Can I cancel a flight booking for my customer myself, or do I have to contact the airline every time?

Yes, in most cases you can cancel a flight booking straight from your own booking panel without calling the airline. The cancellation request is passed through to the supplier or airline holding the ticket, and the booking status updates once that request is accepted. For many tickets this happens almost immediately, so you can tell your customer the booking is cancelled while they are still on the phone with you.

What the customer gets back, though, is decided by the fare rules and the airline, not by your portal. Some tickets are fully refundable, some return only the taxes, and some give nothing at all once they have been issued. Low cost carriers in particular often handle cancellations outside the normal channel, and a small number of airlines will only accept a cancellation if your agency raises it with them directly. In those cases your panel will flag the booking as needing manual handling rather than appearing to cancel it when nothing has actually happened.

Refund money also moves on the airline's timetable rather than yours. Once a cancellation is accepted, the refund amount is worked out and then passed back along the same route the payment came in, which can take a while depending on the airline and the payment method used. It helps to explain this to your customer at the point of cancelling, so they are not expecting the money to appear the same day.

Before you promise anyone a free cancellation, open the fare rules on that booking and check the deadline and the penalty, and if you are not sure whether a particular airline allows cancellation through your account, ask our support team to confirm it before you commit.