Cancel one leg of an award flight?
May 23, 2022, 11:26 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 10
Cancel one leg of an award flight?
I booked a round trip Delta flight using points. Can I cancel just the return flight? I found a much cheaper return flight option on a different airline. On the Delta website it seems I can only completely cancel the whole flight. I don't want to cancel it all and just rebook my outbound flight since the points required are so much more right now.
May 23, 2022, 12:00 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,013
Awards cannot be partially cancelled and they also become non-refundable once travel has begun. Note that DL often has cheaper award levels that require roundtrip bookings and changing from a roundtrip to a one-way may change the award levels available for booking. Allowing one to cancel half a roundtrip booking for refund would also defeat roundtrip booking requirements on cheaper awards.
May 23, 2022, 12:07 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 10
I called Delta support and after waiting on hold for a few hours, finally reached an operator. They were able to separate my RT ticket and then cancel and refund the return portion of the flight. But because of the difference on cost for the award flight today versus when I originally booked it, I did end up losing about 5k in Delta points on the refund. But still happy I was able to get most of my points back for the return flight. So I guess it depends on the timing and the operator that you get when trying to cancel.
May 25, 2022, 2:20 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,033
Even in past they normally won't do it outside IRROPS. It takes time/manual handling to process a partially used ticket refund.
May 11, 2023, 6:31 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,013
