Delta Airlines ticket change.

First, read the fine print for change fees (they may be steep) and then go the Delta website online and make the change if you're prepared to pay the penalty and the fare differential (if applicable). Of course, plans change all the time and ticket changes occur all the time - that's one way airlines make $ millions in extra profit (change fees). Not only will Delta "be open" to changes, they'll likely welcome them.

Hard to believe it's even legal...for airlines to make $$$$$$ from doing the very thing we're doing right here which is: typing on a keyboard and pressing the "RETURN" key.

Couldn't you simply add a leg from Heathrow to Manchester onto your existing itinerary? It might be worth talking to a rep to see the options and just pay the 25 dollars if the rep does it for you.

I think the change fee is somewhere from $300-500, plus any difference in airfare. Call Delta, 800-241-4141 and see what they say.

If you are flying the non-stop to Heathrow, know that Delta might need you to fly Seattle - JFK in New York - Manchester instead. This would add more than a few hours to the flight. My guess is instead of 10 hours, you'd be looking at somewhere around 15-17 hours with the extra flying and connection time.

My recommendation would be to keep your current flight, spend your first night in London and take the train the next day to Manchester. This way you won't have to be concerned about delays to your flights and be able to take advantage of a low price advanced purchase train ticket. You don't want to buy a train ticket on the same day as your transatlantic flight because there are too many delays with flights of that distance.

On a discounted fare the change fee is often $400. And since you have not flown the first flight basically they cancel the ticket and start over. You can get an idea of what this would cost.

1. Go to Delta.com and "test book" the flights you want that's price point A
2. Take your current airfare (price point B) and Subtract A from that. If the result (C) is higher that's the fare difference. If it's lower, you have a small credit.
3. Now add $400 to C. That's the "estimated" cost. It could go up or down depending on the conditions on your ticket but it gives you a quick start.

I just made an inquiry to Delta to change an international flight and they were extremely firm on applying change fees. From my experience you need to have a very good reason to get a supervisor to even consider waving fees. Your best bet is to keep your itinerary if at all possible

Good luck!

You don't say when this flight is booked, but if it is very far in the future there is a good chances Delta may change the departure or arrival times of your existing ticket. (Seems as if they are always making changes with seasonal fluctuations.) If Delta does make a change, and it is a significant enough time difference, you may be allowed to change your itinerary without incurring any fees. I've used this opportunity on several occasions to rebook flights. This tactic of course won't work if rebooking into Manchester is critical to your trip since you will need to wait and see if Delta makes the required schedule changes.

Read Delta Rule 255. It appears Delta can charge what they want for changes to non-refundable tickets.

http://www.delta.com/content/dam/delta-www/pdfs/legal/contract_of_carriage_dom.pdf

In part:

RULE 255: REROUTING
I. General Provisions
A. Fare Applicable To Rerouting Or Change In Destination
1. Unless otherwise specified in the fare rule, a passenger may change the routing,...

II. Ticket reissue procedures
-Unless otherwise specified in a fare rule, the following procedures will apply to DL ticket
reissues.
-The value of the new ticket can be lower than, equal to, or higher than the original
ticket.
For nonrefundable fares:
- If the value of the new ticket is lower than the ticket being reissued, the difference in
fare, less the change fee, will be provided to the passenger in the form of a nonrefundable
Delta travel voucher at the time of reissue.
- If the value of the new ticket is equal to or higher than the ticket being reissued, the
change fee and any difference in fare will be collected at the time of reissue.

A. Wholly unused tickets
1. When making changes to the outbound portion of an unused ticket, Delta will cancel the
itinerary and start over, issuing a new ticket using current fares subject to all applicable
fare rules. If the unused fare is nonrefundable, the value of the original ticket, less the
change fee, may be applied toward the purchase of the new ticket.

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/ticket-changes-refunds/ticket-changes.html

Based on the fare rules, you may have to pay a service fee and/or a difference in fare. For travel within the 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the fee is $200 for Delta-marketed flights.
For travel outside the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the change fee for Delta-marketed flights is typically $200 to $500, but can vary based on location and type of fare. Changes are usually permitted only to the return portion of an international itinerary.

Might be less expensive to fly heathrow to Manchester. Check BA for flights.

Found Rule 255 following a link on one of my old Delta tickets (I should really be cleaning out my e-mail "Travel Booking" folder). The electronic (e-mailed) ticking include a Terms and Conditions section with a hot link "conditions of carriage" that lead to a "Contact of Carriage" that had a link "Domestic General Rules Tariff (PDF)".

What the above demonstrates is that we don't read the fine print, or in this case, follow the links to the fine print. An the improvement is in the really old days, it took a lawyer to understand the fine print. Now you just need a college degree.

I have a college degree. Unfortunately it's in English, not a PhD in Legal Boilerplate.

Provided you book directly with the airline, BA short haul into and out of LHR is often a pretty reasonable price because they're competing with low cost carriers in the area. I just did a test search on ITA Matrix and lots of days & flights available for £73.81. Note that you want to leave a huge gap when you've got a two ticket international to domestic situation, so I'd give myself at least a six hour pause between flights to account for flight and immigration delays.