Originally Posted by
Often1
The policy is quite clearly that unless you have paid J, you won't be rebooked OA in J. However, supervisors may authorize J OA in limited circumstances and on limited carriers. Bottom line is that if you are rebooked in Y, DL has met its contractual and service recovery commitment.
However, in that case, you would be entitled to cancel the ticket without penalty. Obviously this won't work for someone who must be at the destination soon or for someone returning from an overseas trip, where it would be extremely costly to purchase a new one way ticket to get home.