Originally Posted by GUWonder

Here is what it is in "Plain English" for you too: Delta Airlines always collects money during the SkyMiles award ticket booking process prior to issuing a SkyMiles award ticket.

You have paid Delta Airlines money during the SkyMiles award ticket booking process, unless you want to now claim that you have never used SkyMiles for an award ticket.

Whether the payment DL collects comes in the form of money for taxes or otherwise doesn't much matter -- DL still collects payment in the form of money prior to issuing a SkyMiles award ticket. It has nothing to do with "waivers" or "favors", and whether or not we are Platinums and using some kind of "waiver" related to PM status.