Originally Posted by
ijgordon
Three threads down, DL apparently isn't following its own rules on upgrades, why should they necessarily here?
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...ade-rules.html
Some/many of the European low-cost-carriers that sell completely inflexible tickets will also sell you "insurance" that if you miss your flight, they'll accommodate you on the next available one, and it's a fairly modest fee ($10-15 maybe?).
Contrast that to DL here apparently, where, sticking to the letter of the rules, even a non-BE fare would at least require a $150-200 change fee (for someone not eligible to standby for a later flight), and that assumes you contact them before your original flight departs (heaven forbid the OP didn't even wake up until 6:01am). Surely that's not the airline's intention?
That thread is based off a claim from the OP. Who really knows the truth.
Also, you should never expect that an exception is to be made for you. If it is, be happy. If not, then rules are really rules. IIRC, when my s/o missed a Delta flight cutoff, she was offered to take the next flight for the SDC fee, which was $25 back then. I think on a regular main cabin ticket, you still can get out on a later flight for the SDS fee. I really don't know because it's been 8 years since I've missed a flight.