Cancellation policy
Cancellations, no-shows, and refund reviews.
If you need to cancel, TrustTrip assesses recorded cancellations and no-shows using the same published policy inputs. This page explains eligibility, reliability impact, and when a paid booking may be reviewed for a refund.
How severity works
Recorded events use four severity levels. A no-show is critical. For cancellations, only time before the scheduled departure sets the level. Booking age is not used. When a refund may apply, the operations team confirms the outcome before a refund is issued.
Low
A cancellation made well before departure, typically 48 hours or more by default. Example: you cancel today for a trip later this week. Other members still have time to adjust.
Medium
A cancellation with moderate notice, typically more than 12 hours and less than 48 hours before departure by default. Example: cancelling the day before departure. The seat is harder to refill.
High
A cancellation close to departure, typically 12 hours or less by default, including after the trip has started. Example: cancelling a few hours before a confirmed trip. The driver and other passengers usually cannot fill the seat anymore.
Critical
A no-show means no cancellation was recorded before a confirmed member was marked absent. It is critical for passengers and drivers.
If you cancel as a passenger
Cancel an eligible pending or confirmed booking from your passenger space while the action is available. Completed, cancelled, closed, disputed, or attendance-review bookings cannot use this cancellation path. Earlier notice gives the driver and other members more time to adjust.
Early cancellation: typically light
Cancelling typically 48 hours or more before departure usually results in low severity and no trust impact. This is the right move as soon as you know you cannot travel. A passenger self-cancel does not open a platform refund review.
Late cancellation: higher impact
Cancelling closer to departure increases severity because the seat can rarely be refilled. Your account reliability may decrease according to the published policy. There is still no platform refund on a passenger self-cancel.
No-show: always critical
A no-show is recorded when no cancellation was completed before you were marked absent from a confirmed trip. If the cancellation action is still available, use it as soon as you know you cannot travel.
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, every affected passenger is notified in their passenger space. Severity still follows time before departure. Reliability impact scales with the seats on those bookings.
Empty trips versus trips with riders
Cancelling a published trip with no riders has no Trust debit from this policy. A trip with riders always has a reliability impact, even when you cancel early. An eligible driver cancellation or driver no-show may also trigger a refund review for affected paid bookings.
Driver no-show: always critical
Not operating a confirmed trip without cancelling has critical severity, the strongest driver reliability impact on the platform.
Delays at the boarding point
A short delay can happen. Starting from the scheduled departure time, the driver must wait at least 15 minutes for the passenger at the agreed boarding point.
During this period, the driver and passenger should try to contact each other and confirm their location. The driver should not leave before the minimum waiting period ends simply because the passenger is a few minutes late. Leaving before the end of this period, without a reason already covered by TrustTrip published policies, does not follow the waiting policy.
Refunds: who decides, when, and what to expect
Refund review is tied to a paid booking record. It is not instant or automatic for every cancellation.
Who decides
The published policy identifies eligible cases when the trip is cancelled with riders, or when a driver no-show is recorded. The TrustTrip operations team reviews the booking record before any refund is issued.
When a refund review is triggered
Passenger-initiated cancellations do not qualify for a platform-fee refund. Review may apply when a trip with paid bookings is cancelled, or when an eligible driver no-show affects a paid booking.
What you can expect
If a refund is issued, TrustTrip notifies you. For the status of a specific case, contact support with your booking reference.
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 passenger cancellations are part of normal travel. Repeated late cancellations and no-shows reduce reliability and may flag an account for review.
Cancellation FAQ
Affected passengers are notified after the trip cancellation is recorded. A paid booking may be reviewed for a refund when the cancelled trip had riders. Support can help with next steps.
No. Eligible cases are reviewed against the paid booking record before a refund is issued. Passenger-initiated cancellations do not qualify for a platform-fee refund. Contact support with your booking reference for the status of your case.
A no-show means no cancellation was recorded before a confirmed member was marked absent. No-shows are classified as critical for passengers and drivers. For the minimum wait at the boarding point before departure, see Delays at the boarding point on this page.
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 instead of just messaging the other member 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. TrustTrip may adjust thresholds and trust impacts to keep shared trips fair. This page describes the current published policy, so amounts and exact hour thresholds are shown as defaults rather than permanent promises.