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
#1726
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,070
When in June? June 5th - June 17th was done last weekend. This weekend covered June 18th through August 4th which was mostly just an extension of last weekend's reductions for early June. Note that most routes have bumps in capacity above the May schedule. So, overall, flights are increasing. The forward placeholder schedule just continues to be overly optimistic on most routes.
Last edited by xliioper; Apr 24, 2021 at 1:49 pm
#1727
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: DL PM; IHG PlatAmb; Hilton Dia; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,326
I'll note the ticket had originally been DCA-ATL-SJC, but Id be surprised if the system is smart is enough to know what I was originally booked on.
#1728
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: MSY
Programs: Delta Platinum/1MM, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 652
4 of 5 segments changed for me for a itinerary in July where I used RUCs in both directions. Looking at the new schedule, the changes are minor, but the system did not auto-rebook me on the new flights. I'm guessing since there were changes in flight numbers and equipment (or because of the RUCs), it couldn't do that for some reason.
Calling in now. 1hr 40min callback wait for a PM.
Calling in now. 1hr 40min callback wait for a PM.
Last edited by Smaug; Apr 24, 2021 at 2:11 pm
#1729
Moderator: Hawaii-based airlines & Hawai'i forums
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Ka ʻĀpala Nui, Nuioka
Programs: NEXUS/Global Entry, Delta, United, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Hertz
Posts: 18,043
More subtle changes to the mid-June and onward JFK-LAX schedule on top of the changes from last Saturday. I'm seeing more flights operated by 764, replacing 767-300 and some other minor time changes.
#1731
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2012
Location: MCO
Programs: AA, B6, DL, EK, EY, QR, SQ, UA, Amex Plat, Marriott Tit, HHonors Gold
Posts: 12,809
Probably a good thing. The 763s are rapidly becoming pretty uncompetitive on this route.
#1732
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,520
Called in, flights all fixed now. With routings that provide increased MQMs of course.
#1733
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Trident Plat, DL Diamond, AI Maharajah
Posts: 29,682
none of my june segments are impacted but one flight in september seems to have disappeared from my trips....its a dl/af codeshare international flight....the trip is showing up as cancelled when i check the reservation on the af website however the same segments are still available on dl.com....
#1734
Moderator: Hawaii-based airlines & Hawai'i forums
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Ka ʻĀpala Nui, Nuioka
Programs: NEXUS/Global Entry, Delta, United, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Hertz
Posts: 18,043
#1735
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: Marriott, IHG, Delta, United
Posts: 576
Weird update for me. Had originally booked DTW-LAX-OGG
It was sort of split into two separate reservations:
1- DTW-LAX (isolated one way (and not to OGG), very early in the day)
2- DTW-LAX-OGG (with midday DTW-LAX segment still included)
So oddly, I now have two separate DTW-LAX segments both booked on the same day. If they had also given me a free LAX-DTW segment in between the two DTW-LAX segments, I might have kept it for the MQMs.
It was sort of split into two separate reservations:
1- DTW-LAX (isolated one way (and not to OGG), very early in the day)
2- DTW-LAX-OGG (with midday DTW-LAX segment still included)
So oddly, I now have two separate DTW-LAX segments both booked on the same day. If they had also given me a free LAX-DTW segment in between the two DTW-LAX segments, I might have kept it for the MQMs.
#1736
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 56
Returning from ATH via JFK on a noon flight in late June with family splitting off to ATL and DEN. DL removed later flights from JFK to both destinations and now down to one daily 8 AM nonstop to DEN and the last flight to ATL leaving at 5 PM. The best scenario for us was keeping ATH-JFK - overnighting JFK - and out the next morning. The only other alternative was a 6 AM departure with a double connection to get everyone home. It's a little perplexing they would remove their late afternoon international arrival connection bank. Wondering if schedules to other cities took a similar hit.
#1737
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: LAN
Programs: DL Skymiles, AF/KL Flying Blue
Posts: 304
Had changes to both my outbound and inbound for DTW-LAX over the Fourth of July weekend. They kept the same flight number on the outbound and moved the departure up ~2 hours, but then added another flight that only left 1 minute before my outbound's original departure time. Of course, they didn't put me on that flight, so now I have to try to get switched to that since I can't make it to the airport in time for my new outbound departure. Flying on a Companion Certificate, and even though fare class U is open on that flight, it says there are no seats available. Great.
"Current hold time is... 31. Hours."
Uhh... can someone remind me if any social media platforms are a good option for help these days?
Edit: Disregard the above. Found their "Message Us" option on the website. We'll see how long it takes to get a text back.
"Current hold time is... 31. Hours."
Uhh... can someone remind me if any social media platforms are a good option for help these days?
Edit: Disregard the above. Found their "Message Us" option on the website. We'll see how long it takes to get a text back.
Last edited by eastindywalrus; Apr 25, 2021 at 9:04 am
#1739
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,520
I'm morbidly curious what the actual callback time would have turned out to be in that situation.
Yesterday was a large summer schedule change plus major Southeast storms (including ATL). But that would explain a 31 minute wait at most.
Yesterday was a large summer schedule change plus major Southeast storms (including ATL). But that would explain a 31 minute wait at most.
#1740
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. / Washington, DC
Programs: AA PPro/DL PLT, PPass, Marriott / Hilton Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Hertz Presidents Circle, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,631
My Saturday mornings are becoming a permanent chat with DL through iMessage. For three weeks now, my itineraries for June are getting messed up. I do see more wide bodies being added to routes like CUN (A330 from ATL, 763 from MSP) but other flights being removed from the schedule. in some cases, I've ended rebooked in F without being able to select seats, luckily seems that passengers from those flights were also affected and later on I find available seats.