jdk_74

I was wondering if anyone had the answer to this question.

I know that there is a 24 hour cancellation policy available for all tickets purchased (cash or award). Does this still apply within 24 hours of departure?

In other words, if I purchase an Award Ticket now, for a flight that departs within 24 hours, can I still cancel the ticket and get my miles back?

Thanks!

TTT

That is incorrect - the Risk Free Cancellation policy does not apply to award tickets.

http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...tion/index.jsp

You can hold awards for ~48 hours on Delta.com. I do not know if award tickets can be held within 72 hours of departure.

GUWonder

Within 72 hours, not allowed online when I tried.

BG-777Flyer

Clicking on the fare rules from award booking screen yields this info,

" AWARD TICKETS MUST BE CANCELED 72HOURS PRIOR T O THE SCHEDULED FLIGHT DEPARTURE TIME FOR MILES TO BE REDEPOSITED INTO THE MEMBERS ACCOUNT. AWARD TICKETS BOOKED WITHIN 72HOURS OF DEPARTU RE ARE NONREFUNDABLE AND CANNOT BE REDEPOSITED"

LeslieJam

Unfortunately it is 72 hours. I was just burned by it when I had to make a last minute award ticket request and then cancelled it when I was able to make my original flight on another airline (booked because Delta didn't have an early enough arrival for my schedule). Sadly lost 32 K miles

Ti22

Wow, that seems wrong? I know it's the rules but not a very fair rule IMO.

I guess the "game" here when plans may change would be to primarily book last minute revenue fare and then cancel before 24hr window as many times as you need to cover your butt? CC limit withstanding. Cancel and book as award flight only when 100% certain?

LeslieJam

Something like that I guess it is frustrating but in the scenario I was in when I booked the 'award ticket' I had no choice but to book something so I could ensure I made it to PHX.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Note the miles can not be redeposited but you can still pay the change fee and use them for a different date even if within the 72 hour limit.

blug

Award tickets can't be changed within 72 hours of departure, isn't it?

itsaboutthejourney

you can thank the gamers who abused the system for this rule as well as uncreative SkyPesos management team who chose a scorched earth solution vs targeting gamers or allowing say 4 free changes a year.

fti

Though I think the rule is kind of stupid, I am puzzled as to why you would have even booked flights with DL knowing their schedule didn't allow you to arrive in time. With all due respect, your issue was not Delta but the fact that you didn't do your due diligence and find your options before making a booking. In this case, you took inventory from Delta's award database as "speculative" until you found something else that was "better." I think this is one of the reasons Delta implemented this rule - too many speculative bookings.

DeltaFan4Now

While I agree that DL handled this issue in a very poor manner, and that some may have been gaming the system, the highlighted suggestion would be horribly onerous. For those of us who don't game or capriciously book multiple tix and cancel many of them, unlimited changes are often the only way to assemble a decent itinerary.

itsaboutthejourney

4 changes was just an example of the type of creative solution DL loyalty could have come up with - many were discussed in the 'conversation' thread. Keeping same origin/dest but allowing routing changes, ie to nonstop or fewer segments are all ideas for solving the 'problem' vs simply imposing a 72 hour rule that BTW I don't see having much of an effect on low award avail as Michelle touted.

ENIAC

Updating this thread, as I think it is now possible to cancel awards within 24 hours under the policy.

I wanted to make a little change to an award ticket. Online was showing $150 fee even though booked minutes earlier. However I noticed that the wording on the Risk Free Cancellation page now says "Does not apply to travel agency tickets and bookings, paper tickets, or partially-flown reissued tickets. For SkyMiles Award tickets, please call Delta Reservations to request cancellation."

https://www.delta.com/traveling_chec...tion/index.jsp

That's a change from the old language that award tickets are excluded. Called up reservations, and the agent made the change with no fees or penalty and told me that this was being done under the Risk Free Cancellation policy. So maybe Delta did change something for the better!

RealHJ

Dullta changes things like this day by day, sometimes hour by hour (literaly, if you check some of the policy pages on the site). If they changed something for the better, you can be sure that they will very soon catch their mistake and promptly "correct" it and change it for the worse.