I just had an interesting situation where a ticket I moved by a couple of days was apparently reserved but not ticketed (the change was no fee for what it's worth). Everything in Delta's app and on the website looked OK from my side (the date was correct), Delta was sending me reminders welcoming me on the flight at the correct date, but apparently I didn't have this ticket. When I checked the receipt the old date was listed. I also I never received a confirmation email for this change (the fact I missed).

How does this happen? Do we need to check receipts after any change to ensure things are actually changed?

For a standard-issue domestic ticket , if you used the website, this doesn't typically happen, but if there was anything more complicated about your itinerary (codeshare segment, upgraded flight, eCredit applied, etc.), then it can cause the underlying ticket to get "hung up" in the system and not get reissued properly. Also, with the large number of new res agents that DL has hired, sometimes they make mistakes when changing things - so you have to keep a close eye on it there, too.

Even though it shouldn't be on the pax to keep track, I always take a look at the ticket receipt itself after I make a change to ensure everything went through correctly. As you mentioned, another clue is if you don't receive an e-mail receipt from DL with the correct, updated information.

Yes, this ticket had multiple "complications": international itinerary, one partner flight (KLM, who incidentally sent me an email on the original date of the ticket - today, to call Delta to reissue the ticket), and multiple ecredits from previous flights used to pay for a part of the new ticket.

However, except for the email I received from KLM, there were no other indications things went wrong. I even received a couple of emails from Delta about my upcoming trip on the correct date.

What constitutes a receipt, as opposed to a confirmation email?

The easiest way to find out if you have a ticket is to check the receipt on DL.com and if either (a) you can't pull it up or (b) you can pull it up but there is no ticket number listed that's a dead giveaway.

You can also figure out that it hasn't ticketed if you are PM/DM and either (a) aren't able to select a C+ or exit row seat or (b) you are in a C+/exit row seat but you can't change it.

This often happens to me with corporate travel. When I book a trip, Concur/AMEXGBT create a reservation with Delta that generates a PNR. However, because our corporate travel policy requires manager approval, it stays in that state until my boss approves it at which point Concur/AMEXGBT indicate to Delta that payment has been made and at that point Delta will ticket the reservation and I receive a confirmation (and can also go in and select my C+ seats -- if I try before this point, I can't do anything).

As noted by others the other place this can pop up is if you have a ticket re-issued and the agent (or the system) on the backend has some difficulty and can't sync the reservation properly and so doesnt ticket it. The reservation is still in there but because you aren't ticketed you miss out on things like seat selection and upgrades until this is resolved

A rarer occurrence but one nonetheless is when you have a reservation and a ticket, but they aren't linked properly. If your reservation has multiple changes and is re-issued multiple times, sometimes the PNR can have trouble "linking" itself correctly to the correct coupon/ticket. In this case you may have both a REZ and a TKT but they aren't connected correctly. This more commonly happens if there are multiple reissues/exchanges.

I guess this was another "complication" on top of the others I listed above: this was the second change I made to this itinerary (both date changes). The first change was mostly fine (got a confirmation email and the receipt had the correct email) but didn't have my Skymiles number linked(even though I did all the changes on delta.com; or that was for the original ticket? can't remember).

I was able to select an exit row seat as a GM, as well as select regular seats for free on the KLM flight even in this non-ticketed state. So far it seems they stuck even after reticketing.

When such discussions about a reservation comes up I immediately go back 30 years to this episode of .

I always check for "CONFIRMED" on the Delta web site (my reservation). I believe - not 100% certain - that if you only have a reservation, and NOT a ticket, this doesn't show... But I could be wrong.

Buuuuut... if you didn't have a confirmed ticket, wouldn't you have not been charged for it?!

It's the e-mail you get from Delta that has an old-school table (looking like something copied out of Excel) listing your flights, but more importantly, it lists a ticket number at the bottom of the e-mail. A confirmation e-mail from DL doesn't, and the subject line is something like "Delta Reservation Itinerary."

A tip on international itineraries involving other carriers: They need to call the international desk to have it re-ticketed.
I had a situation with this myself this weekend that took 3 Agents to fix. DL ticket, VS metal
Schedule change email from Virgin Atlantic (as Delta is hit or miss with this...mostly miss, I got no email from DL)

Agent 1: Changed to flight few hrs earlier, (no international desk mention) still on Virgin Atlantic metal, got itinerary email, no receipt, new seats; No change on Virgin website/app.
Agent 2: Mentions International desk, then says "oh wait I can issue the ticket". This time I get a receipt with updated flights, but still no update on Virgin Atlantic app/website and Virgin Atlantic agent confirms they don't see the change.
Agent 3: Semi-surprised reaction to the lack of a call to international desk, but says "sometimes agents resist calling international desk even when they should because of the long holds on weekends". She proceeds to call and mentions 1.5 hr hold and says because other agent reissued ticket it will be a complex fix. She calls me back 1hr 45 mins later (she said they can call you back when they are working from home so you don't sit on hold) Virgin had to manually issue the ticket and the segment that changed is now VS marketed on a DL ticket similar to the way KLM does a GUC. And that segment will earn on VS rules (a win for MQM/MQD, but slightly less skymiles). I got a second new receipt and it now shows on VS app/website correctly.

On new agents: Agent 3 said "it is a training issue" and I agreed. The hold times have gotten better, but at the price of getting inexperienced agents more often. It means you have to double check what agents do and say often and HUCA or ask for a supervisor sometimes. Alot more work on our end, and I feel bad for people who call in and and don't know rules/polices and system quirks. Even with having a receipt I would have gotten to the airport with no seat on a flight if I didn't check VS website as a backup.

I don't believe on KLM these seats sit in a different fare class which may be why you were successful in a non-ticketed state

On DL metal, C+ is a different fare class hence the issue when you are non-ticketed -- without a ticket as a PM/DM you can't be upgraded to SU so by extension you can't pick your free C+ seat

I had PASSENGER STATUS: CONFIRMED even in unticketed state.

The new flight was the same price as the old one so the charge was $0.

I didn't receive a confirmation which I overlooked. But everything looked OK on the website and Delta even sent me reminders about my upcoming trip.

Why Saudia website? This was a Delta ticket with one leg on KLM.

I'm only GM (will be PM after this trip) so I couldn't have selected C+ until 3 days out. C+ was anyway full so I didn't try selecting it then. At 2 days before the trip, KLM let me know I need to get this re-ticketed.

The only thing that indicated things are off is when I couldn't change the ticket again (didn't really want to, just checking an earlier flight). The webiste said I need to call in or chat. I ignored that as I didn't really need to change it.