HKG_Flyer1

Wondering if this is a bug or a feature. Performed an uneven exchange within the 24 hour cancellation window a few weeks ago, resulting in what should have been a $20 credit/refund.

The receipt for the new ticket carried the following notation:

Credit Information:

Total Ticket Price Difference $-20.00 USD
Service Charge: $ 0.00 USD
Amount Credited: $-20.00 USD

No ecredit number was listed, nor was a refund made to my original form of payment.

When I called to follow-up, the agent immediately emailed me an ecredit upon providing the ticket number.

So... three questions:

1) Shouldn't I have been entitled to a refund back to the original form of payment, since the change was made within 24 hours?

2) Why wasn't the ecredit automatically generated? Is this a bug or a feature (attempting to take advantage of customer inattention)?

3) Why does the credit come via an email, which requires the recipient to keep track of the ecredit number, instead of being deposited into "My Delta-->My Wallet, where it would be easy to keep track of and use (attempting to reduce redemptions by making the credits hard to keep track of by design)?

I got the impression that the agent immediately knew I was entitled to the credit, but not surprised that I hadn't actually received the credit (as if the system were functioning as designed, in other words).

davetravels

I've seen this posted before - - It'll probably sound a little strange . . . .

The 24 hour cancellation window, is exactly THAT. It allows you to cancel a ticket within the 24 hour purchase window, NOT change the ticket to something else. If you wanted the $20 refunded to your credit card, you would've had to completely cancel the ticket and rebook the new ticket on a different reservation.

I think others will chime in here to agree.

flyerCO

While the premise abiut changing is technically correct, you can still be issued the partial refund by changing the ticket. I've changed numerous tickets within 24hrs. It normally results in a refund to original FOP. However the agent must tell the system if it should be a refund, ecredit. If they don't the system doesn't know what to do with the difference. The left over simply remains on the original ticket till they tell system what to do.

flyerCO

ecredit only show up in My Wallet if the agent attaches your SM number. Just because it's on the reservation doesn't mean it'll be on the e credit. I believe you can add it to your wallet.

manually

Maybe tweet to Delta and ask them to process the $20 refund and see what they say.

Widgets

flyerCO

This. Unless they tell it otherwise (as I noted above) the value remains on the original ticket. A ticket is like a gift card in a sense, except issued for specific products at specific prices As you fly each segment the cost of that segment is deducted. When you rebook you're basically buying a new gift card. Any value left still remains on it till an agent issues a refund for that amount or issues a new "gift card" (ecredit) for that amount. There's no need to issue a new ecredit as the amount remains on original ticket and can be applied still to another ticket. (Just like one doesn't need to use all of a gift card at once)

HKG_Flyer1

Thanks for the helpful replies. Based upon your answers, I know in the future to either do a search in the system on the original ticket number of the exchanged ticket, or ask the agent to credit the difference back to the original FOP.

As an aside, I happened to do another exchange of a partially used ticket a couple of weeks after that, and noticed that DL sent me a receipt for the add collect, but processed it through Amex by crediting back the entire remaining value of my unused coupon (even though it was non-refundable), and then running through a new charge equal to the amount of the credit plus the amount of the add collect. Odd.. took me a couple of minutes to figure out what was going on, since the individual credits/charges to my credit card didn't match up to the individual DL receipts.

That thought crossed my mind, as well. I bet you're right.

I think you may be on to something. The eCredit I received shows an "Original eCredit #" which is identical to the ticket number of the ticket I exchanged and a "New eCredit #." I'm now thinking that perhaps I could have just searched for an eCredit by typing in the original ticket number, and that would have shown $20 of available credit (when I try to do it now, I get an error message which indicates it might not be viewable because it is "closed").

btonkid12345

OP - if within risk free, always cancel and book anew.

This way, you avoid this exact messiness.

Also, this way the new ticket gets an additional 24 hour risk free window. The changed ticket gets no such additional "cooling off" period and once you made that change, all fare rules and penalties apply moving forward

HKG_Flyer1

Makes sense. In this case, I was tempted to do the exchange because I wanted to keep my return (including seat) intact and just change the outbound. Instead, it looks like my desire to keep things simple actually made things more complex.

flyerCO

Incorrect. It's a new booking and gets an additional 24hr window. Have done this many times, extending the window for nearly a week once.

flyerCO

Everything was simple. You had a $20 credit on the original ticket to still spend. However you assumed it needed to be issued on a new credit number. Just need to remember any remaining value remains on the ticket and can be used for yet another ticket. Next time do the same as you did this time, but make sure and ask for the remaining balance to be refunded or a separate ecredit issued if you wish it not to remain on the original ticket number.

Lux Flyer

Can second this. Have also done it before changing back and forth between two flights for multiple days, each time being given the new 24 hours to make further changes. Did it all on their website. And FWIW, the ~$3 e-credit immediately showed up in my wallet when I did that.

HKG_Flyer1

Got it. Although I've been a frequent flyer for decades, it's only within the last year that I've shifted my heavy travel to DL and I'm still learning some of this stuff.

btonkid12345

Argue it all you want, but it's an existing ticket being applied to new flights. It's a change.

risk free cancel covers cancellations. Period. That is how the policy is written. So maybe you've gotten lucky as a DM or know how to work agents verbally, but it's so much easier to follow the written policy because then you're completely protected