Originally Posted by C W (Post 28542093)

I'm not exactly sure what I'm being accused of here, hypocrisy?

Originally Posted by LondonElite (Post 28541725)

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.

Originally Posted by ijgordon (Post 28542482)

Oh, is THAT why there is never any availability on AA or its partners? ;)
(AA waives redeposit for top-tier, like DL, but also allows unlimited date/time/routing changes for free for ALL award tickets, as long as origin and destination remain unchanged). AND NO 72 HOUR RULE.

Originally Posted by apodo77 (Post 28541829)

No.

Originally Posted by AnnKangas (Post 28540391)

I thought Delta was better than this, but today may have changed mind.

My husband and I have been Delta Skymiles members for many years and travel a fair amount, we actually will be traveling more this year again. We have always been loyal to Delta.

Today we were screwed twice by Delta. After being on hold for over 2 hours combined, my husband was charged for his name being incorrect on the ticket, as he has a new contract and their admin department made a mistake. This was a $50 fee he had to pay so he will be allowed through security...

Secondly, we saved miles for a family vacation and purchased 5 First Class tickets in May. They cost us 92,500 miles per ticket for a grand total of 462,500 miles plus $56 cash. Today I looked at the same dates and the same first class tickets were only 65,000 miles a piece for a total of 325,000 miles. The difference of 137,500 miles is tremendous!! They wanted to charge me $150 per ticket in order to either change or cancel the tickets. (I used to be able to cancel the tickets for free with points) SO THEY WANTED A TOTAL OF $750 TO CHANGE OR CANCEL MY RESERVATION THAT I PAID $56 for???????????? to recoup the 137,500 miles that would be enough for tickets for my husband and I to go somewhere else. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!! Way to treat loyal customers...All I want is the difference in miles back.

Originally Posted by DiverDave (Post 28541703)

Or I am just being obtuse?

Originally Posted by MEMLawGuy (Post 28543750)

"Photo from Shawshank Redemption"

Originally Posted by WWads (Post 28543842)

At least he's not being acute.

Originally Posted by Often1 (Post 28541678)

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.

Originally Posted by Often1 (Post 28544115)

Of course you're not being "screwed" by the rules. They are contract terms which you choose to accept. Don't like them, purchase a ticket which doesn't have them.

DL offers full F and Y fares which are fully refundable. If you find a better deal somewhere, just cancel for a full refund and purchase the new ticket. No fees, penalties or anything.

I was purchased an "Anytime" (refundable) fare on WN at a time when AA was $190 more expensive. When I got to the airport, on a lark, I checked the AA price just for the heck of it and it had dropped to $30 more expensive, but to a closer airport, DCA rather than BWI. I grabbed the AA ticket, cancelled the WN ticket and I am all set.

If I had purchased one of those discounted WN tickets with a juvenile name, I would have wished that I had saved a bit, but I would not have said that WN "screwed" me.

This is all about people hedging the system, wishing they hadn't and looking to blame someone else.

Who in their right mind would book the discounted ticket if they could get the same benefits as a fully refundable ticket?

Originally Posted by CalVol (Post 28544009)

Well, it appears that DL is within the stated rules.
...
the denizens of FT who, along with pointing out that you are unlikely to find much relief, seem to take joy in calling out, ridiculing and generally being rude to those who simply come here to rant.

Originally Posted by ruckzac (Post 28544140)

There are plenty of airline rules that draw the ire of FTers, however people here have little tolerance for scapegoating.