DL Vacation (hotel + flight) issues
 

Even though one is purchasing a "package deal' DL Vacations treats the hotel and air portion as separate entities, particularly if the hotel portion is non-refundable. Trip insurance from DL Vacations and/or private sources as well as credit card coverage might come to the rescue. Setting these aside, shouldn't a "package" link all parts of the trip?
Case in point: my n/s return flight was cancelled and rebooked with a connection which I did not want, I moved my return to a n/s a day earlier, which leaves me with a hotel night I will not use, since the hotel was non-refundable DL Vacations will not make an adjustment for the extra night.:td:
Any thoughts from FTers?

you made your choice, now live with it

Really? This wasnt a voluntary change . It was result of change in what was booked.

he was offered an alternative that did not require canceling a hotel night, and chose to not accept it.

Delta vacations met their end of the deal. They had you a new flight that allowed you to use that hotel room. Sorry ,but at that point the decision to cut a day off the vacation became yours and in that case with a package you are just stuck

He booked everything as a package, not individually. To require him to fly now on connection or day earlier for n/s would be a major change in services being bought. (I realize it wasn't the intention to do this, thus don't label it switch and bait) At a basic level he does have a case for a refund or at least a credit. DL Vacations remember is a TA and not a DL company, and he bought a package. He didn't buy airfare and make a hotel booking.

I can see both sides. It would help to know details of the original nonstop flight versus the connection that was offered for the same day. In many cases, one connection isn't a big deal, but it could be if the times were bad or if the OP had originally paid more to avoid the hassle of certain airports or routings.

Could the OP move the date in the opposite direction and stay one day longer, either in the original hotel or in some acceptable airport hotel?

It was JFK-ZRH-JFK; I left AA when they discontinued their n/s service (forcing a connection in LHR or PHL) . I was originally booked in bc on 12/29. International connections are a "big deal" for me.

Depending on the airport, international connections are easier than domestic. I'm not sure where they tried to reroute through, but I'd take transit at AMS over any domestic airport anyday. OTOH, CDG you'd just about have to pay me to go through it over a domestic connection.

Flight on 29th sounds just like normal holiday one off cancellation.

MLT Vacations is a fully-owned Delta subsidiary.

Funnily enough, they operated United Vacations as well for almost three years while under DL ownership.

I should have phrased a bit better. They're not a DL operated/run company. DL may own the company but isn't involved in running the company. No different from when Coremark was owned by Walmart, they ran separately and even sold to WM competitors. Being owned by a company is very different from being run/controlled by that company.

I thought they still marketed under other d.b.a. for OAL.

I've spent the last three years working in a hotel so let me explain what a package is, just so there's no confusion. airlines and hotels have an interest in getting bookings as far in advance as possible because it allows them to yield the closer-in bookings more. they'll typically agree to sell at a lower rate knowing that a package has three positive factors:
1 - at least one component is typically nonrefundable so overall cancellation rates are lower
2 - they'll make it up by yielding other rates
3 - pricing is typically opaque meaning the customer doesn't know how much is being paid to the separate components

in no way does the airline and hotel agree to change the terms and conditions based on anything that happens to the other portion. a package is not a guarantee that your air schedule will be pegged to your hotel stays and vice versa.

a package is only a vehicle to sell two things together in a more convenient want for the consumer

Agree that the individual hotel or airline is not the one responsible. However the TA that sold this as a package is. OP didnt buy the hotel and air as separate things. In fact they couldn't do that, to get the deal the TA required booking both items together. Thus the TA is on the hook.

If push come to shove, legally OP could demand a full refund. However the TA is free to offer something else and the OP is free to decide if they wish to accept it. Now that OP has accepted the new offer, they're out of luck, absent a goodwill gesture. However they could've originally asked that TA reimburse/refund them.

They only do Delta now, best I can tell.

As to your point that they're firewalled from Dl, you may find this article interesting: https://www.travelagentcentral.com/r...s-making-moves.

They still run some reservations and customer service out of North Dakota, but all of their Minnesota operations moved to Virginia Avenue to work more closely with the mothership. They're still separate, but not as separate as they used to be.

I can't speak to why international connections are a big deal for you, but if the flight got cancelled on the day you wanted to fly and it's a sufficiently big deal for you to avoid an international connection, it seems like you probably should have cancelled the vacation altogether.