Sometimes you book a flight that you later realize you need to cancel. If you do so within 24 hours of booking a trip with Frontier Airlines, you'll be eligible for a full refund, as long as it's at least seven days before departure.

It’s a lot more complicated if you need to cancel once that initial window has passed — and you might not get your money back.

But don’t give up hope during what's likely to be an already annoying situation. Here’s how to cancel a flight on Frontier Airlines and possibly get a refund, or at least a future flight credit.

Can you cancel your Frontier Airlines flight?

You can always cancel a Frontier Airlines flight, but it might cost you.

In some scenarios, you can cancel for free. For instance, standard fares can be canceled for a full refund within the first 24 hours after booking if the ticket was purchased least 168 hours (that’s seven days) before departure.

You're also guaranteed a full refund for a cancellation if you purchased the Works bundle for the fare when booking. This optional upgrade also includes goodies such as one checked bag and early boarding.

Unsurprisingly, Works bundles incur an additional cost that varies by destination and date, so calling it a "free" cancellation is a bit of a stretch. Those with Frontier Elite 100K status do get the Works bundle for free, though.

If you don’t upgrade to the Works bundle, you can still cancel your itinerary. You’ll retain the value of that itinerary, minus carrier charges and a cancellation fee, as a travel credit with the airline.

Yet here lies the problem: Frontier cancellation fees can often amount to more than the ticket cost.

What are the Frontier Airlines flight cancellation fees?

If you paid for the upgrade to the Works (only available at the time of initial booking), it costs nothing to cancel your flight, and you’ll get a full refund.

For most other flights, you can’t get the cash price refunded starting 24 hours after booking. However, you can get a credit (minus applicable fees) for future travel.

Frontier's flight cancellation fee is $99 per passenger, per direction, regardless of when you cancel outside of the freebie 24-hour booking window.

How to cancel your Frontier Airlines flight

The easiest way to cancel most Frontier flights 24 hours after the initial booking is on the Frontier website. From a logged-in account, navigate to the My Trip page and access the Manage My Booking tool. There’s also a live chat feature.

For tickets purchased with a Works bundle, you have two options:

Request a future flight credit. Straightforward; however, you must use the credit within one year of the original date of purchase. It’s also a single-use travel credit, so if your next flight is cheaper than the first, you won’t receive money back for the difference.

Request a full refund to the purchasing card. You’ll have to complete an online refund form.