JayTeaBee

finally called in. No one knows anything, what a joke.

First call, PM desk has no clue sends me to promotions or something. Guy who picks up clearly has no clue telling me it's normal and on first class tickets there's a 20$ fee per leg. He offers to send me to refunds although I'm not sure why. I wait 10 mins on hold and decide to HUCA. Second call, same story, no idea from PM desk transfers me to promotions again. This time the woman tells me it's a correct surcharge it shouldn't be in the base far but in the taxes. She offers to check with a supervisor has me hold for 10 mins only to come back and confirm that charge is expected on 1st class BOGO's, 20$ per connection and it's a fee not a basefare and they aren't sure why it shows there. I give up.

I guess I don't really know what termanolgy to use and even if I did it seems they are all convinced this is a normal charge. It's too bad DL doesn't have their #### together on this as others have had sucess in having this credited back.

Mr. Tickets

These can be purchased online a delta.com. Sign into your account and go to your wallet. Choose the certificate and start the process. It is fairly easy. Space is capacity controlled and there is a "sub class" of the A or I class that must be available. If you do have problems, call rez and ask for the Promotions Desk (as you have already learned). Regular rez (including the different medallion lines) cannot book these tickets.

JayTeaBee

My bad for not providing any context. Already booked it online, getting hit with $$60 base fare + taxes on the companion ticket. Tried to get those credited with no luck. (story is a few post ago ITT)

xliioper

As I mentioned upthread, it is part of base fare calculation and is specified in the fare rules. You can find the fare rules when pricing a trip by clicking on the "Fare Rules" link in the itinerary. It can be found under the TRANSFERS section of the fare rules (see below). It is $20 per transfer (not segment), so a non-stop ticket does not include any extra charges in the base fare. It has absolutely nothing to do specifically with companion fares. It's just part of the base fare calculation for numerous P/A/G fares (although I have found a number that do not have it).

TRANSFERS
2 TRANSFERS PERMITTED IN EACH DIRECTION AT USD 20.00 EACH- APPLIES PER ADULT ONLINE ON THE PRIMARY CARRIER FARE BREAK AND EMBEDDED SURFACE SECTORS NOT PERMITTED ON THE FARE COMPONENT.

At any rate, it looks like someone from DL may be watching as it appears they have fixed the issue and are no longer adding it to the base fare for the companion ticket.

gooselee

Just some data points that align to the bolded part above.

I currently have two pairs of tickets booked, one with a Reserve cert on an A fare, and the other with a Plat cert on an L fare. Both are nonstops in both directions.

On both, the companion ticket only resulted in a ~$28 charge comprised of the 9/11 tax, PFCs, and flight segment tax. "Base Fare" clearly appears as $0.00 on both receipts.

Took a look at some older receipts (Plat certs, LUTX fares) and they show the same. No base fare for nonstops, and ~$28 in just the taxes/fees named above.

rylan

I see the companion fare now showing as $0 again on a couple test bookings that I just looked at, where it was showing a charge the other day.

Now the problem is for those who booked and paid it to try to get it back.

GK8

That's interesting on the fare rules. I thought that the certificate rules said that you were only liable for government imposed taxes and fees for the companion ticket.

xliioper

Correct, which is why they have now stopped applying it to the companion ticket. There's a decent chance someone at Delta has been watching this thread since it was just fixed within the last couple days. Again, those fare rules are not specific to companion certs, they are simply part of the rules for many P/A/G discount F fares and apply to both standalone tickets, as well as the primary ticket that is bought as part of a companion certificate. It just shouldn't have also been applied to companion ticket itself. Clearly some sort of programming error.

JayTeaBee

If someone from DL is watching this thread, I sure hope they educate the people. I tried 3 total times now and it seems the reps are doing their best to get me off the phone ASAp and claiming this is a tax related fee but it's going in the wrong bucket. I give up, cheaper for me to pay the $60 than waste more time on this.

brazzleman

Trying to book a coach companion and although the certificate doesn't book into Basic Economy by the terms specificed, the fare it is giving me is the basic economy fare when I search without the coupon. Can I be assured it's not putting me in to Basic Economy? I know this certificate doesn't allow upgrades, but I would like to have a carryon and pick a seat.

EZEDoesIt

I reported this a few weeks back, but didn't actually book it. It showed that it was booking into V, but I wonder if I really would have gone to E?

Either way, this is definitely something they overlooked when they implemented Basic Economy.

mnbp

What do the fare rules say? Basic Economy restrictions are listed at the beginning of the fare rules.

rylan

Well there is no actual 'E' fare basis, its just a bucket... so its probably pulling the lowest V fare basis and booking into the V bucket.

xliioper

I replicated this and the fare codes/rules are definitely not the same. Example, DTW-STL 5/13 - 5/17. Basic Economy fares are identified by the second to last position in the fare code which is a 'B'. An 'M' or 'E' in the second to last position indicates a Main Cabin fare. They appear to have some fares which are priced the same as Basic Economy, but are not actually Basic Economy and only seem to be available when using the companion cert.


With cert --
VEVSH3EB $246.40 (Main Cabin V fare)

Without cert --
VEVSH3BA $246.40 (Basic Economy E Fare)
VEVSH3MB $276.40 (Main Cabin V fare)

Reference:

https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...structure.html

mattp1987

I know the T&Cs say the certificate is not reinstated if you cancel. Does that apply to the Risk Free Cancellation period as well? I found a great deal and booked it but then realized I can't make that work due to another trip that overlaps. Doh!