Refund & Cancellation Policy

1. The three principles

Refunds on travel are decided by three things, in this order, and almost every dispute we handle comes from one of them being missed at the time of booking.

1. The supplier’s rule governs. What you can get back is set by the fare rule or the rental terms attached to the specific product you bought — not by us and not by general fairness. A non-refundable fare is non-refundable even one minute after purchase, outside the statutory windows described below.
2. Who cancelled matters more than why. A cancellation you initiate is voluntary and is judged against the fare rule. A cancellation or significant change the supplier initiates is involuntary, and different and much more generous entitlements apply.
3. Two clocks run. The supplier decides and pays; we process and chase. Our own turnaround is measured in days; the supplier’s can be measured in weeks. We tell you both.

This document covers both of the products we sell — flights and car rental. Our own charges for doing the work are published separately in the Post-Ticketing Service Fee Schedule, and the general contract between us is in the Terms & Conditions.

2. Flights

2.1 The 24-hour risk-free window

Under US Department of Transportation rules at 14 CFR 259.5(b)(4), carriers operating to, from or within the United States must either hold a reservation at the quoted fare without payment for 24 hours, or allow a reservation to be cancelled without penalty within 24 hours of purchase — provided the booking was made at least seven days (168 hours) before scheduled departure. We apply the cancellation version of the rule.

If you are unsure whether your ticket qualifies, call +1-888-555-0119 straight away rather than emailing. The window closes on a clock, and an advisor can cancel in seconds.

2.2 Refundable and non-refundable fares

Most published economy fares, and essentially all basic economy fares, are non-refundable once the 24-hour window closes. Depending on the rule, a non-refundable ticket may be worth nothing, or may retain residual value as a credit after a cancellation penalty. Fully refundable fares — usually flexible economy, most business and first class published fares, and many corporate-negotiated fares — can be cancelled for a cash refund up to the deadline in the rule, commonly departure of the first segment.

Two things worth knowing. First, most US carriers have removed the change fee on standard domestic economy, but that is a change fee, not a refund right: cancelling still normally leaves you with a credit rather than cash, and basic economy is usually excluded from both. Second, a partly flown ticket is refunded on the value of the unused portion calculated under the fare rule, which is often far less than half the fare you paid.

2.3 When the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight

If the carrier cancels your flight, or makes a significant change to it, and you do not accept the alternative offered, you are entitled to a refund of the unused portion — in cash to the original form of payment, not a voucher — regardless of whether your fare was non-refundable. That is a DOT requirement, and it applies to all flights to, from and within the United States.

What counts as significant is defined by the rule and by the carrier’s customer service plan. In practice it includes a departure or arrival time moving by more than a set number of hours (commonly three or more on an international itinerary and a shorter threshold domestically), a change of departure or arrival airport, an increase in the number of connections, and a downgrade to a lower class of service. A one-hour retiming is not significant; a rerouting through a different hub that adds a connection generally is. Tell us what changed and we will assess it against the rule and the carrier’s plan for you.

You are not obliged to take a voucher. Carriers frequently present a credit as the default option in a disruption email. If you want cash, say so, and we will file the refund request as an involuntary refund.

2.4 Involuntary refunds, denied boarding and downgrades

Involuntary refunds cover schedule cancellation, denied boarding on an oversold flight where you did not volunteer, and refusal of transport by the carrier. Denied boarding compensation is a separate entitlement from the refund and is set by 14 CFR Part 250 for flights within or departing the United States; on flights departing the EU or UK, the corresponding air passenger rights regulation applies. A downgrade entitles you to a refund of the fare difference under the carrier’s rules. We will file these claims for you at no charge.

2.5 Credits and their expiry

Where a rule produces a credit rather than cash, the credit belongs to the named passenger, is usually not transferable, and carries an expiry — commonly twelve months from the date of original issue, which is not the same as twelve months from cancellation and catches people out constantly. Some carriers require the new travel to be completed before expiry; others only require it to be booked. Residual value after rebooking may be forfeited. We record the expiry basis on your file and will remind you before it lapses if we hold your email address.

2.6 Taxes-only refunds

If a ticket is entirely non-refundable and has expired unused, you can still normally reclaim the government taxes and certain airport charges that were only payable because a passenger travelled — typically passenger service charges and some departure taxes. Carrier-imposed surcharges (the fuel or carrier surcharge line) are usually not refundable, because they are part of the fare, not a tax. The recoverable amount on a domestic US ticket is often small; on some international itineraries it is meaningful. Ask us to check before you write a ticket off.

2.7 Timelines

Under DOT rules, once a refund is due the airline must issue it within seven business days for a credit card purchase and within 20 calendar days for a cash or cheque purchase, measured from receipt of a complete refund application. That obligation is the airline’s. Our part is to file a complete application: we submit within one business day of you asking us and confirm the filing to you in writing. Where the refund is routed back through us, we pass funds on within five business days of receiving them. Where the airline pays your card directly, the timing is theirs and the credit will appear on your statement with the airline’s descriptor. In a mass-disruption event, carrier refund queues run long; we will keep chasing and tell you where in the process it sits.

3. Car rental

• Pay-at-counter reservations are generally cancellable without charge up to the pick-up time, and no money has changed hands. This is the default we recommend when plans are uncertain, even though the rate is usually a little higher.
• Prepaid rates are cheaper and carry a cancellation charge — commonly a fixed amount if you cancel inside a stated window before pick-up (often 24 to 48 hours), and forfeiture of a larger share, sometimes all, for a no-show.
• No-show. Failing to collect the vehicle within the supplier’s grace period releases it. On prepaid rates this usually means losing the prepayment.
• Early return. Returning a vehicle early rarely produces a refund. Rental pricing is banded by duration, and a shortened rental can even reprice upward into a more expensive band. Ask at the counter before you change the return date.
• Late return, fuel and extras are charged by the rental company directly under the rental agreement you sign at the counter, and are outside our control.

The rental agreement you sign at the desk supersedes the reservation for everything that happens after collection, including insurance, damage and additional charges.

4. How to request a refund

Fastest first:

• Call +1-888-555-0119 — the only sensible route inside a 24-hour window, on the day of travel, or during a live disruption. Desk hours to be confirmed before launch.
• Email support@zeptotravel.com with your booking reference in the subject line, for anything not time-critical.
• Write to us at Zeptotravel LLC, 1201 Orange Street, Suite 600, Wilmington, DE 19801, USA if you want a paper record.

We acknowledge every refund request within one business day, tell you what the applicable rule actually says, quote any supplier penalty and any fee of ours before we do the work, and file the request with the supplier within one business day of your go-ahead. You will get the filing reference in writing.

5. What we need from you

• Your Zeptotravel booking reference, and the airline record locator or ticket number if you have it.
• The names of the travellers the request covers — a refund can be partial.
• Which segments or rental days you want refunded.
• The reason, in one line. It matters: an involuntary schedule change follows a different path from a change of mind.
• Any supporting evidence for a waiver claim: the airline’s disruption email, a death certificate or medical certificate for a bereavement or medical waiver, a jury summons, or military orders. Supplier waiver policies almost always require documentation, and we cannot file without it.
• Confirmation of the card or account used, so the refund can be routed correctly.

6. How refunds are returned

Refunds go to the original form of payment, in the original currency of the transaction. We cannot redirect a refund to a different card, a different person or a bank account, and neither can the supplier — that is a card network rule, not a preference. If the original card has expired or been replaced, the issuing bank normally routes the credit to the replacement account automatically; if the account is closed, contact the issuer, which is obliged to trace it.

Where the supplier is the merchant of record, the credit appears with the supplier’s descriptor and on the supplier’s timeline. Where we are the merchant of record, it appears as Zeptotravel LLC. Foreign exchange movements between charge and refund are set by your card issuer, and a refund converted back at a different rate can be a few percent above or below the original debit; that difference is the issuer’s, and we cannot adjust it. Refunds of a partly used booking are calculated on the unused value under the supplier’s rule, not pro rata by segment or rental day.

7. What happens to our service fee

Our fees are for work performed. A refund-processing fee is charged for filing and following a refund claim, and it is separate from any supplier penalty. The rules we apply to ourselves:

• No fee for a cancellation inside a valid 24-hour risk-free window.
• No fee for an involuntary cancellation, a significant schedule change, a denied boarding claim or a downgrade refund. If the supplier caused it, you do not pay us to fix it.
• No fee where the supplier has published a waiver covering your circumstances.
• Fees quoted to you before any work starts, and you can decline.
• Booking fees already earned on a completed ticketing transaction are not refundable, because the work was done. We say so at the time of booking.

Full amounts are in the service fee schedule.

8. Chargebacks

Please come to us before you go to your card issuer. A chargeback on a live ticket does not cancel it — it leaves an unpaid reservation which the airline may invalidate, potentially stranding you — and it freezes any refund we are already processing until the dispute closes, which typically takes 45 to 90 days. If a chargeback is filed, we respond with the booking record, the recorded call, the fare rules that were quoted and your confirmation. Your statutory rights against your card issuer are unaffected by anything on this page.

9. If you disagree with the outcome

Ask for it to be escalated. Email legal@zeptotravel.com with your booking reference and the words “Refund escalation”. A supervisor who did not handle the original request will review the fare rule or rate plan against what we told you, and will write to you within 10 business days with the reasoning and the source of the rule. If the outcome is set by the supplier and we cannot move it, we will say so plainly and tell you what your onward options are — the airline’s own complaints process, the US DOT aviation consumer complaint route for a flight to, from or within the United States, the relevant national enforcement body for a flight departing the EU or UK, or your travel insurer. Dispute resolution between you and us is covered in section 19 of our Terms & Conditions.