AussieOzzie, I complete sympathize with you because I gave Delta $300 yesterday (two tickets) to change an award. Work kind of forced my hand on this one, as a client refused to reschedule a meeting despite having requested off months ago. But I knew about the fees going in, took a bit of a chance, and lost. Did I like it? Of course not. But I'd rather pay the $300 to keep my low level business class awards than cough up thousands of $ to pay for revenue seats.

Fees are kind of the norm throughout the airline industry as a whole, and award tickets are no exception. With respect to change fees, I think Delta is on par with US Airways with the standard $150 for any type to ticket reissue or redeposit. United used to allow free changes (with the same origin and destination) 21 days before the date of travel, but now charge general members $75 per change. They also increased the redeposit fee to $200 per ticket, from $150. American still allows free changes (with the same origin and destination), but I think general members get hit with a $75 close in ticketing fee if the change is made within 21 days of travel.

As others have noted, the only way to avoid these fees to attain mid to top tier status on any of the above airlines.