elusive1

I had four tickets booked on KLM metal in February from DXB - SJO. This was the 2nd half of a SkyMiles redemption RT. KLM had cancelled most long-haul flights including SJO (still cancelled) a few days before the flight. I did not attempt to reschedule with Delta before the cancelled flight was due to depart. Some of the travelers had no visa to transfer via Atlanta, while I suppose AF would have possibly been an option to Panama.

It is my understanding that Delta does not redeposit miles, only re-books. I believe that re-depositing the miles would be reasonable, as they cancelled the route till further notice. I wrote Delta via the SkyMiles webform asking them to please redeposit the miles from the unused flights about a month ago, still no response.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

RealHJ

Call, use mobile messaging or online chat and ask for a redeposit. As long as you request it before the flight, for sure you'll get a redeposit, as there is no charge for award redeposits. After the flight it gets more tricky, if you didn't ask to cancel and redeposit it timely. Your best bet may be to call the CS number (not reservations, there hold times are measured in hours and 10s of hours, sometimes in days - same for reservations messaging from the app/via text) and ask them to redeposit, even though you failed to request it prior to the flights. If the flights were cancelled and not rebooked, I think that is extenuating circumstances and you should still get your miles redeposited. Quickest is to call CS on this directly. Online requests submitted take weeks if not months to get responded to (if ever). Yet phone hold times for CS are not that bad; certainly much better than for reservations.

elusive1

Thanks, good advice
I would have actually called Delta to reschedule but being in Dubai it would have been a mess as there is a combination of insane hold times for Delta (no local office for Delta)and Dubai not having legal VOIP. It would have been a lot of time and money. I do not think they would have re-deposited as I was halfway through a RT award.

ChateauMargaux

Are international award tickets free to change/cancel/redeposit? Some conflicting information online say only domestic is free to change/cancel/redeposit, while international still has a $150 fee. Looking at USA - FCO and USA-CDG-RAK on AF.

Separately, for domestic basic economy, why does the reservation not show my allowed free checked due to having DL Amex?

flyerCO

International tickets starting in US are free. International starting oitsideoutside are not.

jtrue28

If we have 3 confirmed RT tickets, are we able to call/contact them and cancel half of it? If we want to only do 1 way, but neither of the 1 ways are available anymore, and we want to keep one of them, will they refund half of the miles? Thanks!

RealHJ

Unlikely. Frontline res agents can't do it. Any changes to awards are 1. issue brand new ticket (current availability and pricing), 2. cancel the old ticket and redeposit. 1 takes place before 2 (when you have them do a change, even with the PNR remaining the same, that is how it works in the back end), so even if by canceling your current ticket you get a better (or the only, in case of non-DL flights) award booking class back in the inventory, you cannot use it if it's not already there now, as the rebooking takes place first. It's designed to ensure that you always pay the most possible, and that it always works out against the passenger's interests.

That being said, if you can manage to get someone with access to the command-line booking system and willingness to actually help a customer, this likely is doable. I think it needs manual reissue and manually repricing it to the one-way being kept original cost. But, even the agents who can do it are afraid to do so, as helping a customer is a big no-no at Delta and if management finds out what they did, they might lose their job. GTS (Global Ticketing Support) nowadays is practically useless, and though they can help, they simply will not, period.

flyerCO

Are there any DL flights or is it all partner? Is this the outbound or return of a RT?

Mister P.

Hi,
Trying to book an award ticket NBO-HEL via AMS on KLM for later this year. I can see award space (Z) on Delta and Expert Flyer on the day before my preferred date. If I look segment by segment on the date I need there is award space though: I have tried to ask Delta agent through the chat to build the award joining both segments but he said it needs to be priced as 2 tickets. Also, the agent tried booking the NBO-AMS segment but said it wasn't working due to a "price mismatch". Any suggestions?

flyerCO

Just to make sure. Are these all KL metal flights you see? There's no codeshares on KQ or AY metal?

Married segments apply to award tickets nowadays. Just because each is available separately doesn't mean they're available as one.

Mister P.

Thanks. Yes, both are KLM-operated: KL566 & KL1167. Couple of days ago there was plenty of space. I think there has been a change of aircraft, which would explain why space is gone in general but not the married-segment part. If I manage to book first segment, would the DL agent be able to add the second one later without repricing?

Edit: I tried to set up an alert on ExpertFlyer but it was triggered automatically as it searched by segment, which they do have availability. (Don't have much experience with EF).

flyerCO

If it's a MS issue simply booking one at a time won't work.

How long is the connection? What date, and we can try and help.

RealHJ

Yes and no, when it comes to an itinerary with no DL flights. IME it depends on who and how does the booking. Front line agents using the GUI system, yes, it often doesn't work. It's not always married segment logic. Sometimes it's just "bugs" (yeah, right...), like DL not allowing any CI connections in TPE (absurd). It may very well be such a bug, where the agent needs to know the workaround (of course, Delta doesn't train their staff in such essential things they need to know to do their day to day job, as how to work around their badly broken tools' countless bugs "design features"). The workaround may be several steps and require leaps of faith, like know that the price displayed is false and at ticketing will be correct. Best approach is to get to someone who can use the command-line less buggy reservations system, where it can be booked quickly and easily. The challenge is getting through to someone with both the right access and willingness to help.

Mister P.

Thanks everyone. Travel dates would be,
16 Dec 21 KL566 NBO-AMS &
17 Dec 21 KL1167 AMS-HEL.

There is a 3h layover so that shouldn’t be a problem. (Itinerary is available on DL website departing day earlier). If anyone knows what ‘magic words’ I should tell the DL agent that would be great!!

flyerCO

KLM isnt offering O fare class for these flights. I just noticed on your original post you mention Z class . Z is not an award bucket. Z is the lowest paid fare class for business and is what is needed when using a GUC to upgrade. O is what needs be available for business class award.

KLM is purposefully not offering O for these flights. Nothing DL can do. FB members may be able to book, as FB members have access to additional inventory. (Just as DL members have access to additional inventory for DL metal)