Cancellation policy
How cancellations and no-shows are assessed for passengers and drivers, and how refunds are reviewed on shared trips.
Plans change — that is part of real travel. TrustTrip applies one consistent policy engine to every booking so the outcome of a cancellation never depends on who you are, only on what happened and when. This page explains how severity is assessed, what passengers and drivers can expect, and how refunds are handled. The policy may evolve; this page always reflects the current published version.
How severity works
Every cancellation or no-show is classified at one of four severity levels. Two factors drive the classification: how close to departure the event happens, and how long the booking had been active. The same inputs always produce the same level — there is no case-by-case improvisation.
Low
A cancellation made well before departure, on a recent booking. Example: you booked yesterday for a trip next week and cancel today. This is the lightest outcome — other members still have plenty of time to adjust.
Medium
A cancellation made with moderate notice, or on a booking that had been held for a while. Example: cancelling the day before departure on a seat you reserved two weeks ago. The seat was blocked for other passengers during that time.
High
A cancellation close to departure. Example: cancelling a few hours before a confirmed trip. At this point the driver and other passengers usually cannot fill the seat anymore.
Critical
A no-show — not participating in a confirmed trip without cancelling — is always critical, for passengers and drivers alike. It is the strongest reliability impact on TrustTrip.
If you cancel as a passenger
You can cancel a confirmed booking at any time from your passenger space. What changes with timing is the severity of the outcome, not your ability to cancel. Earlier notice gives the driver and other members a real chance to adjust.
Early cancellation — typically light
Cancelling with enough notice before departure usually results in low severity and little or no trust impact. This is the right move as soon as you know you cannot travel.
Late cancellation — higher impact
Cancelling close to departure increases severity because the seat can rarely be refilled. Your account reliability may decrease according to the published policy.
No-show — always critical
Missing a confirmed trip without cancelling is treated as critical severity in every case. If something urgent prevents you from travelling, cancelling — even late — is always better than not showing up.
If you cancel as a driver
Drivers manage published trips from the driver workspace. Because a driver cancellation can affect several confirmed passengers at once, the operational impact is assessed more strictly than a single-seat cancellation.
Cancelling a trip with confirmed bookings
When a trip with confirmed passengers is cancelled, severity rises to reflect the disruption. Every affected passenger is notified in their passenger space.
The more passengers affected, the higher the impact
Severity scales with the number of active bookings on the cancelled trip. A late cancellation with several confirmed passengers may also trigger a refund review for those passengers.
Driver no-show — always critical
Not operating a confirmed trip without cancelling is critical severity — the strongest driver reliability impact on the platform.
Refunds — who decides, when, and what to expect
Bookings are paid through secure online checkout, so every refund decision is tied to a precise booking record. Refunds follow the published policy and an operations review — they are not instant or automatic for every cancellation.
Who decides
The policy engine produces a recommendation based on the event (who cancelled, when, how many members were affected). The TrustTrip operations team reviews that recommendation before any refund is issued.
When a refund review is triggered
Severe driver cancellations with impacted passengers are the typical trigger. Passenger-initiated cancellations follow the severity outcome of the booking — an early cancellation and a last-minute one are not treated the same way.
What you can expect
You are notified in your account when a decision is made on your booking. For status on a specific case, contact support with your booking reference — that is the fastest path to an answer.
Link with your reliability record
Cancellation and no-show outcomes feed the TrustTrip reliability system, which is explained in full on the Trust & safety page. In short: isolated, early cancellations are part of normal travel; repeated late cancellations and no-shows reduce reliability and may flag an account for review.
Cancellation FAQ
You are notified immediately in your passenger space and the seat payment enters the policy review. Severity on the driver side — and whether a refund review is triggered for you — depends on how close to departure the cancellation happened and how many passengers were affected.
No. Every refund follows the published policy and an operations review tied to your specific booking. This protects both sides: passengers are not left without recourse, and drivers are not penalized without context. Contact support with your booking reference for the status of your case.
A confirmed member who does not participate in the trip and did not cancel in time. No-shows are always classified as critical severity — for passengers and drivers alike — because the other side had no chance to adjust.
From your passenger space: open the booking and use the cancel action. Drivers cancel a published trip from the driver workspace. Cancelling through the product — rather than just messaging the other member — is what records the event correctly.
Cancel as soon as you can, even if it is late — a late cancellation is always assessed more favourably than a no-show. If the situation warrants it, contact support with your booking reference so the context is on file.
Yes. Thresholds and trust impacts are platform settings that may be adjusted to keep the marketplace fair. This page always describes the current published behaviour, which is why amounts and exact hour thresholds are stated as defaults rather than fixed promises.