RobertS975

A trans-Atlantic ticket originally ticketed on 9/29/10, not refundable, canceled before travel date... never showed in my e-credits because it was upgraded using Diamond upgrades and therefore the credit would have to be done manually. So I call last night to make sure the credit didn't expire on 9/28, and was assured it expired on 9/29/11. Called this evening (9/29) to use the credit, and the agent was told by a supervisor that ALL TRAVEL had to be completed by the expiration date of 9/29/11.

"That is just absolutely wrong," I assured the agent. After 11 years of PM and DM status, I was sure of my facts. The agent puts me through to the supervisor, who listens to my assertion that the credit may expire at midnight tonite but could be applied to future travel to up to 330 days in the future. So the supervisor checks with his super-supervisor and comes back and says that he is indeed correct, but as a favor, he will allow the residual credit to be applied for travel in the next 60 days. So I book a ticket for October which still leaves a residual credit of about $250. I ask him when that expires and he says 9/29/2012!!

I am a bit perplexed! I have answered this very question a dozen times over the years on this board. The credit may expire, but as long as it is applied to future travel and ticketed before the expiration date, then the value lives on in that new ticket. What am I missing? Can the DM desk/supervisor/ and the super-supervisor be so wrong?

3Cforme

How does your understanding match against the current C of C?

sftrvlr

Seems very odd.

I know some carriers (AA) specify that the ticket must be reissued, and travel must begin, within 1 year from the original date of issue of the unused (international) ticket. But I've not heard of this on DL.

Was it by chance some promotional fare with special fare rules?

Or would this rule from the C of C apply for the ticket in question?

EXCEPTION: Travel on any DL ticket issued in exchange for a denied boarding voucher must be completed by one year from the date of issuance of the origin.

Do you know the fare basis on the ticket?

exwannabe

The only thing I see in the CC for voluntary cancellations is that DL MAY issue a credit subject to the fare rules, but the fare rules never discuss this.

So I assume the entire e-credit rules are outside of the contractual obligations and DL can do as they please.

That said, I thought the credits spelled this out in their terms?

RobertS975

It was an M fare, upgraded with medallion certificates. I simply believe that the folks working last night were wrong, plain and simple. There was no voucher in existence until the ticket is manually converted to a credit. But to argue that the residual credit needed to be FLOWN by the one year date is just wrong!

Furthermore, once I used most of the value for an upcoming trip to Europe, the remaining $250 of residual value now lives on as an e-credit until Sept 2012!

MSP-MN

I ran into the same thing a few weeks ago. Had to cancel a trip, and I was told the original value was good until March of 2012. (a year from when I bought it) The agent said my travel needed to be completed by then. When I questioned her, she said "it's best if you complete travel by that date."

Jump forward to this week and I have a business trip to book, I call to use the credit, works fine, then am issued a new e-credit for the remaining value that is good until a year from now. Since the new e-credit has a completely new number, I've got a whole new year to use it.

I'm not sure what the agent meant by telling me "it's best" if I finish my travel by the original date. If that is a requirement, or if they are just trying to avoid some pain in the butt situation.

gelaro

When I had this I got a bunch of different stories, including ticket bought by a year by travel anytime, travel commenced by a year but completed anytime, buy a ticket and the rest becomes an ecredit usable later.

Ended up the "authoritative one" was that the travel had to be completed by a year. I ended up crying loud and long enough to get an exception, but I was told that my travel now cannot be changed for any reason at all.

I think it is true that if you buy a ticket, the rest becomes an ecredit. I was going to buy the cheapest ticket in the system ($59) and get the ecredit, but I didn't have to.

RobertS975

Fellow, Deltoids, this is an important issue. Either something has been changed without any notice, or there are plenty of Delta reservation agents that do not know what they are talking about!

Instead of buying a $1,000+ ticket to Europe and then learning my residual value is now good to Sept 2012, I could have bought an inexpensive ticket and carried most of the value over.

But when did DL dollars ever have to be used for travel that takes place before the expiration date of the credit? The rule has always been to employ the credit to ticket before the expiration date, not travel.

gelaro

I fought with them for weeks about it, getting all kinds of different stories. Each time I called I was getting something different. After five or six calls, they began to get a pattern of the year date, but couldn't decide whether it was book by a year, start travel within a year, or complete travel within the year.

Here's the Delta FAQ that I found when I was looking, though IIRC they have changed it slightly:
So domestic travel has to be completed within a year of original ticket date (doesn't say whether travel date or booking date ... they used the booking date with me, as the initial paragraph says). International travel has to start within a year.

The whole policy is rather stupid, IMO. If you are paying them money ... in fact, have already paid them money, and on top of that have already paid the change fee ($250 in my case), you should be able to use it for any fare at any time. There is no reason to limit it to a year, or to have the start travel or complete travel within a year.

The reason I found out about buying a ticket and using the remainder was because I asked if it was transferable for someone else to use. They said no. But I could buy a ticket which would convert the rest to an ecredit that anyone could use, or I could use later.

RobertS975

Well, I always thought that I was clear on the policies dealing with residual value from unused tickets. But clearly there is no consensus on this issue of how long the residual value stays valid. And the confusion certainly extends to Delta reservation agents, even at the Diamond desk, where many different answers can be had.

3Cforme

Since the OP had international travel the International Contract of Carriage applies.

Delta.com FAQs do not supersede the C of C. Assertions by res agents do not supersede the C of C.

Rule 65 B 2.

2) Period of Validity-The period of validity for transportation will be one year from the date on which transportation commences at the point of origin designated on the original ticket, or if no portion of the ticket is used, from the date of issuance of the original ticket.