LHCVG

As title says, I will be flying home the week of Christmas to the see my parents who I haven't seen in a year. Given Dad's declining health and Mom's obvious stress from COVID-ness (no infection, just all the "stuff" around it in life), really should go see them. So, work was nice enough to give me the whole time off, I go and good book my ticket, and then the next day we get a notice from the County that they want to close all indoor restaurant dining effective Tuesday evening. Being a restaurant worker, that obviously means we likely will end up with reduced hours (greatly reduced) and/or a straight furlough/layoff (we were all laid off in the spring and brought back over the summer).

For reference, the trip as booked is a DCA-CVG r/t Dec.21-27 (Monday-Sunday). DL of course, interestingly AA axed their n/s competition on the route after running it essentially all the time since US began doing it circa 2013 (not that I'm surprised at the city, just an observation about cuts).

Since my time off was approved, the trip is good to as far as work is concerned regardless, so that front is fine. But I got to thinking about my change strategy since I haven't had the chance to play with these new COVID change rules. Per the above, we won't have any new substantive information until the measure formally passes (we all assume that's a near certainty) and corporate has their say-so about what they are going to do (our GM wants to try and enclose more of the outside space and such, but I can't say if that's a realistic operational plan). Point being, it could honestly go either way as far as whether I am more or less still at work and the trip remains a "usual" work trip, or if we are furloughed then I might be interested in making a change.

So here is where my decision will play out and where I need the advice:

--It's possible (again, everything is just co-dependent right now) that we are more or less still working in some fashion, but if my schedule gets adjusted down on either side of the trip, I might be tempted to move either end a day or two. Neither fish nor fowl, but just something I figure is worth exploring if indeed I unintentionally end up with more days off, and the new ticket price would not be a major increase over my current one.

--If we end up furloughed in some way, my thinking is that I might just hop in the car and drive (schedule flexibility, would be able to bring the cat to meet "grandma and grandpa" -- grandma would love this option!), banking that ticket until sometime next year. I don't yet have any plans to go anywhere, but I can definitely foresee my usual 1-2 trips a year to see Mom and Dad so it will at very least get used there.


At first, I didn't foresee these as necessarily mutually exclusive, but then I got to thinking about the implications of the change for reticketing/re-issuing, and how that affects the value of my banked ticket if I do make a change. Which leads to my questions:

1) If I were to find that prices on either end of my trip were close enough that making a change for an additional day or two there and make the change, would that "use up" the change "privilege" attached to the ticket, whereby I would then be stuck with a ticket under normal rules? Or is this special change regime good for any changes through Dec. 31, such that I can change departure from say Dec. 21 to Dec. 20 and then subsequently make another change later? I don't see that being the case, just seemed prudent to ask so I don't use up such a valuable ticket asset to have.

2) Under the furlough scenario, I end up deciding to can the flight altogether and drive for Christmas, do I have to do anything in particular before travel to indicate that I wish to keep that ticket value under said COVID change rules, or will it automatically just tick over to a banked value after departure of the ticketed flights? I just want to avoid that situation where not doing anything possibly leaves me in a "no-show" situation if I don't cancel it, but I've never done that in this kind of scenario before either.

3) Is my understanding correct that said "post-change" ticket may or may not have special COVID change priveleges attached if indeed the agent doing the change inadvertently re-issues (obviously my verbiage may be off, but I feel like I've scenarios like this come up), and that I need to be careful with the CSR to make sure they do it the "right" way? (this is presuming that I would be able to make some kind of new booking before Dec. 31st in order to maintain that COVID change privilege if possible)


I know it's long but wanted to explain the situation in case there are details that might change your advice.

Thanks all for the wisdom as always!

Mr. Tickets

Please edit down to the important details. Few people are going to read this

MarkCron

Seriously, this could have been asked in 2 sentences.

MSPeconomist

I got confused at the point it was a work trip to see parents.

rylan

One item that I think will answer most of the OP's questions/comments I think... you can make multiple changes to the ticket with no fees, and it does not become any less 'flexible' once you make a voluntary change. You are just responsible for any fare difference if higher or you get a ecredit if new ticket is lower. If DL causes the change due a cancellation or schedule change then you don't have to pay fare difference.

LondonElite

Holy long-winded! Please trim down to the essential question...I'm confused.

tardyturtle

As others mentioned, I had a little bit of a hard time following.

I think the bottom line is that you can cancel or change the trip plans at any time--even after taking the outbound on a round trip. All residual funds will be left in your account as a travel credit which you have a year to use (I think a year from booking your original flight, but others could clarify if I'm mistaken). This essentially allows an unlimited number of "changes" to your plans while retaining the value of the original ticket. Just note that if you make changes to your trip closer to your travel dates, fare prices may have increased and you'll be responsible for any difference in fare between what you originally booked and the new flights. That is going to be the biggest issue you are likely to run into if you change your flights.

Regarding just no-showing vs. calling to cancel, I know that at least early on in the pandemic they would automatically issue a credit if you no-show. Not sure if this ever changed, but my policy has always been to actively cancel. You can do this on Delta.com or call an agent.

Also note that it seems if you have already made a change to a reservation, any subsequent changes (E.g., second change and beyond) have to be handled by a reservation agent by phone (the website won't let you for some reason).

LHCVG

Thank you all for the insights, sounds like there are no issues other than fare difference so that is my main concern. Given the fluid nature of my situation it seemed prudent to confirm the technical details of change rules.

mattp1987

One other thing to note is that depending on any schedule changes that have occurred since you booked the ticket you might have additional flexibility. Assuming the ticket was purchased after July 30, the threshold for a free change or a refund is 120 minutes. It also looks like those flights are operated by DL Connection on a CRJ9. If they were originally mainline Delta flights when you book, that's considered a schedule change as well.

If you did have such a schedule change, you might be able to convince an agent to change your flight by a day rather than rerouting to a connecting flight on the same day. Additionally, if you choose to drive it would allow you to receive a full refund for your ticket rather than having the money tied up as a Delta e-credit.

LHCVG

So I can get a full refund if I choose not to fly this itinerary? I read the fare rules as "changeable/nonrefundable", or are you referring to a DL change allowing me that privilege rather than a voluntary change?

ATOBTTR

Unless you bought a refundable fare, there is no "refund" (the only exception to this being if there was a schedule change that was large enough to qualify you for a refund, which I believe DL has upped to 120 minutes, or if there was a change in operating carrier from DL mainline to a DL Connection flight or vise versa). Otherwise the ticket is changeable without a change fee but it is not refundable. In other words, if you cancel your trip, you will receive a voucher for the full amount that you paid for your DCA-CVG ticket that you can apply towards a new flight, but you will not receive a refund to the original form of payment.

mattp1987

Yes to the part I highlighted. If DL changed your flight by 2+ hours or downgraded your from mainline to a regional carrier, you can get a full refund. Otherwise canceling will just get you a credit valid for one year from the date you booked. More information here: https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...on-policy.html

LHCVG

Right, that's what I was thinking, thanks for the clarification!

MSPeconomist

DOT rules say you're also entitled to a full refund if there's a change of operating carrier from one DL connection carrier to a different DL Connection carrier, but many DL agents don't seem to know this rule. I've had to escalate when I invoked it.

garykung

Long story short - I would drive instead.