Flight Credits, Upgrade Certificates & Free Night Awards

What are flight credits?

Flight credits are the monetary credits airlines issue when you cancel a flight, get a refund, or receive service recovery. They go by different names depending on the airline: eCredits (United), Trip Credits (Delta), Travel Funds (Southwest), and others. They all work the same way: you have a dollar balance to apply toward a future booking with that airline, often with an expiration date attached.

Gondola tracks these on your loyalty dashboard so you can see exactly how much you have, which airline it's with, and when it expires.

How does Gondola find my flight credits?

When you connect your email, Gondola scans cancellation, refund, and credit issuance emails from airlines and automatically imports your credits. The credit amount, airline, credit number, and expiration date are all pulled directly from the email.

If Gondola misses a credit or you have one from before you joined, you can add it manually from your loyalty dashboard (more on that below).

What types of credits does Gondola track?

Gondola recognizes these credit types across all major airlines:

• eCredits (United, others)
• Trip Credits (Delta)
• Travel Funds (Southwest)
• Wallet Credits
• Travel Bank Credits (JetBlue)
• Electronic Travel Certificates
• Vouchers
• Refund Credits

What are suite upgrade certificates?

Suite upgrade certificates are awards you earn through hotel loyalty program status. They let you confirm or request a room upgrade on qualifying stays. Each hotel chain has its own version:

• Marriott Bonvoy: Nightly Upgrade Awards (NUAs), sometimes called Suite Night Awards (SNAs)
• World of Hyatt: Suite Upgrade Awards (SUAs)
• Hilton Honors: Confirmable Upgrade Rewards (CURs)
• IHG One Rewards: Suite Upgrade Certificates

These typically refresh each status year and have expiration dates. Gondola tracks how many you have remaining and when they expire.

What are free night awards?

Free night awards are the certificates you earn from hotel credit cards (like an annual cardmember free night), elite status milestones, or promotions. Each chain has its own version:

• Marriott Bonvoy: Free Night Awards
• Hilton Honors: Free Night Rewards
• World of Hyatt: Free Night Awards
• IHG One Rewards: Anniversary Free Nights
• Wyndham Rewards: Free Night Awards

Gondola tracks how many you have, when they expire, and the redemption rules for each one so you can actually use them before they disappear.

How does Gondola track free night redemption caps?

Most free night certificates can only be redeemed up to a ceiling, and the ceiling works differently by chain:

• Marriott, IHG, and Wyndham cap by points value (for example, a 35,000-point Marriott Free Night Award). When you add one, you can record its points cap.
• Marriott and IHG also let you top up with extra points to book a room above the cap. Gondola tracks whether your certificate allows top-ups.
• Hyatt caps by hotel category (for example, a Category 1-4 award), so you record the category instead.
• Hilton Free Night Rewards have no cap. They work at nearly any Hilton property, so there's nothing extra to track.

How do I add a flight credit, upgrade certificate, or free night award manually?

From your loyalty dashboard, click into the airline or hotel loyalty account where the credit belongs, or use the add menu at the top of the dashboard. You'll see options to add a new flight credit, upgrade certificate, or free night credit. Fill in the details (amount, expiration, credit number for flight credits, program and count for upgrade certificates, or program, count, and cap details for free nights) and save.

If you're adding a flight credit, Gondola will pre-fill the airline based on the account you clicked into.

Can I edit or delete credits that Gondola imported from email?

Yes. If an email-imported credit has the wrong amount, is a duplicate, or you've already used it, you can edit or delete it directly from your dashboard. When you edit an email-imported credit, Gondola marks it as manually managed so future emails won't overwrite your changes.

How will I know when a credit is about to expire?

For flight credits, Gondola sends push notifications at 30 days, 7 days, and on the expiration date itself. Credits expiring within 30 days are highlighted in red on your dashboard so they're easy to spot.

How does Gondola surface free night awards before they expire?

Free night awards get their own treatment on your loyalty dashboard. Any free night certificate within 30 days of expiring moves into a dedicated Expiring soon section so you see it first, and certificates inside the final 7 days are outlined in red to flag the urgency. The card subtitle counts down for you, switching from a plain expiration date to "Expires in N days" and "Expires today" as the deadline approaches.

Gondola also reminds you with push notifications at 30, 14, 7, and 0 days before a free night award expires, so you have several chances to redeem it.

Can I turn off reminders for a specific free night award?

Yes. When you add or edit a free night award, you'll see a Send expiration reminders for this credit toggle. It's on by default, but if you've already decided not to use a particular certificate you can switch it off to stop the reminders for that one credit without affecting the rest.

What does "partially redeemed" mean?

When you use part of a flight credit on a booking, the remaining balance is what matters. Gondola shows both your original credit amount and the current remaining balance, so you always know exactly what's left to spend.

Do upgrade certificates show up when I'm booking a hotel?

Yes. When you're viewing a booking at a hotel that matches one of your upgrade certificate programs (for example, a Hyatt property when you have SUAs), Gondola shows a callout with program-specific guidance on how to apply your certificate. Marriott NUAs work differently from Hyatt SUAs, so the instructions are tailored to each program.

The same goes for free night awards: if you're viewing a stay at a chain where you have an unexpired free night certificate, Gondola reminds you so you can put it to use.

I have a credit that Gondola didn't pick up. What should I do?

Add it manually from the relevant airline account on your loyalty dashboard. If you think the email should have been detected automatically, reach out to support@gondola.ai with the airline and approximate date of the credit, and we'll look into it.