Californians who were charged a processing fee when they bought non-season online tickets to Knott’s Berry Farm, Knott’s Soak City or California’s Great America can claim by Dec. 22, 2026. The settlement pays $8 per person. People who do nothing get that $8 as a credit at Six Flags. People who file a claim get it as cash.
The deal comes from a class action against the parks’ owner, Cedar Fair. It covers online purchases made from June 28, 2020, through July 1, 2024. About 1.4 million people are in the class, and no receipt is needed to file.
Who the $8 goes to
The settlement website describes class members as Californians who were charged processing fees on non-season ticket purchases. For Knott’s Berry Farm and Knott’s Soak City, the tickets were bought through knotts.com. For California’s Great America, they were bought through cagreatamerica.com. A California billing address at checkout is what puts a buyer in the class.
Season passes and tickets bought at the park gate are left out. That matters for anyone who held a pass or paid at the window, because the settlement is built around the fee added to single-day online orders.
Did the fee show up on a past order?
Anyone with a California billing address who bought a day ticket on one of those two websites in that four-year window, and saw a processing fee on the order, is the person the settlement is for. The question is whether the notice arrived. Class members were sent an email notice with a Notice ID and a Confirmation Code, and the online claim form asks for both.
Members whose notice came as a second email attempt have 60 days from that email instead of the Dec. 22 date. Those who never got a notice but can show a qualifying fee are told to contact the administrator, Angeion Group.
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Cash or a Six Flags credit
The payment is $8, once per person, no matter how many tickets or orders that person made. That is the same whether someone bought one ticket or twenty. The settlement does not pay back the fee order by order.
A member who does nothing gets an emailed voucher worth $8 for purchases at sixflags.com. The credit can be used at the defendants’ parks in the 48 contiguous states, has no blackout dates and can be passed to someone else. It expires 36 months after it is issued. A member who files a valid claim by Dec. 22 can ask for $8 by Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, a virtual prepaid card or a mailed check, according to the Claim Depot summary.
The total fund is about $11.2 million in cash and credits, according to Open Class Actions. Claim Depot lists the figure at $11,241,880 and notes that fees and costs would be deducted from that total.
No proof of the purchase is required, though claimants must certify that the information they give is accurate. The online form needs the Notice ID and Confirmation Code from the emailed notice. Someone who deleted the email should check the spam folder first.
The class period is long. It opens June 28, 2020, and closes July 1, 2024, so it covers four years of online orders. Anyone who bought a ticket for a visit in those years and paid the added fee at checkout is in the window.
When the money arrives
The case is Isayan v. Cedar Fair, L.P., No. 24STCV16212, in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Judge Elaine Lu granted preliminary approval on Sept. 17, 2026. The final approval hearing is set for March 30, 2027, at 10 a.m. in Department 9, in person or by LACourtConnect.
Claim Depot says payments are due no more than 45 days after the court grants final approval and any appeals are resolved. Cash claims and credits both wait on that approval. A claim filed now therefore turns into money in 2027 at the earliest.
Filing is done online at the settlement website’s claim page, or on a paper claim form that must be postmarked by Dec. 22. The paper form also needs the Notice ID. The settlement website says that nobody has to file just to take part, since the credit comes automatically.
The difference is small in dollars and large in flexibility. The credit works only at Six Flags parks and expires after three years, while a claim brings cash that can go toward any bill. For a household that does not plan to visit those parks again, the claim is the only way the $8 turns into spendable money.
The open question for anyone who bought tickets in those years is whether a settlement email ever landed. Searching an inbox and spam folder for the Notice ID before Dec. 22 is the step the claim form depends on. Without that ID, the administrator is the next stop.
Fees on tickets bought years ago?
A small settlement is easy to skip, and a missed Dec. 22 date turns the $8 into a credit that must be spent at one company’s parks. The same pattern repeats across open settlements: a notice in a spam folder, an ID that cannot be found, a claim deadline that passes quietly.
The Money Owed to You Bundle puts 8 guides in one $8 download. Open Settlements: How to File: the four-date rule, the two claim tiers, proof without receipts, and chasing a payment. The Claim It Checklist adds a filing checklist and a scam stop-list, so the next notice gets sorted in minutes. Every search and claim stays free at the official source.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
