Standby on Basic E fare?
 

Husbands travel dept booked him into E fare ATL-MEM. Doh! I know he cannot Same Day Confirmed to earlier flight on E fare, but is there a difference between Same Day Confirmed and regular Standby? He's just a GM if that makes a difference. Is just showing up and flying Standby even a possibility?

Thanks!

Basic Economy fares (E) are not eligible for same-day standby travel changes.

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...l-changes.html

Thanks! Thats what I thought. DL site giving me troubles this a.m.

If at the airport in time for the earlier flight, simply go to that gate and ask if there is space. Do not use jargon. If you are lucky, you are handed a new BP. If not, you are quoted the price of a new ticket and cheerfully say no. Savvy agents who know that later flights have overbooking issues may do all kinds of things for you.

Why doesn't he just tell the travel department to fix it for him? Isn't that their job?

What's there to fix? They did their job, unless he told them or company policy says no BE fares.

Only way for a flight change on a basic economy ticket is if a delay is posted on your flight - then you're open to change to anything else.

Perhaps because they did do their job?

If they just booked the ticket, you may be able to get a refund. Our company's travel agent allows (I think) 24 hrs from ticketing.

If that doesn't work, maybe just ask them to cover a new flight. Our company requires nonrefundable fares and is fully aware that they'll be on the hook for change fees when things come up. A company that books into E should be even more aware of the risks.

OP here

This is the first time they've booked him on an E fare. It's really not even a travel department, administrative assistants?? Not the most travel savvy, hard to explain. Been with the company for years and years. Think making coffee and picking up dry cleaning. He usually finds his own flights, and does it himself, but sometimes they will do it for him.

And, to be honest, might of even been a fare he chose. Who knows.... Lesson learned, pay attention, or do it yourself.

if SDS/SDC flexibility is important, call DL or the travel agency and inquire about the cost of an upfare to a regular MC fare. even if you have to pay it out of pocket the cost may be modest.

I believe Delta upfares are only free to change the class of service, not to change between in-cabin fare types. So you can buy up to an F fare at no change fee but I don't believe you can change from an E to a Y ticket. Logic concludes that if you could do that, one would just always upfare an E ticket to a Y ticket to turn it into a fare you can do a change (for a fee) on if you needed to make a change...

that's perhaps true...not sure as i have never tried it honestly.

E fares aren't allowed to upfare to F. It's truly use it or lose it.