Changing half of an award ticket
 

I am a newly minted DL plat (formerly NW gold for several yrs) and still trying to figure out how the new parameters work.

Booked a flight several weeks ago for son to fly home next week - managed to get first class coming and mid-level coach returning for a total of 42.5K miles (22.5 for the first class and 20 for the coach).

In the meantime first class has opened up for the return - I could not figure out how to change it online (I am assuming you can't) - so called the elite line and was told that I could cancel and redeposit (one of my two fee-free I presume??) and then rebook - however the original first class flight on the departure is not not available at that mileage level - so I would lose that one in order to gain the new one.

This seems just a bit Bizarro World to me - but maybe that is the bind I am in.

Isn't there some simple way for a plat to change that coach part to a first-class part - and pay the extra 2.5 miles without a fee.

(Looking further, if I were able to rebook, I see only one of the two new segments is actually first - and the other is booked in coach - so I guess that is another issue - when "first class" availability winds up being "half first" and "half coach." Sigh.)

If you don't get the answer you want, hang up and call again.

I have changed just part of an award ticket and it did NOT require canceling and rebooking. That is crazy. Even Delta doesn't make you do that (at least I hope that it is not a new policy!).

I don't think the answer is going to change on this one. It's basically the same principle as changing a revenue ticket after the fact and the fare difference has gone up. the same thing is happening for the first class segment you already had not being available at the miles price you originally booked it at.

Is it on NW or DL metal? I had the exact situation a few days ago. Call the old NW plat line, went through some inane messaging system and finally a live person from DL. Could not help, insisted he put me through to Chisolm. 5 minutes later the return segment of my flight is changed and with less miles to boot. IMHO DL does not allow their agents to do anything. I must add that Chisolm recognizes the problem and the agent I spoke with says he thinks thing s will get better in the next few months as some of the NW ops are being adopted. We'll see.

Seriously??? While I agree that the answer shouldn't change on this, and understand the answer given was likely the truth and the procedure, c'mon...is there any answer that might not change if you hang up and call back again? Really??? This is DL. The company motto is "If you don't like our answer, hang up, call back and we'll probably give you a different one." :rolleyes:

You can call and ask if the agent is speaking on the telephone with you, hang up, call back, ask the same question and get a different answer. Inconsistency is a way of life at DL. The fact the second agent is talking to you on the phone doesn't matter. The agent will have to tell you "no" because inconsistency is the rule. You can either get frustrated by this fact or use it to your advantage. :rolleyes:;)

At the risk of sounding like Gloria Loring (Robin Thicke's mother), there you have the facts of life.

BTW, on the OP's question...a strategy that sometimes works in overcoming the non-availability issue when changing awards tickets is to move your ticket to a different set of flights entirely, and then move the ticket back, but it's best done as a SDC, so you would have to wait to the day of travel and take your chances.

Same here, I was once holding a TATL ticket that was in coach on the outbound and BE on the return. When a BE seat opened up on the outbound, I called SMS to grab it and was able to change the ticket without cancelling and rebooking.

You absolutely do not have to cancel an entire itinerary if you only want to change one portion. For example I have a trip to Asia with a CO EWR-PVG outbound flight and return on KE/DL/NW metal. I have changed the DL return several times and they never had to "reprice" the other sectors. If that was the case, I wouldn't be able to retain the CO outbound as they are no longer bookable.

FYI reddawngrl- the rules with award tickets are much different than revenue tickets, so I don't think its an appropriate comparison.

Thanks guys - for sharing your experiences.

The seeming first class option was really only half in coach and half in first - and now it is no longer available....will stay put for now - but keep checking availability.

It really helps to know what some of you have faced in figuring out how to handle this on the new DL-NW. :eek:

I pulled an award on Dl and had he same issue. All BC except one leg. That leg opened up and I was told they could not change it because not all the other legs were still available.

Clearly on NW you could do that without an issue.

Wait to these guys treat changing a seat as a redeposit. Fees is their game.