American Airlines
American Airlines waived their change fees for tickets purchased on or before June 30 for travel through September 30, 2020. American Airlines is also waiving change fees for new trips booked between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. Travel must be completed by December 31, 2021. Additionally, tickets expiring between March 1 and September 30, 2020 will now be valid through December 31, 2021. They’re also enhancing the AAdvantage program, extending travelers’ elite status through early 2022.
American Airlines has also introduced free name change policies for corporate customers with tickets purchased on or before June 30, 2020. Customers can make one name change free of charge. The ticket must contain a valid CART/Business Extra number or JBID in the Tour Code box. Your agency can also process this change in their GDS without a waiver code. This free name change is combinable with other qualifying waivers.
Normal ticketing rules apply for tickets purchased before May 31, 2020 with travel outside the March 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020 window and tickets purchased June 1, 2020 or later.
In order to promote social distancing, American Airlines is also making updates to seat assignments and food and drink service through May 31, 2020.
Starting May 11, all travelers are required to wear face coverings while flying American.
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines waived their change fees for tickets purchased on or before February 26, 2020 for original travel dates between March 9 and December 31, 2020. Travelers are able to use their tickets for flights up to one year from their original travel date. Additionally, they also waived their change fees for flights booked between February 27 and June 30, 2020 for original travel dates between February 27, 2020 and April 30, 2021.
Customers who purchased Saver fare on or before February 26 for travel through December 31, 2020 can cancel their trip without a fee and deposit the funds into My Account wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel. Customers who purchased a nonrefundable First Class, main, or award ticket on or before February 26 can also cancel their trip without a fee and deposit the funds into My Account Wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel or change their trip without a fee.
Customers who purchased Saver fare between February 27 and June 30, 2020 for travel through April 30, 2021 can cancel their trip without a fee and deposit the funds into My Account wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel. Customers who purchased a nonrefundable First Class, main, or award ticket between February 27 and June 30, 2020 can also cancel their trip without a fee and deposit the funds into My Account Wallet or receive a credit certificate for future travel or change their trip without a fee.
In order to promote social distancing while flying, Alaska Airlines has blocked the middle seat in each row in addition to other seats in the cabin through June 30, 2020. First class seats are also capped at 50% capacity. In addition, Alaska Airlines is reducing their flight schedule by 80% in the months of April and May.
Starting May 11, all travelers are required to wear face coverings while flying Alaska Airlines.
Unaccompanied child fliers will only be allowed on nonstop flights through May 31, 2020.
Delta
Delta is waiving their change fees and offering greater flexibility for travel through September May 31, 2022 for customers who have upcoming travel already booked March through September 30, 2020 as of April 17, 2020 and customers who have existing eCredits or canceled travel from flights in March through September 30, 2020. Delta expanded the ability to re-book travel without change fees for travel scheduled through June 30, 2020. All applicable eCredits will be automatically extended to September 2022.
Additionally, tickets purchased between March 1 and May 31 can be changed without a change fee for a year from the date you purchased it.
In order to promote social distancing, Delta is also boarding by row now, starting from the rear of the aircraft and moving forward. Middle seats are also now blocked from seat selection.
They’ve also extended benefits and 2020 Medallion Status will be extended for an additional year through January 31, 2022.
Starting May 4, all travelers and Delta employees are required to wear masks or face coverings starting at the check-in lobby through the duration of the flight.
Starting May 5, every flight is capped at 60% capacity. Delta is blocking seating across all cabins on all aircraft and capping seating at 50% in first class and 60% in Main Cabin, Delta Comfort+, and Delta Premium Select to promote social distancing. All middle seats and select aisle/window seats will be blocked from the seat map through June 30, 2020.
Plexiglass shields will be in place at Delta check-in and gate counters by the end of May, and you will be encouraged to maintain a safe distance with decals at check-in, at the gate and on all Delta-owned jet bridges. Additionally, the air on all aircraft is completely recirculated 10 to 30 times per hour with fresh, outside air or through industrial-grade HEPA filters. These HEPA filters have similar performance to those used in hospital operating rooms and other highly sensitive environments in order to further protect passengers.
Delta has also introduced free name change policies for corporate customers. The waiver allows customers to make one name change without a fee and must be completed by May 31, 2022. The waiver applies for tickets issued on or before April 14 for domestic travel between March 1 and June 30 and international travel between February 25 and June 30.
Delta SkyMiles Blue, Gold, Platinum and Reserve Consumer Card Members can now earn 4X miles at U.S. supermarkets from May 1 through July 31, 2020
Frontier
Frontier is allowing customers who booked tickets prior to March 10 with travel through April 30, 2020 to make a one-time change to their itinerary without a change/cancel fee. Customers are also able to make a one-time change to their itinerary without a change/cancel fee for tickets issued March 10 through April 15, 2020. Credits are valid for 90 days, but customers don’t need to travel within 90 days, they just need to book a new flight within 90 days of cancelling their previous trip. For changed flights, travel must be completed by September 12, 2021.
Mileage expiration has been temporarily paused beginning March 1, 2020.
Frontier has also introduced WORKS. With WORKS, your entire purchase is refundable, you get the best seat on the plane, one free checked bag, and one carry-on bag. Passengers with WORKS have no cancel/change fee on flights they cancel/change 60 days before departure. 59-14 days prior to departure the cancel/change fee is $79 and 13 days or less before departure the cancel/change fee is $119.
Starting May 8, all customers will be required to wear a face covering over their nose and mouth throughout their trip. Additionally, customers will be able to book an aisle or window seat in a More Room row and the adjacent middle seat is guaranteed to be empty starting May 8, 2020.
JetBlue
JetBlue waived change/cancel fees for customers traveling through January 4, 2021. Customers can rebook their flights for travel through January 4, 2021 or create an open ticket. Original travel must be booked on or before June 30, 2020. For cancellations, funds will be issued as a JetBlue Travel Bank Credit, valid for 24 months from the date of issuance.
Open tickets can be transferred to a different person as credits are not name-specific at JetBlue.
Additionally, the change/cancel fees suspension still applies for bookings made between February 27 and March 5, 2020 for travel through June 1, 2020, and for bookings made between March 6 and March 26, 2020 for travel through September 8, 2020.
JetBlue is allowing customers to get refunds instead of credits for flights that have been cancelled not been rescheduled by JetBlue and for customers whose flights have been cancelled and rescheduled with a schedule change of 120 minutes or more.
In order to promote social distancing, JetBlue has reduced their flight schedule by 80% and they are capping flight capacity. Starting May 4, all JetBlue passengers are required to wear face masks during check-in, boarding, on the flight, and deplaning. They are the first US air carrier to require passengers to wear masks. Starting in June, JetBlue will be checking the temperatures of their pilots and inflight crewmembers as an added layer of precaution as flights start to pick back up.
Additionally, middle seats on larger aircraft and aisle seats on smaller aircraft can be blocked for purchase at least through July 6, 2020. Flights are also boarded back to front.
JetBlue has temporarily suspended service to some airports that have alternative airports nearby in order to consolidate service in metro areas from April 15 to June 30, 2020. Service is temporarily suspended to Providence, RI (PVD), New York-LaGuardia (LGA), Westchester (HPN), Newburgh (SWF), Hollywood/Burbank (BUR), Ontario (ONT), San Jose, CA (SJC), and Baltimore, MD (BWI).
Southwest
Southwest allows travelers to cancel their flights without change fees up to ten minutes before the scheduled departure and the funds used to pay for a nonrefundable ticket are typically only valid for one year after the date of purchase. However, due to the COVID-19 crisis, customers’ funds that have expired or will expire between March 1 and September 7, 2020 will now expire on September 7, 2022. Additionally, any funds created due to canceled flights between March 1 and September 7, 2020 will expire on September 7, 2022. Funds that would have expired between March 1 and September 7, 2020 are not eligible for LUV Vouchers.
Rapid Rewards Members who have travel funds set to expire or funds that were created March 1 through September 7, 2020 have the option to convert those travel funds into Rapid Rewards points at the same rate you would be able to purchase a ticket with points today.
Additionally, customers with travel booked before April 30 can change their travel date to a date 60 days from original travel without paying any difference in fare if you are traveling between the same origin and destination.
Southwest is also extending A-List and A-List Preferred tier status and Companion Pass benefits.
United Airlines
United Airlines has waived all change fees for tickets issued on or before March 2, 2020 for travel dates between March 3 and December 31, 2020. All changes and cancellations must be made on/before May 31, 2020. New tickets must be purchased within two years from the original ticket date and rebooked travel must commence within two years of the original ticket date. There are no change fees for new bookings now through May 31, 2020.
They’re also extending electronic certificates and electronic certificates are now valid for two years after the date they were issued. This includes all currently valid certificates and new ones issued after April 1, 2020.
Additionally, United Airlines is offering free, round-trip flights to medical personnel to get to New York and California to assist with the COVID-19 outbreak.
United Airlines is allowing corporate customers to change passenger names through the Jetstream tool. They’re also enabling them to move ticketing to a UATP card.
Starting May 4, all United travelers must wear a mask or face covering on board.
