A Quick Trick for Extending Your Flight Credits Before They Expire

Got a travel credit from a canceled or rebooked flight that’s about to expire? Good news—there’s a sneaky workaround that can buy you more time to use it for a future trip.

One of the few silver linings from the pandemic is the increased flexibility airlines now offer when plans change. The days of “use it or lose it” tickets are mostly gone, with nearly every major airline allowing travelers to cancel flights in exchange for a voucher or future travel credit—except on the most restrictive basic economy fares.

But here’s the catch: Most airline credits expire one year from the date you originally booked the flight. So, if you scheduled a trip nine months in advance and had to cancel at the last minute, you’d be left with just a few months to use the credit before it disappears.

Luckily, you can use your credit for a trip you may (or may not) take. If you cancel again, the expiration date will reset, giving you extra time to use it.

Here’s how to make the most of your airline credits before they expire.

What Airlines Does This Work With?

While policies can change, this method has been known to work with:

• American Airlines: Credits usually reset based on the last booking
• United Airlines: Future flight credits get a new expiration date
• Delta Air Lines: eCredits extend when used for a new booking
• Alaska Airlines: Allows easy credit extensions through rebooking

If you have a Southwest travel credit, you don’t need to worry about utilizing this workaround, as Southwest travel credits never expire.

Other airlines, including a couple of low-cost carriers like Spirit and Sun Country (to some extent), will allow you to cancel for a voucher as well – though it’s unclear if rebooking and then cancelling again will reset the expiration date with all of them. Before attempting this workaround, be sure to review your airline’s rules on travel credits so you don’t end up wasting it altogether. 

How to Extend Your Travel Credit

Let’s use United as an example since I recently did this for myself.

First things first, you need to find any outstanding travel credits before you can use them. This is simple enough: All you need to do is log into your United account and scroll down to the “wallet” section of your MyUnited page. Here, you’ll see your saved credit cards, any TravelBank funds (different from travel credits), and receipts from previous flights.

Down below you’ll see your future flight credits that are available to be used. If you have more than one, you can use multiple of the same type of credits when purchasing a new flight. 

In my case, I had a single travel credit with a total value of $150.20 that was set to expire March 30. That number is a bit deceiving, though, as it includes a credit for both my wife and me, meaning we each had approximately $75 in United credit to spend. 

If you already know how much credit you have, you can skip the first step altogether.

To put your credit to use, just go through the flight booking process as you normally would. Just be sure to purchase a main cabin ticket – the cheapest basic economy fares won’t work because you can’t cancel later on for a new credit. 

At checkout, you’ll be able to use a variety of different payment methods. Select “Travel credits” from the list of options.

Then, you’ll be able to select the future flight credits you wish to apply to your new ticket. 

Since the flights I was booking were slightly more than the value of my credits, I had to pay the remainder with a credit card. In this case, it was only $6, but be warned that whatever amount you pay with your card will be added to your new credit when you eventually cancel. For that reason, it’s best to find flights that cost as close to your existing credit as possible (more on how to do this below). 

After my new flight booking was purchased and confirmed, I waited 24 hours (actually a couple of days) to cancel. Why does that matter? Thanks to a rule established by the U.S. Department of Transportation, you can cancel any flight to, from, or within the U.S. within 24 hours of booking for a full refund – not just a voucher or travel credit. If I had turned around and canceled right away, I would have received a full refund to my original methods of payment, and my credit wouldn’t have reset.  

When it came time to cancel, I just pulled up the flight in my United account under “My Trips” and selected “Cancel options.”

After confirming that I wanted to cancel, I had a new travel credit for nearly $157. And most importantly, it had an updated expiration date of January 31, 2026 – exactly one year from the day I booked. 

Now, I’ve got nearly a year to put this credit to use for a flight I actually want to take … or extend it again. 

Use Google Flights to Find the Perfect Flight

This all sounds simple enough, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not rocket science, but there is a little bit of strategy involved in making the most of this workaround. 

The first thing you need to understand is that these credits are essentially a loan you’ve given to the airline. They have your money tied up, so it’s important not to give them any more than absolutely necessary. For that reason, you’ll want to find a flight that costs as close to your current credit amount as possible. To do this, turn to our favorite flight-booking tool, Google Flights. 

While your first reaction might be to start searching from your home airport … don’t!

Since you don’t actually intend to take this flight – you’re simply booking it to extend the life of your voucher – it doesn’t matter if you’ll be there to get on the plane when it takes off or not. Instead, choose a big airport where there’s lots of competition, especially from low-cost carriers – think New York City, San Francisco (SFO), and Los Angeles. With increased competition, fares are typically lower, and you’ll have more routes to choose from when searching. 

In my case, I started looking from Los Angeles because I know United flies quite a few routes from there – but it isn’t a true hub where they can pretty much charge whatever they want and get away with it. After putting Los Angeles in as my starting point, I clicked “Explore” up at the top. This leaves the destination open and pulls up a map of available flights and prices. 

Given the prices on the map, I quickly zeroed in on San Francisco, Las Vegas (LAS), and Phoenix (PHX) as solid choices. After clicking on the lowest-priced option, San Francisco, I made sure to set some additional filters to aid my search. In this case, I chose to only show United flights and results that included a carry-on bag. 

Choosing to only include results for United makes perfect sense, considering that’s the airline I had a credit with. But why would I care if a carry-on bag is included if I don’t even intend to take the flight? Because without that filter applied, Google Flights would show me United’s cheapest basic economy fares, and those can’t be cancelled for a credit. Without that filter applied, my search would have taken a lot more trial and error.

In my case, I quickly identified a flight that cost just a few dollars more than my original $75 voucher, making it the perfect option.

After finding the best flight option, I simply clicked through Google Flights to United’s website, logged into my account so that my flight credit would show up at checkout, and booked my flight.

If you have a really big voucher and need to find more expensive flights, that part is quite easy. If your initial search results don’t show the perfect option, you can always purchase better seats, add bags, or even book a first class ticket when it makes sense. 

Bottom Line

If you’re facing an expiring airline credit, this workaround can be a great way to buy yourself more time. Simply book a flight (any flight) using your expiring travel credit and then a couple of days later cancel it for a new voucher. In doing so, you’ll extend the credit’s expiration date by as much as a year. 

Now you’ve got a little extra breathing room to plan your next adventure … without losing the value of your travel credit!