Pro Tip: The Best Way to Cancel an Alaska Airlines Flight

by Shelli Stein

With so many travel plans being upended right now, many of us are rebooking and cancelling flights. If you ever need to cancel an Alaskan Airlines flight, listen up! Who knows? You might even have flights you’re holding but will end up canceling. Here’s a PRO tip for cancelling an Alaska Airlines flight in the easiest way possible saving you both money and time.

Cancelling an Alaska Airlines Flight

Right now Alaska Airlines is waiving cancellation and change fees until May 31, 2020. Though I’ve actually had to call Alaska Airlines twice in the past two weeks to sort out my reservations, many of the cancellations can be done online with My Wallet. When you cancel your ticket online you’ll see two options for how you want to have your funds credited to you.

What Is My Wallet?

Option one is to have the funds deposited into what Alaska Airlines calls My Wallet. You’ll notice that Alaska Airlines stipulates the funds will be deposited within 7 business days. True to their word, it takes days to get these funds deposited.

alaska airlines flight in my wallet

Learn more about My Wallet here.

The other and better option is to have your funds emailed to you in the form of a credit certificate. The emailed credit certificate comes with a PIN so you can add it to your My Wallet or simply use it when booking another flight. This option takes ONLY seconds to process.

The certificate appeared in my inbox before I even signed out of my Alaska Airlines account. Funds I had deposited in My Wallet still have not appeared and it’s been days.

Final Thoughts

You might be wondering why I call this a Pro Tip. When you’re canceling an Alaska Airlines flight and you’ll be booking another flight, time and money are of the essence. It’s great to have that certificate come right away. Now those funds are yours to use!

In complicated and stressful travel times such as we find ourselves right now, pro tips like these help us all navigate our travel plan changes with as much ease as possible. If you have any other airline change or cancellation tips that could help other readers, share them!

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The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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22 comments

Texas Jim March 25, 2020 - 9:24 am

I’m a 75K and have never repeat never had any delay in having funds posted to my wallet.

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Shelli March 25, 2020 - 9:43 am

Thanks for the data point, Jim. Glad it’s never been an issue for you.

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Steve A March 26, 2020 - 8:39 am

Never had a delay for me either in getting the funds posted to My Wallet. And it’s sooooo much simpler to keep track of and use than the email certificate and pin.

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Shelli March 26, 2020 - 12:47 pm

Thanks for chiming in with another data point, Steve!

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Rachel July 17, 2020 - 5:39 pm

This might be a dumb question, but if I choose to have the certificate emailed to me, for 4 tickets purchased for my family, do you know if I get a single lump sum of all tickets purchased or do I get 4 separate tickets that still need to be used by those 4 exact passengers?

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Shelli July 18, 2020 - 12:13 am

HI Rachel, Not a dumb question at all. I just canceled some AS fights. I was the one who paid for the flights even though one of the flights was for someone else and therefore under someone else’s name. Because I paid, the certificates came to me. They were not in a lump sum. The certificates were for each seat/flight I paid for. Hope that helps, and thanks for reading!

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Dean October 8, 2020 - 2:24 am

I tried to deposit funds in My Wallet a few weeks ago and I can confirm that it took days. This time I needed the funds immediately to book before the fare changed. The emailed certificate came in within seconds just like you said! Thank you for the great tip!!

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Shelli October 8, 2020 - 8:14 am

Glad it worked well for you, Dean 🙂 And thanks for reading!

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Daniel Rall October 9, 2020 - 5:49 pm

If you have a certificate emailed to you, then later want to deposit into My Wallet, how long does _that_ deposit process take?

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Shelli October 9, 2020 - 6:29 pm

It’s usually super quick, Daniel.

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Lily December 4, 2020 - 8:24 am

Now there is a third option of “Send the canceled ticket to my email and exchange for travel later”. Would you have some thoughts about the pros and cons of this options?

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Shelli December 4, 2020 - 9:29 am

Thanks for reading and for the question, Lily. Haven’t heard about or used this option. Maybe another reader who has can comment and help you with the pros and cons.

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Han December 14, 2020 - 6:57 pm

In response to Lily (because I had the same question) I just called Alaska. All three options you get a credit back same dollar amount. The different is when the credit must be used and when the flight must be flown. First two (email and wallet) you just have to use the credit, the flight can be far away. This third option “exchange” (I say in quotes because its not true exchange just credit again) you get a longer time horizon, but you have to book AND fly by that date.

Because of that, I chose to go with wallet

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Shelli December 14, 2020 - 7:08 pm

Thanks so much, Han, for adding this information. Much appreciated. I’ve chosen to go with the wallet too. For some, though, the “exchange” could work well. Great data points!

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Haena January 5, 2022 - 10:47 am

Shelli and Han, thank you very much for this. This helped me with changing the flights with the omicron variant suddenly changing our plans! Thank you for making my life easier!

Shelli January 5, 2022 - 10:49 am

Great news, Haena. Glad to be of help, and safe travels!

Gabriella January 18, 2021 - 5:17 pm

I am waiting in agony for My Wallet funds to return to my account so I can rebook my ticket with my new dates…..I wish I had seen your tip sooner! Thanks for the advice.

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Shelli January 18, 2021 - 6:25 pm

Glad to be of help, Gabriella, and hope your funds appear soon!

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Courtney Lercara February 23, 2021 - 7:55 am

My credit appeared in my wallet within 12 hours, however, I am trying to book a ticket and it is not giving me the option to use credit from
My wallet- only credit card payment or Apple payment option. How do I get the wallet option to come up?

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Shelli February 23, 2021 - 9:33 am

Hi Courtney, If you see the funds in your wallet, and upon checkout that option to use your funds doesn’t appear, I’d call Alaska. They’ll help you through the purchase process.

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