Award Redeposit Fees by Airline: 2026 Guide

Cancel an award ticket in 2026 and, at most big US programs, your miles come back for free. The award redeposit fee that once ran roughly $75 to $150 is gone at United, American, Delta, Alaska, JetBlue, and Southwest for a standard cancellation before departure.

A few exceptions survive, and those are the ones worth knowing before you book.

Here is what it costs to get your miles back, program by program, as of August 2026.

Do airlines still charge award redeposit fees in 2026?

For a standard award canceled before departure, the answer at the six programs travelers ask about most is no.

United and American charge nothing to redeposit miles, for every member, with no elite tier required. Delta is free as well for awards that originate in the United States or Canada.

Alaska, now branded Atmos Rewards, and JetBlue redeposit standard awards at no cost. Southwest sends points straight back to your account the moment you cancel.

That is a genuine reversal. Several of these programs used to charge to put miles back, and the change is recent enough that a lot of older guidance still quotes the old numbers.

What does it cost to redeposit miles, by airline?

The table below is the fast answer. Every figure is the standard-award rule for a cancellation before departure, stated at each program's own documented terms as of August 2026.

Read the exceptions column carefully, because that is where the surviving costs hide.

Where do award redeposit fees still survive?

Three places, and they all sit at the bottom of the fare ladder or on partner space.

• Delta Basic awards. Delta's SkyMiles Program Rules exclude Basic experience fares from the free-change policy, and a mileage cancellation charge is deducted before the rest of your miles are returned. Delta does not publish a single dollar figure, so the deduction depends on the fare rules attached to that Basic award.
• JetBlue Blue Basic awards. Standard TrueBlue awards redeposit free, but Blue Basic is the exception, and it also cannot be changed.
• Alaska partner award booking fee. Canceling an Atmos Rewards award returns the miles free, yet the partner award booking fee you paid to book is not refunded.

Alaska's partner fee is worth a second look because it moved this year. For tickets issued on or after July 1, 2026, the partner award booking fee is $20 per person each direction, up from $12.50, and holders of the Atmos Summit Visa Infinite card have it waived when they book a partner award on that card.

None of these is a redeposit fee in the classic sense. They are fare-bucket rules and booking fees that happen to bite when plans change, which is exactly why they are easy to miss.

What happens to the taxes and fees you paid?

An award ticket still carries cash: government taxes and carrier charges you paid at booking. When you cancel, the miles and the cash follow separate paths.

At United, American, Delta, and Southwest, those taxes and fees generally return to your original form of payment, though Southwest also lets you take them as a transferable flight credit.

JetBlue is the one that works differently, and it is the detail most people miss.

So a JetBlue cancellation is free on the points and still ties up the cash you paid, at least until you fly JetBlue again. That is not a fee, but it is not the same as money back on your card.

Award redeposit is a miles problem. On a cash fare, the equivalent question is whether the price you locked in is still the best one.

Autopilot does not act on award tickets, and it does not book anything for you.

On a cash fare booked directly with Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, or United, once you add your trip, Autopilot reprices the reservation when the fare drops and the difference returns as airline credit or a refund. Our repricing guide walks the mechanics.

Do elite members still get a redeposit-fee waiver?

There is nothing left to waive at these six programs. The fee is already zero for every member before departure, so status buys you no advantage on a standard award redeposit.

That was not always true. United's old schedule charged general members $125 to redeposit within 30 days of departure and stepped the fee down by tier, with top elites at zero. Now everyone lands where the top elites used to.

What if you no-show instead of canceling?

This is where a free policy turns expensive. The zero-fee redeposit is conditional on canceling before the flight goes, and a no-show can cost you the miles outright.

American, for example, reinstates AAdvantage miles for a wholly unused award only if you cancel before the first flight departs and the ticket has not expired, per its published guidance summarized by The Points Guy.

Southwest draws the line at roughly 10 minutes before scheduled departure. Cancel in time and the points return; miss it on the lowest fares and they can be forfeited.

If plans are shaky, the safe move is to cancel and take the miles back rather than hold the seat and hope. The redeposit is free, and holding costs nothing extra once the miles are in your account. Our guide to whether airline miles expire covers what happens after they land.

One more angle before the fine print: if the same award later prices lower in miles, canceling and rebooking can hand back the difference, which our guide to award ticket price drops walks through in full.