Last edit by: Zorak
Delta rolls out schedule changes pretty much every Saturday, though the scope/impact can vary. During this time, seat maps may be locked out, may show the wrong aircraft layout, etc. while changes are occurring. If you are not traveling immediately, FT conventional wisdom is to wait until Sunday (or even Monday in the case of major schedule adjustments where things take longer) for things to settle down, then take stock of your upcoming itineraries to see what changes have occurred and what changes/refunds you may be entitled to.
You are entitled to a full refund to original form of payment, even for a ticket that was purchased as a non-refundable ticket, if any of the following occur as a result of schedule change:
The airline would rather keep your money than refund it, so they will frequently accept any vaguely reasonable rerouting that you propose. This includes, by policy, changing origin and/or destination within 100 miles, rebooking +/- two days, and changing outbound/return date to keep the length of the trip the same post-rebooking.
If none of the above conditions for a refund is true, you may still be entitled to a free change -- in your trip summary there will be a notice about changes/refunds, and per the "conditions apply" popup link in that text:
If possible, you may wish to try modifying your flights online first -- there have been data points where the site allowed a free rebooking even though it did not technically fall into the above categories. NOTE however that self-rebooking online is known not to work if you have (1) any trip involving upgrade certificates (whether cleared or not), (2) if you have self-upgraded by picking an upgraded seat that said FREE (instead of waiting for the automated upgrade system sweep to reseat you in an upgraded seat), this seems to inhibit self-rebooking as well.
Otherwise, suggested best practice is to research your preferred alternative rebooking beforehand (whether DL flight search, Google Flights, ITA Matrix etc.) so that you can speak with an agent already knowing what you want, and ask for it; this will be much more efficient than having an agent find alternatives for you.
Other notes/FAQs:
You are entitled to a full refund to original form of payment, even for a ticket that was purchased as a non-refundable ticket, if any of the following occur as a result of schedule change:
- departure or arrival delay of 2hrs or more
- increase in the number of flight segments (non-stop to connecting, 1-stop to 2-stop, etc.)
- change resulting in a connection below the Minimum Connection Time for a given airport (do a Google search for "site:flyertalk.com minimum connecting time XXX" with the airport code to find the relevant thread if one exists)
- any change in operating carrier, i.e. operated by Delta mainline before the schedule change and Delta Connection after the change
- it is also a commonly-held belief that a change from Delta Connection to mainline, or from one Delta Connection carrier to a different Delta Connection carrier, also qualifies for a full refund -- if anyone has documentation of this, a link would be great...
The airline would rather keep your money than refund it, so they will frequently accept any vaguely reasonable rerouting that you propose. This includes, by policy, changing origin and/or destination within 100 miles, rebooking +/- two days, and changing outbound/return date to keep the length of the trip the same post-rebooking.
If none of the above conditions for a refund is true, you may still be entitled to a free change -- in your trip summary there will be a notice about changes/refunds, and per the "conditions apply" popup link in that text:
If a Delta schedule or routing change has delayed your departure or arrival by more than one hour, you may be eligible to select an alternate flight at no additional charge. Note that the below conditions may apply:
- Your origin, destination and travel date must remain the same
- Alternate flights must be available, and you can only modify once as subsequent changes may result in additional fees
- Voluntary changes to other flights not impacted by a Delta schedule change may result in additional fees
Otherwise, suggested best practice is to research your preferred alternative rebooking beforehand (whether DL flight search, Google Flights, ITA Matrix etc.) so that you can speak with an agent already knowing what you want, and ask for it; this will be much more efficient than having an agent find alternatives for you.
Other notes/FAQs:
- Even if you voluntarily choose a preferred rebooking, you have a high likelihood of success claiming Original Routing Credit since the original reason for the change was involuntary.
- If you booked through a travel agency, including online travel agencies (OTA) such as Expedia, Chase Ultimate Rewards, etc. you will have to contact them, not Delta, to request rerouting if the automatic rebooking is not satisfactory to you.
- There have been reports of an agency insisting that a change of 2 hours was required (per the "pro" site) for a free change, even though the popup on the DL site says 1 hour
- You can sometimes get Delta to take over a travel agency ticket; this is subject to a $50 fee to take over the ticket, although sometimes agents decline to collect it
Consolidated Delta Schedule Change Discussion Thread
#1711
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: DCA
Programs: DL SkyMiles Platinum Medallion
Posts: 279
#1712
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: Delta DM, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,495
100% agree. I did say persistent, not argumentative. If I don't get the answer I expect I politely end the call and keep calling back until I do. And a little honey generally works better than vinegar.
#1713
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,520
Just today, I noticed that the previous schedule change updating the schedule for the period June 5-17 includes the return of CR2s to LGA on routes like SYR, ROC, ORF. Eeewww, I was hoping those were gone from LGA forever.
#1716
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: London/JAX
Programs: DL PM, BA Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Gold, Radisson Premium, Global Entry, CLEAR
Posts: 872
My flight on June 6th is getting screwed as we speak. Booked SBN-MSP-JAX since as of June 4th MSP-JAX was supposed to come back as of last week's cuts but now MSP-JAX is gone. Looks like I'm gonna get to see MSP and ATL, oh well, more miles.
#1717
#1718
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: London/JAX
Programs: DL PM, BA Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Gold, Radisson Premium, Global Entry, CLEAR
Posts: 872
#1719
#1721
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,520
#1722
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: DL PM; IHG PlatAmb; Hilton Dia; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,326
Increases in flights to ATH likely caused some scrambling
Edit: spoke too soon, discovered another change for June. Quoted wait time of only 1 hour 19 minutes, but was able to self-serve the change online- from DCA-ATL-SFO to DCA-SLC-SJC the day before, on a mileage ticket, even though it is going for a much higher rate for new tickets now.
Last edited by Adam1222; Apr 24, 2021 at 12:08 pm
#1723
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,520
- 1 minor, actually moves the time in a direction I prefer
- 1 major, I'll need to fix it another day
- 2 moderate, TBD if I'll change or not, need to investigate options
I knew the schedules would change, so no big deal.
#1724
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SJC/YUL
Programs: DL PM, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,878
That's actually noteworthy. I've never been successful at doing a self-serve involving either a date change or a co-terminal change
#1725
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,336
Date change I’ve done online (+/- 1 day); co-terminal has never worked for me but I will try it again after this round completes. Same cities - SFO/SJC lots of changes.