Originally Posted by
hgdf
FYI, technically the cancellation deadline isn't 24 hours, but midnight the day
after you book it. So technically, if you book the ticket at 12:01 AM on Sunday (Saturday night), you have until 11:59 on Monday night to cancel, which is almost 48 hours.
If you're booking a flight that's less than 24 hours away, then you have until midnight on the day of departure.
What the
policy doesn't seem to clarify is whether by midnight they mean the departure time zone, or eastern time (I believe it may be the later).
I can sadly say from experience that they go by pacific time. So in order to have 'almost 48 hours' you must wait until 12:01 am pacific time to purchase, even if you are on the east coast. Delta.com issues tickets in Los Angeles real time. Even if you are in NYC and your first leg departs from NYC, if you purchase a ticket at 2:00 am eastern time on Sunday the 21st your e-ticket will show the issue date as Saturday the 20th at 11:00 pm. If you look at the bottom of your e-ticket receipt next to the barcode where it says 'place of ticket issue' it always says LAXWEB.