aserican

I have a >3 hour schedule change on the upcoming return leg of a paid reservation. I flew the outbound several weeks ago.

The "change" button is self-explanatory and makes it easy to view different options + any necessary repricing. I was thinking of cancelling the return though and tried the "cancel flight" button. On the next screen I see my itinerary with a "request refund"... but no indication of what the refund would be! Any way to find out?

Sez_Who

Uh, call DL and ask them?

It might/might not be one half the r/t depending on lots of factors.

Often1

There is no generic answer. It will be the cost of the segment(s) flown less the cost of the segment(s) cancelled. That could be anything from $0 to 1/2 or more of the total fare.

Either read the fare rules carefully or call DL (easiest) and ask.

calrick

Three very easy guaranteed steps for the highest amount of refund credit:

Step 1. If you have it, go look at your original email receipt from DL, (not the receipt link on the checkin page) and scroll near the bottom of the email and you will see something like this:

~
"This ticket is non-refundable unless the original ticket was issued at a fully refundable fare. Some fares may not allow changes. If allowed, any change to your itinerary may require payment of a change fee and increased fare. Failure to appear for any flight without notice to Delta will result in cancellation blah blah Note: When using certain vouchers to purchase tickets, blah blah

Fare Details: xxx DL X/ATL DL ORL 196.28UD. 14A0NQ DL X/ATL DL xxx 196.28UD 14A0NQ USD 392.56 END ZP xxxATLMCOATL XF xxx4.5ATL4.5 MCO4.5 ATL4.5"
~

Step 2. Figure out what you think it means.

Step 3. Call Delta, be polite, ask how the agent is doing and if he or she is being treated politely today by all the crazy customers, and then say you can drive home faster, and ask how much of a credit you will receive and see if there is any relationship to the amounts per leg listed in your email receipt and be thankful for whatever you get and realize all you had to do was call in the first place as nothing makes sense because of fees and fare changes... and then skip step 1 and 2 next time.

aserican

Haha, I guess it was too much to hope that there would be a way to do it without calling in. I will follow your sound advice

MSPeconomist

Call but verify.

aserican

"It is a non-refundable ticket. If you clicked that button, it would be denied."

Oh well...

MSPeconomist

Non-refundable just means that you don't get a money credit to the original means of payment--i.e., dollars returned to your credit card. It doesn't mean that the ticket cannot be changed or used as a credit, usually after some fee, for future travel on DL.

DemonDeacon

I had weather mess up a complicated multi-city itinerary back in January, and although the refund process for my unflown legs was kind of a mess, I got way more back than I expected to. Plus, I ended up getting all of the RDMs and MQDs for what I paid for the entire ticket originally, even after getting a partial refund.

bennos

I think it's "the cost of the ticket purchased less the cost of the segment(s) flown" (and less any fees).

aserican

Regardless of how delta calculates it internally, it sounds like the only way to know how much you'll get from a refund is... to request a refund and see how much you get after the fact? I'm just not going to risk that. Maybe I will call again a few times and see if I can get an agent to give me a better answer.

calrick

You can call and ask hypothetically what the exact credit would be, you don't have to pull the switch and do it. No risk in calling, I've often asked and walked away or took the deal. No commitment needed, when I've asked. YMMV.

bennos

You can parse the fare details as described by calrick above (and these are available via "My Receipts" or something if you don't have the original email). IME, this has always corresponded to my remaining ticket value.

Basically, each string beginning DL corresponds to a segment you booked. The first number in each segment (usually the largest) is the base fare, and the rest are various taxes and fees. Add them up and you get the price of that segment. Add up the unflown segments and you get the unused value of your ticket.

Or you can call.

Often1

You should read the answers you have received to your question. Your statement is far from the case. Easiest is to call DL and ask. You don't have to cancel if you don't like the numbers, but there is no reason not to ask.