Delta Airlines fee waiver update as of 4/17/20

Bob,

Thanks for sharing this information!

I love the way the airlines think that waiving their outrageous change fees is a perk.

Well Eric, since they didn't have to waive them maybe you shouldn't kick a gift horse in the mouth.

Or...you can wait for Delta to cancel the flight and have the choice of getting a full refund even if the tickets purchased are nonrefundable.

Any idea how it works if tickets were purchased with Skymiles? We have flights on Sept. 28 to Venice that were purchased for 82,000 in Skymiles and $60 in taxes and fees. The usual policy is that if you cancel a flight purchased with Skymiles, you pay a $150 re-deposit fee to have the miles restored to your account. And I think there's no refund of the taxes and fees paid for that flight. If Delta ends up canceling our 9/28 flight, I assume it will fully restore the Skymiles, no re-deposit fee owed, and it will refund the taxes and fees. If the flight isn't canceled but we decide to rebook the trip for next year, same destination, we owe no change fees but what about the "fare difference?" Will they just give us another flight to Venice for the same amount of miles, or is it possible we'll have to use significant additional Skymiles because they're not offering flights to Venice for that amount next year? If we were to cancel instead of re-booking, would it be a penalty-free return of the Skymiles and an eCredit for the taxes and fees? I looked for answers on Delta's website, and saw this updated coronavirus cancellation policy but it didn't say anything about how it works for Skymiles tickets. I know a Delta rep. could likely answer these kinds of questions but I'm not going to bother them right now with my hypothetical questions on canceling a flight that's still 5 months away. I thought someone on here might know.

Vickie--

https://www.delta.com/us/en/advisories/coronavirus-travel/overview

Under the FAQs...

1. What if I paid for my original trip with miles? The same rules apply whether a flight is booked with cash or miles. For award flights that qualify for a change fee waiver, we are also waiving the mile redeposit fee.

(Actually, it's question #10, but the RS forum software reformats it to #1).

The rules are in the original post for this thread. So... it sounds like for international travel scheduled to begin 9/28, you could cancel now without a redeposit fee. The rules also indicate that, at least as of right now, Delta will charge you the difference in price (currency = SkyMiles for you) for an XXX-Vienna itinerary that begins after Sept 30 (where XXX = current departure airport).

I also looked at the Flyer Talk forum thread entitled Delta Coronavirus: Refund/Mileage Redeposit/E-Credit/Changes to tickets-Consolidated. There are not a lot of comments about SkyMiles, but a handful of posters recommended calling Delta to cancel award tickets instead of going through the website.

We have a flight booked with Delta: Boston to Manchester England on 9/1/20 and return from Heathrow to Boston on 9/23. The Boston-Manchester flight was announced in August 2019 as a new seasonal route starting in May 2020. I'm thinking that Delta will cancel the Boston-Manchester flight. If not, then I can always get the credit.

Delta is great at dealing with the situation. We had booked tickets to Paris to depart on May 24, 2020 purchased with SkyMiles.
I called them and was given the option rather than staying on hold, that they would call me back. I received a call within 45 minutes from a very pleasant woman. She told me that all my miles would be added back to our account and the taxes would be credited to the credit card I had used for the initial payment. The credit for the taxes appeared within 2 days, the mileage credit was instantly.
Delta Airline knows how to take care of their customers.

Does anyone know if this policy applies even if some of your flights booked through Delta are actually flying on Air France? We have a Sep trip to Switzerland with flights to/from Atlanta on Delta then on to Paris and Geneva on Air France. All booked through Deltas website.

cj-traveler,

Yes, this should apply to partner-operated flights if the ticket was purchased through Delta. I had an itinerary that included a Delta flight to Amsterdam, then a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Berlin (purchased through Delta). KLM canceled my Berlin flight and switched me to a flight that departed 3 hours before I arrived in Amsterdam. I called Delta, stated my last leg was canceled, and said "I would like a refund for the itinerary due to the last leg being canceled." My request got sent to the refund department, and the price of the ticket was refunded to my credit card 6 days later.

I just now cancelled my last travel arrangement for this year, a flight at the end of May on Delta. If you have the Delta app on your phone, it's very easy to connect with somebody. If you're having issues getting through on the phone, just have your flight confirmation information ready. It took less than ten minutes.

Vickie,

I would give delta a call on their skymiles number and talk to a rep.

Early last week I called and got a award ticket refunded for June travel to Germany, and this was before updated change fee waiver policy came out. Skymiles were redeposited immediately without a $150 fee and taxes were refunded to my credit card in 1 day. Didn’t take more than a few mins to get through to an agent and person I spoke to was very friendly.