What is the point of not permitting Basic Economy to be canceled?
Jul 25, 2019, 12:51 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Redlands, CA
Programs: AS, AA, WN
Posts: 974
What is the point of not permitting Basic Economy to be canceled?
I understand why it can't be changed or refunded, but this policy seems to ensure that if plans change, I must spend more money with another airline.
Case in point...I have PHX-ATL-GNV booked (as a one way) in October to visit my daughter. Now I am going to meet her in Tampa to go to a concert with her the day I arrive. I would like to "throw away" the current booking, cancel it, and buy PHX-ATL-TPA. Well Delta won't allow that. So I bought a ticket on Southwest instead.
I am sure they have a reason for such a policy, but since they have already collected my money and I acknowledge I can't get it back or transfer it to another ticket, why would they want to prevent me from freeing up space they might be able to sell a second time...not to mention my potentially spending more money?
Case in point...I have PHX-ATL-GNV booked (as a one way) in October to visit my daughter. Now I am going to meet her in Tampa to go to a concert with her the day I arrive. I would like to "throw away" the current booking, cancel it, and buy PHX-ATL-TPA. Well Delta won't allow that. So I bought a ticket on Southwest instead.
I am sure they have a reason for such a policy, but since they have already collected my money and I acknowledge I can't get it back or transfer it to another ticket, why would they want to prevent me from freeing up space they might be able to sell a second time...not to mention my potentially spending more money?
Jul 25, 2019, 12:59 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Redlands, CA
Programs: AS, AA, WN
Posts: 974
I would do this but then I'd be double booked on the same day...or do you mean just walk up and do it on the day of? I do have a WN flight booked ATL-TPA but with only a 1 hour connect time, so I worry about the original DL flight being late.
Jul 25, 2019, 1:00 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Redlands, CA
Programs: AS, AA, WN
Posts: 974
Jul 25, 2019, 1:29 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: MCO
Programs: DL PM, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 4,308
This is a great idea and would probably be cheaper than buying a PHX-TPA ticket while loosing the value of the current DL ticket. I would recommend booking a OW ATL-TPA ticket on WN and just use it when you get to ATL. Normally I would go against booking two tickets on non-partner airlines as you wouldn’t be protected in the event of IROPS, but since GNV and TPA are close enough, in the event of IROPS on your PHX-ATL, or even ATL-GNV leg, you would be able to use the IROPS rebooking tool to re-route to TPA and request a credit on your WN flight.
Jul 25, 2019, 2:32 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Redlands, CA
Programs: AS, AA, WN
Posts: 974
I think I will keep my ATL-TPA on WN and just hope I make that connection. If I miss the WN flight, I can always fly as planned to GNV and floor it in a rental down to Tampa.
Thanks to everyone for helping me think this out
Jul 25, 2019, 2:59 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 5,181
I get this, and have actually used this to my advantage in the past. In this case I still need to fly and I know I can't book PHX-ATL-GNV and PHX-ATL-TPA on the same day.
I think I will keep my ATL-TPA on WN and just hope I make that connection. If I miss the WN flight, I can always fly as planned to GNV and floor it in a rental down to Tampa.
Thanks to everyone for helping me think this out
I think I will keep my ATL-TPA on WN and just hope I make that connection. If I miss the WN flight, I can always fly as planned to GNV and floor it in a rental down to Tampa.
Thanks to everyone for helping me think this out
Jul 25, 2019, 3:12 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: DCA
Programs: DL DM, AA EXP, various hotel
Posts: 2,227
If you've missed the Southwest TPA flight, that will likely be because your first flight is delayed. If that happens, the Delta app will let you rebook your ATL GNV —> ATL TPA.
Jul 25, 2019, 3:19 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: MCO
Programs: DL PM, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 4,308
This is exactly what I was trying to say in my post above. You don’t have to be worried about a delay on DL because if it does happen, you can change to TPA free on DL. I’m pretty sure DL is close to hourly on ATL-TPA so you should definitely be able to find a flight that would beat driving 2 hours. And with WN having no change fees, you could cancel your WN flight up to 10 mins prior to departure and get a credit back to use for a future flight.
Jul 25, 2019, 5:41 pm
#15
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Minneapolis
Programs: DL DM
Posts: 2,234
People will dispute this over and over, but I have been caught a number of times. Just did one where I had an award ticket to Paris and a paid ticket to Stockholm. Outbound dates were different. Got an email from Delta within about 3 hours of booking the paid ticket, cancelling that ticket.
