I Thought Delta was better than this
Jul 10, 2017, 4:07 am
#16
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: LON, PDX
Programs: DL PM, AS MVP 75K, HH/SPG/MR Gold, Amex Plat, PRG, CSR
Posts: 2,064
As a number of people here have already pointed out, the $50 fee Delta charged you was actually an External Reissue Charge (ERC) in order to modify a ticket that was issued by an agency – the fee was not for the name correction itself.
Some constructive advice for future situations like this:
Some constructive advice for future situations like this:
- If you need to make changes to a ticket purchased through an agency, contact the agency to make the changes; the ERC does not apply if changes are made by the agency that issued the ticket (other standard change fees may apply)
- If you can wait till within 24 hours of departure when all tickets are under airline control, Delta can generally make changes to externally issued tickets without charging you the ERC.
Jul 10, 2017, 6:07 am
#17
Join Date: Mar 2006
Programs: Marriott Titanium, , Delta 2MM & DM UA Gold
Posts: 299
While the fees are unfortunate for general members, if it were me, I would probably suck it up and pay the $750, as the additional miles I got back would be worth more than $750
I wouldnt like it, but I would do it.
I wouldnt like it, but I would do it.
Jul 10, 2017, 6:09 am
#18
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Join Date: Mar 2002
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Can you hold the new seats while you dispose of the old ones and redeposit? Will they still be there? Has OP checked that the price is indeed what she thinks it is for five seats?
Jul 10, 2017, 6:11 am
#19
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: LON, PDX
Programs: DL PM, AS MVP 75K, HH/SPG/MR Gold, Amex Plat, PRG, CSR
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This is a very good point. I would be surprised if there was lower-level inventory for all five seats. It could well be just showing for one seat.
Jul 10, 2017, 6:32 am
#20
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Treasure Coast, FL
Programs: DL Diamond, Marriott LT Plat, HH Diamond, Avis Preferred Plus, National Executive
Posts: 4,578
Tickets, both in miles and cash, fluctuate in price all the time. If you'd bough tickets with cash and the price dropped, would you have demanded a refund of the difference?
Delta's $150 fee per ticket to redeposit an award ticket is published and easy to find. This is what you were offered to be charged. You would have in effect been redepositing all your tickets and then repurchasing them at the lower price. Change fees are the simple reality of any non-refundable airfare.
Delta's $150 fee per ticket to redeposit an award ticket is published and easy to find. This is what you were offered to be charged. You would have in effect been redepositing all your tickets and then repurchasing them at the lower price. Change fees are the simple reality of any non-refundable airfare.
Mini rant over. :-)
Jul 10, 2017, 6:49 am
#21
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
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Posts: 50,262
Neither OP nor his wife were "screwed" as OP so politely puts it.
1. Admin Fee - This is to have DL take over the ticket. It has nothing to do with the name change. It is simply that DL's corporate deal with OP's husband's employer's TA is that the TA handles administrative detail. If OP chooses to pay DL to handle what the TA should have handled, that is a personal matter for OP. Maybe he didn't need to bother with the name change, maybe his employer will reimburse him, or maybe his employer will tell him that the TA ought to have handled. In any event, this was something that ought to have been handled back when the ticket was issued, not at the airport.
2. Deposit Fees - Prices drop and increase all the time, especially on cash fares. That is the entire nature of the business. For every time this happens, prices go up too and it turns out to have been a smart move to have purchased earlier. Or worse, you wait and ticket prices don't increase, there is simply no availability.
I get that nobody likes penalty fees, but they are there as a revenue protection measure to prevent day-trading in tickets and to differentiate the fully refundable/changeable fares from discounted (including award) tickets.
1. Admin Fee - This is to have DL take over the ticket. It has nothing to do with the name change. It is simply that DL's corporate deal with OP's husband's employer's TA is that the TA handles administrative detail. If OP chooses to pay DL to handle what the TA should have handled, that is a personal matter for OP. Maybe he didn't need to bother with the name change, maybe his employer will reimburse him, or maybe his employer will tell him that the TA ought to have handled. In any event, this was something that ought to have been handled back when the ticket was issued, not at the airport.
2. Deposit Fees - Prices drop and increase all the time, especially on cash fares. That is the entire nature of the business. For every time this happens, prices go up too and it turns out to have been a smart move to have purchased earlier. Or worse, you wait and ticket prices don't increase, there is simply no availability.
I get that nobody likes penalty fees, but they are there as a revenue protection measure to prevent day-trading in tickets and to differentiate the fully refundable/changeable fares from discounted (including award) tickets.
Jul 10, 2017, 6:49 am
#22
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Jul 10, 2017, 6:53 am
#23
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Huntsville, AL
Programs: DL DM 1.929MM, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, IHG Platinum, Avis CHM, Marriott Titanium (lifetime gold)
Posts: 7,859
Delta's $150 fee per ticket to redeposit an award ticket is published and easy to find. This is what you were offered to be charged. You would have in effect been redepositing all your tickets and then repurchasing them at the lower price. Change fees are the simple reality of any non-refundable airfare.
I think it's also important to note that the ERC is one of the hardest fees to get waived, even for Medallions. The only time I wanted it waived I had to HUCA and escalate to talking directly to supervisors 4 times, and that was as a PM dealing with a paid international Delta One ticket.
Or I am just being obtuse?
David
Jul 10, 2017, 6:59 am
#24
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If you think about it a little more, you'll realise that without such fees, people would just book whatever was available as a free option to travel if they chose to do so. They could change their minds and redeposit without penalty. They would do this until they had found the perfect dates, location, and seat count. In the meantime, anyone trying to book on those dates that were now blocked by this free optioneering would see no availability.
Jul 10, 2017, 7:00 am
#25
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: LON, PDX
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Posts: 2,064
In my case that was the first and only time I've ever asked for waived fees with Delta and I did it because I needed to change a ticket that I had no option but to book through an external agent. And I didn't make a ruckus and didn't post angrily about the process on FlyerTalk, I just politely asked until I got what I wanted. HUCA is very widely accepted here and I've never heard it equated to a ruckus before.
There is much advice here on getting fee waivers for anybody from general members to DMs and I don't begrudge the granting of fee waivers to anybody in almost every circumstance. Simply getting miles back on an award ticket is a different matter. Airline pricing is dynamic unless you buy Y/J/F fares. We all play the waiting game and sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.
Jul 10, 2017, 7:33 am
#27
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Join Date: Jun 2001
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Sorry, but it's not Best Buy with a 30-day price match guarantee.
Jul 10, 2017, 7:36 am
#28
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
Given the number of miles we're talking about I'm not sure either of those would have been worthwhile, and neither of them would be close to the "free" the OP appears to have been expecting.
To the OP, if you have other reasons you like to fly Delta, like preferring their service and reliability or finding their route network useful, I wouldn't suggest changing around your whole flying strategy over this frustration, as annoying as it is. But that's up to you.
Jul 10, 2017, 7:49 am
#29
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Huntsville, AL
Programs: DL DM 1.929MM, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, IHG Platinum, Avis CHM, Marriott Titanium (lifetime gold)
Posts: 7,859
I take your point, but I think the distinction is finer here. OP is trying to recoup a large number miles while not actually changing or cancelling flights, essentially asking for a future-price guarantee on plane tickets.
In my case that was the first and only time I've ever asked for waived fees with Delta and I did it because I needed to change a ticket that I had no option but to book through an external agent. And I didn't make a ruckus and didn't post angrily about the process on FlyerTalk, I just politely asked until I got what I wanted. HUCA is very widely accepted here and I've never heard it equated to a ruckus before.
In my case that was the first and only time I've ever asked for waived fees with Delta and I did it because I needed to change a ticket that I had no option but to book through an external agent. And I didn't make a ruckus and didn't post angrily about the process on FlyerTalk, I just politely asked until I got what I wanted. HUCA is very widely accepted here and I've never heard it equated to a ruckus before.
If you have never had a change fee waived, you are a rare species here. I see some folks bragging about having change fees waived on a semi regular basis. (Which rather astounds me, but perhaps they ask very well.)
I only ever had one change fee waived, and that was to attend a funeral. And there was still an additional fare collect, so I didn't get off scott free.
There is much advice here on getting fee waivers for anybody from general members to DMs and I don't begrudge the granting of fee waivers to anybody in almost every circumstance. Simply getting miles back on an award ticket is a different matter. Airline pricing is dynamic unless you buy Y/J/F fares. We all play the waiting game and sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.
Yes it is a $750 fee waiver request, but a waiver none the less. (If the cheaper tickets are still available. They may be gone with the wind, or may have even gone down a bit more.)
David
Jul 10, 2017, 8:29 am
#30
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: LON, PDX
Programs: DL PM, AS MVP 75K, HH/SPG/MR Gold, Amex Plat, PRG, CSR
Posts: 2,064
Well, cutting through the rhetoric (including my own), the bottom line is you requested a fee waiver that Delta does not waive for any level of member, and you escalated that 4 times to supervisors. Nicely enough as you say, but you did persist.
If you have never had a change fee waived, you are a rare species here. I see some folks bragging about having change fees waived on a semi regular basis. (Which rather astounds me, but perhaps they ask very well.)
I only ever had one change fee waived, and that was to attend a funeral. And there was still an additional fare collect, so I didn't get off scott free.
When cut to the chase, OP is asking (and maybe not so politely) for a fee waiver. With the fee waiver OP could redeposit the miles and repurchase the tickets.
Yes it is a $750 fee waiver request, but a waiver none the less. (If the cheaper tickets are still available. They may be gone with the wind, or may have even gone down a bit more.)
David
If you have never had a change fee waived, you are a rare species here. I see some folks bragging about having change fees waived on a semi regular basis. (Which rather astounds me, but perhaps they ask very well.)
I only ever had one change fee waived, and that was to attend a funeral. And there was still an additional fare collect, so I didn't get off scott free.
When cut to the chase, OP is asking (and maybe not so politely) for a fee waiver. With the fee waiver OP could redeposit the miles and repurchase the tickets.
Yes it is a $750 fee waiver request, but a waiver none the less. (If the cheaper tickets are still available. They may be gone with the wind, or may have even gone down a bit more.)
David
Anyway, while OP is technically seeking a fee waiver, what they really are trying to obtain is a refund on the price difference. I still think this is a quite different circumstance than most fee waiver begs. Also, if it makes any difference, I was paying a large fare difference rather than getting something back.