubdesk", "Travel" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Budget", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget" ] } ] } ] } ```