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24 Hour risk free cancellation on award tickets?

24 Hour risk free cancellation on award tickets?

Old May 16, 2014, 12:55 pm
  #1  
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24 Hour risk free cancellation on award tickets?

Does the 24 hour risk free cancellation policy apply to award tickets? Is the re-deposit fee still assessed for no PM+?
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Old May 16, 2014, 2:04 pm
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Yes, risk free applies to award tickets. The tricky part is does it apply if you book award travel within three days of departure and want to cancel risk free after that. I have been told yes and no, but I tend to believe it applies to award tickets as long as you have not gone outside of the "next day" time limit.
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Old May 16, 2014, 2:24 pm
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Originally Posted by Mr. Tickets
Yes, risk free applies to award tickets. The tricky part is does it apply if you book award travel within three days of departure and want to cancel risk free after that. I have been told yes and no, but I tend to believe it applies to award tickets as long as you have not gone outside of the "next day" time limit.
"Tickets booked within 72 hours of departure are nonrefundable and cannot be redeposited or changed."

http://www.delta.com/content/dam/del...M_MemGuide.pdf
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Old May 16, 2014, 4:03 pm
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Originally Posted by javabytes
"Tickets booked within 72 hours of departure are nonrefundable and cannot be redeposited or changed."

http://www.delta.com/content/dam/del...M_MemGuide.pdf
I had not seen that before (n writing), I stand corrected. However (and we all know that you can a lot of bad info from reservations) but I asked the Diamond Desk on this about a month ago. I specifically asked the question about the 24 hour rule and she said emphatically, it did apply to award tickets. I guess I should have known better. However, that page also says you cannot change the return award within 72 hours of the award travel date and I have done that literally 10 times without even a hiccup from reservations. I also thought there had been many discussions on FlyerTalk that confirmed return tickets could be changed anytime, once the outbound flight was flown. Anyone else?
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Old May 16, 2014, 4:41 pm
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Your experience with changing the return portion of award tickets mirrors mine, that it can be done anytime after the outbound is flown, including within 72 hours of the return flight.

So I won't state with absolute certainty that award tickets booked within 72 hours of departure don't qualify for RFC, but there's language explicitly stating that, so tread with due caution.
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Old Jul 5, 2014, 1:29 pm
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Originally Posted by javabytes
Your experience with changing the return portion of award tickets mirrors mine, that it can be done anytime after the outbound is flown, including within 72 hours of the return flight.

So I won't state with absolute certainty that award tickets booked within 72 hours of departure don't qualify for RFC, but there's language explicitly stating that, so tread with due caution.
I can say absolutely that award tickets booked within 72 hours can still be cancelled risk free within 24 hours (actually to midnight the next day). I've done it successfully twice. I had trouble both times with the agent trying to tell me that I couldn't do it because it was <72 hours until the departure, but elevating to a supervisor fixed things quickly both times. I was told by both supervisors: The RFC trumps all other rules including the award ticket 72 hour rule.

I was even told by one of the supervisors that if you book an award the day before the flight and then miss/skip the flight, you are still protected by the RFC as long as you call to get your refund by midnight the day of that missed flight. I wouldn't want to have to test this claim out, but that's what she said.
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Old Jul 21, 2014, 7:17 am
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I tried booking an award ticket on DL.com and I noticed that there is no option anymore to reserve it without booking it. Did I just not see where the reserve option is on the website? Or has DL changed it? I am sure that if I booked it and pay the fees, the 24 hr RFC still applies. But it was some much simpler before with just reserving it.
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Old Jul 21, 2014, 7:49 am
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No more award holds. DL got rid of those.

If you only partially complete the booking process online, sometimes the flights you choose will be put into a reservation but not ticketed, effectively accomplishing the same thing as an award hold.
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Old Jul 21, 2014, 9:06 am
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Originally Posted by javabytes
No more award holds. DL got rid of those.

If you only partially complete the booking process online, sometimes the flights you choose will be put into a reservation but not ticketed, effectively accomplishing the same thing as an award hold.
I went back to my DL account and it actually put a hold on the booking process that I partially completed earlier. Problem solved Thank you so much javabytes ^
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Old Aug 7, 2014, 5:31 pm
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Sorry to bump an older thread, but I found this in the document now, and this thread came up from a google search.

Changes to Award Travel
...
Changes to outbound Award Travel must be made 72 hours prior to the departure time of the currently-ticketed outbound flight. Changes to return Award Travel must be made at least 72 hours prior to the departure time of the currently-ticketed return flight. Award Tickets booked within 72 hours of departure are nonrefundable and cannot be redeposited or changed.
So the 72 hour return rule should allow changes even prior to outbound departure on the return segment.
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Old Aug 18, 2014, 8:26 pm
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Bumping an old thread instead of posting into a new one..

Does the 24 hour cancellation rule apply if ticketed on DL.com but for an International\-US ticket (e.g. ICN-SEA)? I believe according to the DOT rules it should but DL's policy on the website only says "...originating in the US..."
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Old Aug 24, 2014, 10:23 pm
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Originally Posted by topcat_dcx
Bumping an old thread instead of posting into a new one..

Does the 24 hour cancellation rule apply if ticketed on DL.com but for an International\-US ticket (e.g. ICN-SEA)? I believe according to the DOT rules it should but DL's policy on the website only says "...originating in the US..."
topcat_dcx - Did you find any information on this? I agree that the DOT rules seem to cover flight originating outside the US, but Delta fails to indicate this on its website.
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Old Feb 13, 2015, 4:26 pm
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I wonder if DL still have 24 hr Risk free cancellation on award ticket? i read somewhere it does not apply to award ticket? thanks.
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Old Feb 13, 2015, 4:35 pm
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Originally Posted by sbbi
I wonder if DL still have 24 hr Risk free cancellation on award ticket? i read somewhere it does not apply to award ticket? thanks.
IIRC DOT rules don't require that it apply to award tickets or to tickets purchased within seven days of departure, but DL extends these courtesies even though they're not required by the regulation.
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Old Feb 13, 2015, 4:40 pm
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
IIRC DOT rules don't require that it apply to award tickets or to tickets purchased within seven days of departure, but DL extends these courtesies even though they're not required by the regulation.
thanks. would i have to call to cancel to get the 24 RFC? online asks for $150 fee even i just booked today..
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