Has Delta Made Any COVID-19 Exceptions to the Award Tickets 72 Hour No Change Rule?
 

I am trying to help family with my miles to get back to the country where they normally live.

Like many countries, a negative COVID-19 test is required within 72 hours of departure.

If I redeem my Delta miles for them to travel on Air France and they are unable to travel at the last minute because:
a) One ore more of their party tests positive for COVID-19
or
b) More likely: The COVID-19 test results get delayed for reasons out of their control and they are unable to get results in time despite their best efforts

How likely is Delta to work with me to rebook them due to the special circumstances vs I forfeit all 240,000 mile redeemed?

Any experiences or insights would be appreciated.

Not exactly your situation, but back in March when things were just starting I was able to switch an award ticket for the returning flight of a round-trip. Was scheduled to fly out on Sunday and was allowed to advance the ticket to the Wednesday before.
Your situation sounds like the kind of thing to talk to an agent about instead of booking online. I'm sure DL has to regularly deal with people who book and then can't travel because of COVID problems. And since paid tickets are now changeable, I'd guess that awards may be as well.
I've found DL agents reasonable and empowered to make such decisions.
Take care.

From the no change fees press release: "Other steps Delta has taken to deliver flexibility and a superior experience to customers include...Empowering our employees to use situational flexibility when customers need it most."

Does the OP currently have status with DL? The information to the left of the post under the username suggests NO. We should be careful not to extrapolate from the experiences of top-tier elites.

Unless someone can find an explicit rule, this would fall into the category of a very reasonable ask for a waiver and favor and probably be at the discretion of the agent and supervisor.

I have changed many BE tickets since March with zero pushback. I would be stunned if award tickets were treated differently than revenue tickets. A quarantine requirement/ negative covid test at your destination is the same for both revenue and award tickets.

All cancellation/change policies due to CV19 cover award tickets. None of these restrict to T-72hr for awards.

I can vouch for this. Just for a test I went through and tried to cancel a flight T-25 hours before departure that I was planning on taking (an international award ticket) and I got all the way through to the final refund confirmation screen without issue. Admittedly I didn't press the button but it was very clear I could have.

I am DM so I get the fee waiver - not sure how that is handled for non-PM/DMs.

I am about to book an international ticket using Skymiles for 95K one way on VS Upper Class from MSP-BOM (via JFK/BOS) where there is a 14 day institutional quarantine requirement if you show up without a RT-PCR test or home quarantine if you show up with a negative test done within 72 hours. If I get a positive test or the results do not show up on time, I want the ability to change or cancel my trip and get my miles back. They would be coming from a Diamond account (if that matters)

If the DM desk makes a fuss, would the trip insurance offered by Delta cover anything? I have never purchased trip insurance before but would in this case. Also would be booking using the US Bank Altitude Reserve which has some trip coverage built-in but not sure it would cover the value of 95K miles.

I have successfully cancelled a delta flight basic economy bought on skymiles a few hours before departure and got the miles back due to the covid waiver.

Many thanks for all the input!

I do not have any status with Delta right now.

I was thinking this would be a waiver and favor request but the below posts lead me to believe I have nothing to worry about.

Thank you for checking!

Great!

It sounds like the usually firm 72 hour rule isn't an issue right now.