Are all Delta refunds created equal?

I am still waiting on my refund. Today is business day 29 which means I can't hope for anything before Monday. I had hoped to cancel my travel insurance as well, but since I was supposed to be flying out tomorrow and yet still silence from Delta, I figure I'm stuck paying for the travel insurance. Maybe? Yes? No?

Either way, I'm still waiting on my Delta refund. I've contacted Delta via Twitter to no avail. So not sure if it's worth it to sit on hold for hours if I call or not.

Some refunds must require manual processing. Our BOE14 was cancelled early March and we rebooked to BOSw..Needed to rebook air dates and airports. The Delta call center handled but reissued tickets from AirFrance to Delta. Must have created an accounting issue. Refund request was processed April 14 by very nice agent. We're now 6 weeks into the process and told today (3rd try for info) to be patient. Agent couldn't process on computer. Said they're working on end of first week in April on manual refunds. (By the way the recording of "...the last week in March" hasn't been changed.) Today's agent really wanted to assist but...

I'll check in a week and post results.

How do you know if your tickets need to be "hand-calculated"? We put in a refund request a month ago (we hit the "30 business days" mark next week), and haven't heard anything. Nothing out of the ordinary with our tickets, but I believe that some flights were on Delta partners.

I had a domestic Delta flight mid-March that had one leg (of course the last one leaving me somewhat stranded) that Delta rescheduled six times in the four days prior to the flight, and then had three flights cancelled while I was sitting in the airport (queue violin music!). Not wanting to spend the night in the airport I gave up on Delta and requested they cancel me from a flight that was likely not to happen the next day. One day short of six weeks later I received an email that they were processing a refund, finally posted to credit card not quite 30 days later. Not entirely sure it was hand-calculated, but guessing it might have been since there was only part of the ticket and I cancelled.

Thanks for this post, Bets. I couldn’t understand why our refund took over 5 weeks to process. We were notified on April 14 that our multi-city Delta/AirFrance/KLM flights from Seattle to Paris and Amsterdam to Seattle were cancelled and we would be issued an ECredit. I contacted Delta immediately via phone (1+ hour wait for an agent) and requested a refund instead. The agent told me that I would see the refund on my credit card “within 21 days - or longer.” Emphasis on the “or longer.” After 4 weeks, I tried to call to check on the progress but was alternately not able to get through or had my call dumped after being on hold for 30 minutes. So I just sat back and waited. All’s well that ends well — We received the full credit to our account on May 20, 36 days from my initial call. Wishing everyone the same - if not swift service, at least a full refund.

I called Delta a few days after my first international round-trip was canceled and the agent not only offered to refund that ticket, he offered to refund a future international round-trip I had three weeks later that had yet to be cancelled.

My AMEX card received both refunds the following day.

All four flights would have been on Delta and were nonrefundable fares. This could not have been easier.

sssarlington, I think you need to call the dedicated refund number: 800-847-0587.
I originally submitted on line but it didn't go through and it was resubmitted for me when I called. You should just double check that you are in the pipeline.

Continental-- not all itineraries and ticketing are equal. Mine was the inbound flight only. Others have several legs, code shares, currency exchange rates, etc. This post is to help, or reassure, those whose tickets require manual attention, those who are wondering why theirs are taking so long.

You prove the point exactly that simple Delta itineraries led to easy-peasy overnight refunds, unlike code share and unused legs ticketing.

Thanks, Bets. I may try calling again. I originally called (thanks to insomnia, I telephoned at 2 a.m. and got right through), and the representative put me in for a refund. I think I'm in the queue, as I received e-mails confirming the refund request. I just keep logging into my credit card account in the hopes of seeing the credit... but nothing. : (

Hi. Just sharing my experience with Delta. Delta issued us a credit (voucher) to be used within the next year when our RS trip was canceled and we appealed to them. Unfortunately at that time they did not offer a refund. Since then my husband and I decided that we cannot be sure that we will be able to take a flight within the next year (health reasons and age) )so we appealed for a refund. At that point the flight had actually been cancelled and it was our understanding that we would qualify for a refund. That was on April 15th (request for refund). We were advised to wait 30 business day (which we did) but a phone call to their refund status personnel was very disappointing. All they could say was you will just have to wait. Even speaking with a supervisor was to no avail. I will have to say everyone was polite but seemed to be helpless as to what to do. I am wondering if I should appeal to my credit card to charge back as I am starting to feel as though I will never get a cash refund. We have another RS tour scheduled for the end of October and do not know if it will be cancelled so we have another paid flight with Delta. Worrying about what we will do to try to collect that money back if the RS tour cancel. All very anxiety producing. Trying to be patient. Wishing you all the best in collecting your $

Thanks again to Bets for posting this thread. I've been on this refund journey since April 14. My refund request is (according to the supervisor I talked with today) really out of their normal procedure manual. A brief recap--change in flights/dates/airports along with a change in tickets from AirFrance Premium Economy to Delta Business class (didn't matter that plane was AirFrance). Problem is that AirFrance has the $ for the original booking and Delta has the $ for the rebook. I've spoken to 5 different agents/explained what happened 5 times/received the you've got to wait until your request makes it through the que. Finally today the agent had been in the same rodeo before. Looks like Delta will refund the $ they have but I now have to request that AirFrance refund their share.So progress. Lesson is use the Delta website. Follow need help/refund requests and status/half way down page click check your refund status (enter name and ticket number). If you don't like the status or if it's taking too long invest the 30+/- minutes to talk with a representative. All I've spoken to really tried to be helpful. All tried to do an immediate refund. My impression was that if you've spent long time waiting to speak to a rep we'll do it now! Refund # 800-847-0578 Good luck and keep on traveling! Thanks again to Bets.

Denise and Ron M. Just be patient; the $ will arrive eventually. This is exactly why I started this thread! On the other hand, a charge back will screw everything up and you might not see anything for a long time. My refund took two months, almost day-for-day, and my request was nearly at the beginning of this event, on March 30th. My initial request on 3/14 was lost, so it's good to call from time to time just to be reassured, but there's no way to expedite these manually handled refunds. They have a large quantity, and they are doing them carefully. I kept having doubts, too, but when the refund finally came through, we had a drink to celebrate. You've got to be Zen with this. And I know how hard it is!

Dennis-- you have the gold medal for most complicated but so glad you found the right person. I found out that the ticket numbers change as our itineraries change, so we have to keep that info, too, because status is checked by tix number.
Good luck with AF which has different refund rules but you'll celebrate when all comes through.
Our original return was April 16, changed first to March 20, and then I bought biz-class back (we're old) for March 16 as COVID numbers were doubling, so had the original return refunded. Glad I did, turned out to be the last DTW flight for 3 months.

So it's not just me? My refund is still 'pending' which means nothing, as that's the status it was in when I first requested it. They expanded their wait time to 30 business days for refund processing. I'm now at day 32.

Following up to my previous post: I got an e-mail from Delta yesterday, saying that my Refund Request has been processed. I had requested a refund for a canceled flight from a representative 43 days -- or exactly 30 business days -- earlier. At that time, I received an e-mail saying that my Refund Request had been received. Yesterday's e-mail states that my refund request has been approved, but the credit to my credit card may not be posted for up to two billing cycles. Honestly, it feels harsh. This is a substantial amount of money (international travel, tickets for the whole family). I am going to be stressed about it until I see that credit.

**UPDATE- We got the credit to our credit card today! Woo hoo! Two days after the refund request was approved. I'm so relieved!

We just got an email that our flights were cancelled; actually they may have meant that just one of the legs of our trip was cancelled. It was hard to tell from the email.
I clicked on refund and filled out the form which asked for the ticket number, and I think there are separate ticket numbers for the different legs.
Anyway, I also tried calling the dedicated number that Bets mentioned for refunds, and there was total silence after I dialed the number. I redialed two times and the same thing.
I hope that we get our refunds. Are others getting your refunds?

I just tried the Sky Miles number someone had posted in response to another questions, and was able to leave a message for a call back! So I hope I can take care of it. Just letting others know this other phone number if they need it.
800-323-2323

I can't speak to "hand-calculated refunds" but our Delta/KLM flight for September was canceled on June 10. Our refund was credited to our account on June 18.

three more calls to Refund Delay Department since last posting. Nice people but still no results. I was asked to contact Air France to inquire about refunding portion they collected on original itinerary (Delta didn't seem to want to contact AF). AF replied that request had been handled. I don't really know what that means as still no $. Today's call at 5:00 am Pacific Time was answered promptly. I was promised (again) that a supervisor would handle. Now 10 weeks and counting....

The journey is over. Refund made it to my credit card last night.

Shows my age but I feel like David Niven finally getting back to Paris in "Around the World in 80 Days" in that the process took exactly 80 days :).

Congratulations! We'll open a good bottle tonight in your honor. Yours took one month longer than mine, but you had to deal with AF, too. Bravo.

Here is my experience with Delta:

August 2019: Delta announced a new seasonal route from Boston to Manchester England

November 2019: Booked RS Best of England Tour for September 2020. Our plan was to visit Liverpool before the start of the tour. Therefore, the new BOS-MAN nonstop route was appealing to us.

January 2020: Purchased Delta multi-city tickets BOS - MAN 9/1/20 and return from Heathrow to Boston on 9/23/20.

Mid-April 2020: Noticed that the BOS-MAN route was not available for purchase on the Delta website or on Kayak. Flights available were 1 -stops through JFK or Atlanta.

4/26/20: Checked my reservation through Manage My Trips. The BOS-MAN flight was cancelled by Delta but no email was sent.

4/27/20: Requested refund from Delta on the phone. I could have obtained a no-fee credit from Delta on the website to be used by 9/30/22 but preferred the refund. Delta has a special phone number for cash refunds: 1-800-847-0578. The cash refund service is available Monday - Friday 8 AM to 7 PM.

4/28/20: Refund posted to credit card statement.

Overall, I am happy with how Delta handled this. This whole process was simplified by the fact that the BOS-MAN leg was a new route, and I expected it to be cancelled. Also, the entire itinerary was purchased on the Delta Website with no partner airlines involved. We also did not have the complication of separate flights within Europe. Last year we used miles to purchase round trip tickets Boston - Paris and bought separate tickets from Air France to complete our trip to Italy.

Don't know about all refunds, but I used the chat feature on the Delta site, last evening once I received the cancellation notice from KLM (we booked all thru Delta), and while last night we got thwarted by the wait time, and then closing for the evening, this morning I waited mabye 10 mins for an agent to answer. Easy, not on hold on the phone, just waiting for the chat. Refunds for both ways, upgraded seat choices are supposed to be on card within about 40 days....so we will not play the waiting game and watch the statements. I was delighted to see an email from them and the chat history sent over documenting all.

I will update later -

Bummer, I would try the chat again today and see if you get a better rep.

Last night I called Delta for a refund on my NYC trip July 23-26 and was on hold for a long time. Because it was a Companion certificate, it had to be processed manually.

I called again and they offered to call me back so I agreed to receive a call. Unfortunately I have a bedtime setting on my phone for 10 pm and I forgot I wouldn’t hear Delta calling me! They called twice and left 2 voicemails.

I called again and they asked if I would like to text an agent and I said yes. Voila! My refund was processed within 10 minutes and my Companion certificate returned to my account. Super easy. By 11:30 pm mission accomplished and I could strike that task off my list.

I will post when the money hits my credit card. Last time it took 2 days.

UPdate to my post about the chat feature....my credit is on my card today, I think 3 days have gone by....

Try the chat, rather than the phone...

My credit card was credited July 11 and communicated to me this morning via email! Yay! Delta came through again.

We asked for a refund on June 24th and did not hear back. So today after reading some of these posts, I called Delta about the "status of our refund" and talked with a very helpful woman, and 15 minutes later she had processed our refund and said that it may take 7 business days to see it on our credit card. So I don't know if I had to call again to get it processed, or it they would have gotten to it eventually. I was very grateful to her for her help with this. :)

Update on my Delta refund for a ticket with split payment methods (part Delta AmEx card and part Delta gift cards)

Refund request submitted: April 18
Email arrived saying refund approved: July 13
Credit card portion refund received on card: July 15
Gift card (e-card) received via email: July 22

So it was a little beyond the 30 business day window, although at one point I did speak with a very nice customer service rep who said they could easily give me a voucher, but vouchers have expiration dates. That's why I held out for a refund + gift cards which supposedly don't expire.

It took longer than expected, but I received a full refund. I am pleased with the resolution of this situation.

With parts of my Delta itinerary to/from Sicily for an October Rick Steves tour being cancelled (after I had earlier rescheduled from April as the pandemic ramped up), I qualified for a cash refund which I requested online on May 23,, over 2 months ago. Using my ticket and refund request numbers, I was able to confirm repeatedly online that the refund was "pending", which it remained through yesterday. I finally decided that this was long enough to wait, and yesterday called Delta. After only a brief time on hold, I talked to a very capable and friendly agent, who processed my refund without argument. It is supposed to appear in a few days as a credit to my Delta Gold American Express card. I'm confident that this will happen, and give Delta high marks for handling so well what is a financial disaster for the airlines.

Update to my post above: The full refund appeared today as a credit to my Delta American Express Gold card account. Thanks, Delta.