mRojek

Hello, i'm a longtime Gold Medallion, and am currently in Honolulu, on a WAW-HNL-WAW roundtrip that i purchased on Orbitz for $800 some months ago. I also paid for Economy Comfort on the segments that i needed to, and got comped for the others. I decided i wanted to extend my trip 2-4 weeks, no specific dates, and expected to pay $250 +/- the fare difference (as i had done many times before). Imagine my surprise when i was told i could not under any circumstance. I was told that my fare does not allow ANY changes, at ANY price, and i would need to cancel the flight and buy a one-way. I checked prices of one way flights (for Feb 18, my ideal change date). One way to WAW was $3400. Round trip on the other hand on the same date came to $1050. Wowza. I spoke with two agents to no avail, and i fired off the following e-mail.

I forgot to add the ever-diluted value of Skymiles, but i'm sure they've heard quite a bit of it anyway. Regardless, they did not bother to even respond to my e-mail. I understand that Delta has a new 'Basic' fare and this time the Orbitz ticket i booked fell into that? (My assumption, i've changed Orbitz bought cheapest-tickets and could always change)

Today i called once again, and asked for a supervisor immediately. The supervisor told me that not being able to change is nothing new, and that there's nothing she can do. After complaining further, she said she would ask what the cost would be to 'upgrade' my ticket to a fare that could then allow for a change. She came back with: $250 ticket change fee (standard), $270 to upgrade it to a changeable fare, and $50 to take the ticket from Orbitz. And this included the waiving of the price difference. Fantastic. $570 to change an $800 flight, AFTER receiving a 'discount'? I told them i was upset, and again pointed out the effort i go through to stay on SkyTeam. No avail. The agent told me she couldn't do anything (read: wouldn't).

United/Lufthansa/Lot here i come. I can fly in and out of KRK, avoid WAW hotels and hopefully wont need to sit in Seattle for 7 hours when i fly any more. Just what do i use my 350,000 miles on?

Sez_Who

Might be an incorrect assumption on your part. As for responding to your email, the language you used might account for the lack of response, do you think?

roknroll

I think the foundation of your issue is the purchase of the ticket through Orbitz. You bought the ticket through Orbitz, and then Orbitz bought the ticket from Delta based on their negotiated rate/contract/terms. What is the cancellation/change policy outlined by Orbitz? Have you tried calling Orbitz customer service and seeing if there are any options to change with a fee through them?

Mr. Tickets

Not sure why you blame Delta, they didn't sell you the ticket. You bought it from Orbitz. It is your responsiblity to read the rules of the fare you are purchasing. Things change constantly in the airline industry. Never assume anything stays the same. If you should be upset with anyone, it would be yourself. I wouldn't respond to a letter written like that either.

mRojek

What's wrong with my letter? After two failed attempts i was frustrated, and wanted to convey it. I figured i deserved more help in this issue given how long i've flown with Delta, but it turns out i was wrong. As for the fare rules, i understand they change, but i never had this problem before. I explained this to the agents, but no dice. I asked for the standard rules to apply to me this time, now that i understand that this new basic fare is a possibility when booking. No dice. Delta offered me no help, save to give me a $600 change fee as a 'discount'. I expected more. That's probably my bad, too.

currentjer

Whoa, what incredible petulance - I'm sorry, but I think you need to take personal responsibility for your own predicament. The compromise that the supervisor offered you was beyond generous - an 800 USD ticket comes with a lot of restrictions. For a FF, you should know this better than most flyers.

Caveat emptor, you should always read the rules before buying an airfare - in fact, anything.

exwannabe

Since you are no longer flying DL what is your point?

You will not get any non DL playdough, so why the effort?

Enjoy your new carriers and get it out of your system.

Ooompa Loompa

$570 total to change an international ticket doesn't sound at all unreasonable to me. What you originally paid doesn't matter. What matters is what the fare is currently pricing at, and international itinerararies can fluctuate by hundreds of dollars.

MR_MAMA

Agree with the others, the mistake was not purchasing the ticket on Delta and not reading the fare rules, you can not blame Delta for either of those, that was your choice.

mRojek

The offer was that the current fare difference was waived, it was $570 in fees alone.

Orbitz cant change either. Forgive me for not reading the fine print, i expected nothing different from my previous experiences. i expected Delta would be more accommodating, and years of loyalty would be worth something more than this.

And the initial frustration, and the initial cause of the e-mail, was being told no change could be made. My 3rd call resulted in a change being able to be made, for nearly the price of a round trip ticket.

benfro6

Seems like DL.dumb is always a better option, despite being painfully hard to use at times. The email was clear about the issue at hand, but was aggressive. That said, still unacceptable that they have not responded to a GM within 24 hours.

Fare upgrades are unfortunately fairly common. But the upcharge to take the fare from Orbitz (albeit minimal) seems just silly.

Ooompa Loompa

Does that matter? In the end you would have paid $570 which, as I stated, sounds reasonable to me. If they had told you the change fee was $250 and the fare difference was $320 would you feel like you were getting a better deal? In the end it is still $570.

jspira

As a counter (and I didn't buy my ticket through Orbitz), I was very pleased with a recent and unexpected flight change experience with Delta. I didn't even ask about fees and the customer service rep told me as she ticketed me that she was waiving all fees.

taran_2005

Hi,

A one way ticket is always expensive. Most of the international ticket fares are based on round trips.This is NOT new and almost all of us have observed who have traveled in the last few years.

Difference in the price CANNOT be waived irrespective of the loyalty. You should have read the fare rules. If not, accept your mistake and move on. I have never seen cons or bulk fare on Orbitz especially ex Europe.

Have you ever flown LH? Most of the lower fares on LH are completely non changeable. It's glad that DL still offered you to make changes, unless LH would have asked you " Sorry, Move On ".

If you are a regular traveler, you must be aware that there are BULK tickets with most consolidators easily around $1000 or less for one way, but Delta deal would be the best.....

No rant, however even after racking up 3.5k miles, you are still unsure about the change procedure?

Solution : Use your miles.

First, you should be glad and thanks Delta that they even allow any change and also waiving off any change fee. Difference in the price is NOT GOVERNED by your expectations. They would simply check the availability and pricing then subtract your return ticket value from them ( obviously considering Advance purchase, blackout dates, minimum and maximum stay restrictions )-----

If you might have a question, how would i save some money and posted fare basis details and dates, we might have helped you. However, ranting and unknown of airline procedures, even after traveling on so many times seem illogical.

Note - All Airlines either charge only change fee or difference in the price or both. $570 does not seems change fee or any fee, it seems that they have charge you diff in price as per current rates.

How could Delta say there is no diff in price, pay $570 as their fee????? Again it seems either you still completely doesn't understand the procedure or the agent might have said fees to avoid any further conversation ( that might happen if a person is unable to understand airline terminology )...

Thanks and Regards
taran_2005

justhere

I took my Chevy Malibu to the dealer for an oil change. I expected to pay for the oil change and maybe some paperwork fee and then I'd have a ZR1 Corvette. Didn't happen. Never buying GM again.