Using Expedia’s Vacation Waiver

What do I think about Expedia’s Vacation Waiver? Well, the jury is in . . . my refunds processed the next day. Here is a review of how the Vacation Waiver worked.

Meadow and cabin with Rocky Mountains in background
Photograph from Pixabay.

Three weeks ago, I made plans to visit Colorado for a long weekend. I was supposed to leave today — about three hours from now. When I made reservations through Expedia, I paid for their Travel Protection – Vacation Waiver (please note that the Vacation Waiver is different than standard trip insurance). I normally only take out travel insurance for more expensive overseas trips. But this Vacation Waiver intrigued me — cancel for any reason — like — “Hey, I just don’t feel  like going after all.” How much? $41.00 to cover a $792.84 trip — this included the flight, a rental car, and a hotel reservation for just the first night there.

And guess what? Last night I decided that I didn’t feel  like going out of town this weekend after all. I’m tired. I’d spent last weekend in Austin with family, and what I want is a relaxing weekend at home.

I also thought it was a great opportunity to test how well the Expedia Vacation Waiver would work.

This morning I signed into Expedia, went to “My Trips.” I had paid $715.04 when I booked the trip. I wouldn’t be charged for the car until I picked it up in Denver. I canceled the car reservation myself with no penalty.

My hotel was a non-refundable Expedia special, so without the waiver, I would get nothing back.

Then I clicked on my Vacation Waiver and read the small print:

“Prepare for life’s unexpected occurrences. With a Vacation Waiver you can cancel or change your trip—for any reason—and Expedia will pay your change fees. Go ahead, book that family vacation today, resting assured that you can change it if you need to!

Key Benefits:

— Change or cancel your trip for any reason.

— Covers you prior to the scheduled start of your trip.

— Cancelling your flight? Get a full refund of any cancellation fees and a credit for the amount of the cancelled ticket.

— Changing your flight? Get a full refund of any change fees and a credit for future travel.”  — from the Expedia site. Please note — flight CREDIT, not refund.

Okay, fine.

You cannot activate the Waiver online, so I called the Expedia Customer Service number and said I wanted to cancel the Denver trip. The representative explained that I would have to cancel the Frontier flight myself. Frontier would issue a credit that I could use towards future travel. The Expedia Vacation Waiver only covers penalty charges. This is basically what the Waiver page states, except I had expected Expedia to handle the legwork.

I was on the phone with Expedia for more than fifteen minutes, on hold as the service representative did the work to get my hotel money refunded through the insurance. At the end of my wait, I was assured that I would have a refund of $349.86.

Then I went to the Frontier website to cancel the flight. I couldn’t do it online, and when I called Frontier, the menu options recording warned me that if I used a phone representative to change or cancel my flight, I might incur a $25 service fee. I’ve never flown with Frontier before, so I wondered whether I was in for a Spirit Airlines type experience.

The Frontier representative was pleasant. The cost of my flight was $324.00. Frontier subtracted a $99 fee (but nothing additional for speaking to a real person), and I retained $225.20 as a credit for a future Frontier flight. Great.

I called Expedia back to find out how to get the penalty fee refunded. I had to fax the Frontier email receipt to Expedia, and then had no idea whether they had received the fax. I checked my American Express account several hours after my fax and saw nothing. Then both the hotel and penalty charge refunds processed and appeared on my American Express account the next morning before noon.

Original Charge Refunds and Credit Cost
 $715.04 $349.86 refund
$99.00 penalty refund
$225.20 Frontier credit
$674.06 total
 $40.98
45 minutes

 So what do I think? It was more entailed than Expedia would lead you to believe, based on reading the Vacation Waiver description on their website.

  • Be very clear: you WILL NOT get the cost of your airline ticket back. I’m fine with the credit on this particular flight — I will use it another time.
    • You also need to understand the nature of airline credits: they can ONLY be used by the person whose name was on the original ticket. You CANNOT do something handy like using your credit to pay for your college kid to come home for Thanksgiving. This is normal. It may stink, but this is standard.
  • You aren’t going to see this credit back on your card immediately. But it was fast . . . less than 24 hours.
  • Fax the airline receipt? Really? Who uses fax machines anymore?
4601550 – abandoned shelter in the valley beneath mount massive in leadville, colorado, usa

I have used Expedia for a long time, and I’ve had very good experiences with their services. The waiver plan works — I received the refunds posted to my American Express less than 24 hours after calling Expedia and faxing them the airline receipt.

Is it hassle free? Um, NO. But I liked that with this type of trip insurance, I could choose to cancel without a medical emergency.

So for $41 and 45 minutes of aggravation, I got to change my mind.

I love Leadville, Colorado, but I’ll save returning there for later . . . when I have more time to wander and explore the old mining towns of the rockies.

Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for writing this review, and it reflects an accurate report of my experience with the Vacation Waiver insurance. In mid-September 2016, I became an Expedia affiliate, which means that you will now find Expedia links in my articles.


Ann in Castolon in Big Bend National Park. Photograph, Jim Stevens

About Ann

I grew up in Mississippi and New Orleans, have lived in both Seattle and Manhattan, and finally moved back to Texas in 1990’s.

I have a darling teenage daughter who heads off to university in the fall of 2017. I have been divorced and am now widowed. Finally, I am a colon cancer survivor.

I am now writing and traveling full time — what a wonderful thing!

This website is a forum for many things. I want to talk about life, in all of its rich, wonderful and terrifying forms. I want to share my travels, my thoughts on life, and my experiences as a woman and a mom. I want to talk about the nature of reality and the meaning of life, and to celebrate being alive.

Thank you for visiting! 

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Ann Fisher

Writer, traveler, and cancer fighter. Get out there and live life!

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13 thoughts on “Using Expedia’s Vacation Waiver

  1. Marina March 9, 2020 at 7:20 am

    I just used my vacation waver to cancel my trip to California. In the time of Corona-virus the wait time was 2 hours and I was on the phone with Expedia person for over an hour. He handled all the cancellations for me and told me that I would have to pay $200 per person at the time of re-booking my flight and that it would be reimbursed by Expedia. I hope it will be reimbursed but I have no idea how I will prove that it is covered by the waver if I re-book in 6 months. We will see.

    Reply
    1. Ann Fisher March 9, 2020 at 8:59 am

      Thanks for sharing your experience. In the current Coronavirus situation, I think all of us will be buying more “cancel for any reason” trip insurance policies and it’s valuable to know how things will work if we are canceling a trip. When I used mine, the penalty fee happened at the point I canceled the flight — the credit I got from the airline was minus the penalty fee, and Expedia reimbursed me at the point I canceled. In your case, I might call Expedia back now and ask that question — how you will get that money back when you re-book later — although with the long call wait times, it’s not appealing.

      Reply
  2. Elizabeth Shadman August 15, 2019 at 7:58 pm

    I am currently fighting a similar problem. I bought expedia’s vacation waiver, but the Frontier airlines part of the trip did not get refunded. Instead they charged me $49 per ticket to cancel (I had purchased for four travelers), credited me the rest which I have to use in 90 days. I will not be able to do that. I have been on many phone calls with expedia, frontier, and travelguard over two months and many hours. After following the most recent expedia representatives instructions, I have again received an email saying that they cannot help me. This is so frustrating. Do you have any advice at all? I guess I can file a claim against them, but it seems like such a hassle.

    Reply
    1. Ann Fisher August 16, 2019 at 8:06 am

      If you purchased the Vacation Waiver, instead of regular trip insurance, Expedia should have refunded you the cancellation fees from Frontier, but they have never covered the ticket cost — and they won’t be able to force Frontier to give you a credit that lasts longer. You are bound by the stated policies on the airline site. I’ve only flown with Frontier one time, and won’t book them again if I can help it because of their cheap way of doing business. The Works bundle that Frontier offers for a fee does mean your tickets are fully refundable, but of course it significantly raises the cost of the ticket.

      Reply
  3. Helena Parker July 19, 2019 at 12:00 pm

    I think it really depends on the airline. They are telling me I’m screwed because Volaris doesn’t offer credits, they won’t cancel or change anything so I’m just out the money. Even though I have the vacation waiver from expedia. Buyer beware.

    Reply
    1. Ann Fisher July 19, 2019 at 1:04 pm

      I’d never heard of Volaris before your comment here. When I used the Expedia Vacation Waiver, Frontier issued a credit — less a penalty, and Expedia reimbursed me for the penalty fee.

      I think you have to be VERY careful about super low-cost carriers.

      Reply
  4. Ruth Romero August 31, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    Hello, what’s the expiration date for the flight credit? Thanks

    Reply
    1. Ann Fisher August 31, 2018 at 9:31 pm

      The flight credit comes through the airline. On Frontier, and other times when I’ve cancelled on Southwest, I’ve had one year to use that credit. After that, it’s gone. It must be for a flight for the same person who cancelled the flight. So, for example, if I have a flight, cancel it, and have a credit, I cannot use that to book a flight for my daughter.

      As with anything like this, you should consult your air carrier for their rules.

      Reply
  5. Carol May 30, 2018 at 6:15 pm

    I just purchased Expedia’s Travel Protection – Vacation Waiver, and was nervous about it because when I got the conformation e-mail, it stated that HOTEL CANNOT BE CANCELLED! This helps a lot! Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Ann May 30, 2018 at 9:16 pm

      Carol, if you have any updates on your experience, please share!

      Reply
  6. Paolo Boni April 3, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    Sorry… your experience not at all like mine… I’ve just spent over 2 hours on the phone with Expedia trying to cancel a trip for which I got the Vacation Waiver insurance. I got put on indefinite holds on my first two calls… now (actually still on the phone on hold) over 1 hr waiting to cancel. I keep being told they have to contact the airline and now the hotel property. Why do I need to sit and wait? Apparently because my room is not cancellable… but that is exactly the point. I bought the Vacation Waiver exactly because I wanted to make sure if something unexpected came up, I would be able to cancel (and the language on the website was clear that I would be able to do so)… In any event the guy just came back on the line and confirmed the cancellation has been processed. So they lived up to what they sold… But it should not be this painful!

    Reply
    1. Ann April 4, 2018 at 9:07 pm

      I’m glad your cancellation finally processed. I thought the forty minutes I spent on the phone was too much — but obviously not nearly as bad as the two hours you spent. NO, it shouldn’t take as much customer time as it did, for either of us.

      Reply
  7. Ann August 10, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    Lynn, thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds like my experience on Spirit Airlines.

    Reply

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