Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. A few weeks ago, I had to cancel a few international business class awards due to a scheduling conflict, so I wanted to share the various cancellation processes, timelines, and fees involved. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you will know what to expect from the process. In this post, I will cover my experience cancelling award tickets with Delta, Korean Air, and Air France / KLM. You can read about my experience cancelling award tickets with Avianca LifeMiles and Singapore Airlines.
40,000 Delta SkyMiles for Korean Air Business Class (KUL-ICN-UBN): Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -> Seoul, South Korea -> Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
I cancelled the award ticket on Delta’s website on April 2 and received this refund confirmation email.
After I cancelled the award ticket, the 40,000 Delta SkyMiles were immediately refunded back to my account.
2 days later, the $56.87 refund of taxes/fees posted to my US Bank Altitude Reserve. There was cancellation fee to cancel this award ticket.
30,000 Korean Air Miles for Korean Air Business Class (UBN-ICN-TPE): Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia -> Seoul, South Korea -> Taipei, Taiwan
I tried to cancel the award ticket on Korean Air’s website on April 2, but because the US Bank Altitude Reserve credit card number expired, I could not cancel the award ticket online. I called the Korean Air customer service number and the rep was able to process my cancellation request after I provided the updated expiration date for my credit card. Interestingly, Delta was able to refund the taxes/fees automatically even though the credit card number expired. The rep informed me that the fee to cancel the award was 3,000 Korean Air Miles, which would be deducted from the 30,000 Korean Air Miles I used to book the award ticket, so I would only receive a refund of 27,000 Korean Air Miles, but I would get a full refund on my taxes/fees. Here is the “very detailed” refund receipt email I received from Korean Air after my call.
A few hours later, I received another email that said my 27,000 Korean Air Miles were refunded to my account.
The next day, I logged into my Korean Air account and saw the 27,000 refunded miles.
I clicked the Used Mileage link and it showed that I used 3,000 miles (for cancelling the award ticket).
3 days later, I received another email from Korean Air with the refund amount for the taxes/fees.
6 days after calling Korean Air to cancel the award ticket, I received the $79.40 refund of taxes/fees to my US Bank Altitude Reserve.
88,500 Air France / KLM Miles for China Airlines Business Class (TPE-SFO): Taipei, Taiwan -> San Francisco, CA
I cancelled the award ticket on the Air France / KLM website on April 2, but there was a $75 cancellation fee. Instead of paying the cancellation fee with a credit card, $75 would be subtracted from the amount of taxes/fees I paid for the award. I originally paid $106.15 in taxes/fees, so after the $75 cancellation fee, I would receive a partial refund of $31.15. After I submitted the cancellation request online, I received this refund request email.
About 24 hours later, I received this confusing email from Air France / KLM that looked like I would receive a total refund of $728.15. I was worried that Air France / KLM was going to refund this amount but keep my 88,500 miles. Alternatively, I wondered if Air France / KLM valued the 88,500 miles that I used as $622.00, which would be 0.7 CPP.
Luckily, 2 days after cancelling the award ticket, the 88,500 miles were refunded to my account.
3 days after cancelling the award ticket, I received the partial refund of $31.15 on my US Bank Altitude Reserve. Air France / KLM was also able to process this partial refund even though the original credit card I used to pay for this award ticket was expired.
To summarize the cancellation process for these 3 award tickets, here are the details:
| Award Ticket | Cancellation Date | Cancel Fee | Total Miles | Miles Refunded Date | Total Taxes | Taxes Refunded Date | Total Days |
| Delta Award: KUL-ICN-UBN | 4/2/2024 | $0.00 | 40,000 | 4/2/2024 | $58.10 | 4/4/2024 | 2 |
| Korean Air Award: UBN-ICN-TPE | 4/2/2024 | 3,000 KE Miles | 30,000 | 4/3/2024 | $79.40 | 4/8/2024 | 6 |
| Air France / KLM Award: TPE-SFO | 4/2/2024 | $75.00 | 88,500 | 4/4/2024 | $31.15 | 4/5/2024 | 3 |
Please check out My Experience Cancelling 2 International Business Class Awards: Avianca LifeMiles & Singapore Airlines. Here is a summary of the 5 award tickets I cancelled for my entire trip:
| Award Ticket | Cancellation Date | Cancel Fee | Total Miles | Miles Refunded Date | Total Taxes | Taxes Refunded Date | Total Days |
| Avianca LifeMiles Award: SFO-DEL | 4/2/2024 | $200.00 | 90,000 | 4/7/2024 | $52.80 | 4/26/2024 | 24 |
| Singapore Airlines Award: DEL-SIN-KUL | 4/2/2024 | $50.00 | 65,000 | 4/9/2024 | $64.42 | 4/12/2024 | 10 |
| Delta Award: KUL-ICN-UBN | 4/2/2024 | $0.00 | 40,000 | 4/2/2024 | $58.10 | 4/4/2024 | 2 |
| Korean Air Award: UBN-ICN-TPE | 4/2/2024 | 3,000 KE Miles | 30,000 | 4/3/2024 | $79.40 | 4/8/2024 | 6 |
| Air France / KLM Award: TPE-SFO | 4/2/2024 | $75.00 | 88,500 | 4/4/2024 | $31.15 | 4/5/2024 | 3 |
As you can see by looking at the far right column, the total number of days for cancelling the award tickets varies tremendously. After all was said and done, the total cost to cancel the 5 award was $200.00 (Avianca LifeMiles) + $25 Avianca LifeMiles partner booking fee + $50.00 (Singapore Airlines) + 3,000 Korean Air Miles + $75.00 Air France / KLM = $350.00 + 3,000 Korean Air Miles. In exchange, I got back a total of 313,500 miles across 5 award programs. I don’t have any immediate plans to use the first 4 miles, but I was able to immediately use the refunded Air France / KLM miles to book 2 business class award tickets from Stockholm, Sweden -> Amsterdam, Netherlands -> Chicago, Illinois (ARN-AMS-ORD) this summer.
If you have any questions about the cancellation process, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
Was there a particular reason to cancel all of these flights? Seems odd to make a post without explaining the reasoning… were you able to find better routing, airlines, dates, etc?
Hi Samantha, that’s a good question and I apologize for not including the reason in the post. I had to cancel the whole trip because I got invited to an event that I couldn’t miss.
I thought AF award cancellation fees were $50
Hi Yoni, I found conflicting info online regarding the cancellation fee for Air France / KLM award tickets. I think it used to be $50 since I think I paid $50 last time to change an award ticket.
Grant, 3k points is charged for canceling your Koreanair flight because it was not more 90days from your date of flight right? Appreciate your sharing the process of your flight cancellation experience.
Hi Kay, yes, my Korean Air flight was within 90 days of departure when I cancelled the award ticket. Do you know what the cancellation fee is if you cancel more than 90 days before departure?
From what I read, it is free if more than 90 days out.
Oh nice, that is good to know for future Korean Air bookings.