Originally Posted by
davetravels
My personal experience - and as posted elsewhere here on FT/DL - is that DL says if they can't substitute a schedule within 90 minutes of your original departure or arrival time, they'll give you a refund. I had 2 tix to SJU and there just wasn't anything within 90 min, so, I got a VERY prompt refund! I don't think they'll do it at 60 min.
I've had all kinds of success in dealing with DL-imposed schedule changes, even fairly trivial ones. In one instance, at my request, I was re-routed from DL metal onto DL-coded, NW-operated flight segments, and this was a couple of years ago, before the merger. In another, DL agreed to switch my terminus from IAH to SAT. In yet another, I requested and received a cancellation and a full refund.
The DL domestic Contract of Carriage certainly doesn't make a 90 minute or a 60 minute distinction. As long as you get a cooperative agent, you should be able to leverage any DL schedule change to your benefit, particularly if you can illustrate some personal hardship created by the schedule change.