Waiver Overload? Lumo Makes It Simple.

If you’ve ever worked in corporate travel, you know that airline waivers are both a blessing and a bureaucratic nightmare. These temporary policy changes—usually issued when a storm, strike, or other disruption is expected—can help travelers rebook or cancel their flights with reduced or no penalties. But identifying, interpreting, and applying those waivers correctly? That’s where things get messy.

Let’s break it down.

What Are Airline Waivers?

When airlines anticipate disruptions—like severe weather, air traffic control issues, or even geopolitical unrest—they may issue a waiver. This waiver typically lets affected passengers:

• Rebook their tickets without paying a change fee

• Get a refund, even on non-refundable fares

• Change routes or travel dates within certain limits

These policies are usually valid for a specific range of original ticket dates, travel dates, or affected cities. In other words: They’re temporary, complex, and absolutely critical to get right.

The Problem: Every Airline Speaks a Different Language

There’s no industry standard for how waivers are written or shared. Some airlines issue them as plain-text bulletins. Others post them in agent portals. Some include waiver codes; others bury the details in long-form text.

That means it falls on travel agents to:

• Constantly monitor which airlines have issued new waivers

• Interpret each waiver’s parameters

• Manually match them to affected travelers

• Apply the right waiver codes at the right time

And if you miss one? Your traveler could end up paying hundreds of dollars in fees that should have been waived. Even worse, your corporate client might hold you responsible.

How Lumo Uses AI to Solve This

Lumo simplifies this chaotic process by using AI-powered natural language processing (NLP) to automatically read and understand waiver bulletins from each airline. This includes everything from structured tables to dense blocks of text.

Our models extract key information such as:

• Affected cities and travel dates

• Valid ticketing and rebooking windows

• Applicable waiver codes

• Exceptions and special conditions

Once parsed, the data is standardized into a uniform format, regardless of how the original waiver was written. This makes it possible for agencies to build workflows and automation that treat waivers from all airlines the same way—without having to manually decode each one.

Currently, Lumo parses waivers from:

American Airlines, Air Canada, Air France, Aeromexico, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, British Airways, Delta, Iberia, KLM, LATAM, Lufthansa Group, Qantas, United, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, and Southwest.

Real-Time Automation, Real Savings

Lumo doesn’t just parse and standardize. It connects waiver intelligence directly to your operations:

• Track a flight? We automatically match it against active waivers.

• Want to automate even more? Use our API to subscribe to waiver updates by airline, region, or route.

With Lumo, you don’t have to log in or poll a dashboard. You can integrate waiver alerts into your existing tools, get notified immediately, and take action before your traveler even knows there’s a disruption.

Waivers Aren’t Rare—They’re Constant

You might think waivers are issued only a few times a year, but the data tells a different story.

In the first half of 2025 alone, Lumo tracked 300+ distinct waiver events across the airlines we cover. United alone has issued around 50 waivers so far this year. Waivers were issued every week, with peaks during winter storms and summer travel disruptions

That’s hundreds of potential disruptions affecting tens of thousands of travelers—and hundreds of hours of manual agent work Lumo can help you eliminate.

Why This Matters

For travel agencies, this automation translates directly to time and money saved. Instead of dedicating valuable agent hours to waiver monitoring and interpretation, you can focus on customer service and trip management. And instead of missing a waiver and absorbing the cost (or passing it to your client), you apply them consistently and confidently.

More importantly, your corporate clients get what they really want: protection from unnecessary fees and a proactive travel partner.

Make Waivers Work for You

Airline waivers are here to stay—but the manual grind doesn’t have to be. Lumo brings AI, automation, and standardization to this chaotic corner of corporate travel, saving you time, money, and headaches.

Fewer mistakes. Faster action. Happier travelers.

Let Lumo handle the waivers so your team can focus on what matters most. 

Interested in learning more? Contact us.