I just booked 2 r/t flights using 4 credits, 2 of which expire on Sept 7. The flights are in April.

I will need to use them but may need to change times/dates. That said, would it be smart to cancel after the Sept 7 expiration?

Possible plot twist:

B/C I had those ecredits expiring in a week, I booked a r/t flight yesterday in refundable main & paid about $100 more than the ecredits covered.

I was under the guidance on this thread to cancel it after the 72 hr mark and would have canceled next week after the credit expiry date.

BUT....., I just got an email that the flight was changed 2.5 hours earlier (I am not taking a 6 am flight.).

Doenest that flight change increase my "leverage" and changes Imm get full credit back with a later ecredit expiration?

I was asking about a "refundable" DL flight I booked. 85% of it was paid with credit card and the other 15% was paid with two e-credits.
The ecredits are now expired, in fact I was wondering if I cancel the refundable ticket if I would have a new ecredit issued with longer validity? But someone just told me that "if you use an ecredit on a refundable flight that it makes the entire ticket non-refundable." That sounds insane.. but I need to ask whether that's true or not? I'm still trying to decide what to do with the ticket. If I knew what happens to expired to the e-credits - e-certs after I cancelled then it might be easier to know how to proceed. However, now I'm also concerned by what this traveler just told me.. huh? using an ecredit will make the "refundable" ticket non-refundable? TIA for any insight.

OK, so this does work, albeit a royal PITA.

First, if anyone is wondering I needed to use an eTicket for the Amex Companion Certificate that I had previously cancelled. Unbeknownst to me, Delta now seems to issue eTicket instead of eCredits in this case. And unbeknownst to me, you cannot use an eTicket with the Companion Certificate.

AND to further complicate, my eTicket that was issued was set to expire 1/26/25 and I needed to travel in Feb.

So:
1) "Convert" eTicket to eCredit by other poster's recommendation to purchase a "cheap" ticket and the system is supposed to convert the remainder eTicket to an eCredit. DL.dumb said it would do that, but it kept giving me an error. Called in. Even phone reps were getting the same error and couldn't figure out why. Took about 30 minutes and several escalations and they finally booked "cheap" ticket and I ended up with an eCredit.

2) However, eCredit still has 1/26/25 expiration date. Now i needed to extend it. So do the usual trick (book slightly more expensive ticket, wait 3 days, cancel it). This DOES extend the expiration date, BUT it also re-converted BACK to an eTicket. Ugh

3) So now I have to repeat #1. Again, cannot book ticket, have to call in, phone rep easily fixes whatever is mucked up in DL.Dumb system. Now I have an eCredit with new expiration date.

Then the sage continues (will probably post over in the Companion Cert) but basically the DL.dumb system will not let me use the eCredit. Nor will it let me use the $100 eCredit that DL gave out due to the DL Reserve increase in AF. Called in. Phone rep said she was aware that you cannot use eCredit with Companion cert to book online (have to call in -so it's apparently "known bug"). But she also said the system wouldn't let her use the $100 eCredit the DL issued either. So I'll have to book a separate trip for that one.

Does anyone know what (other than random things you CANNOT do) between an eTicket and eCredit?

I don't recall ever getting eTicket credits until recently. And it seems Delta is going that way now? Even though the web page (when you cancel) AND email both state: eCredit (but you get issued an eTicket).

AFAIK, the only differences are that you cannot use an eTicket in conjunction with a Delta Amex Companion Cert, but there may be other differences I'm unaware of?

The "conversion" process is (IMO) similar to how UA handles their FTC/ETC, sorta kinda, only that the expiration date extending seems to require a double/triple step/hoop.

But the UA forum has a nice thread about each type and what/how they work, whereas I couldn't seem to find anything on the Delta forum about eTicket vs. eCredit, hence my asking.

Ok so this seems too good to be true. I had ecredits expiring last week and next June.

So I booked a R/T that cost the amount of the ecredits +$100. It's a trip I may have taken. Then Delta changed the flight over 2 hrs therefore I opted to cancel. This is after the 72 hrs some suggest.

It gives me an option for ecredits for the full amount OR "refund to original form of payment(but does not show the amount)". Is it possible Delta COULD return the full amount to my credit card?!

If your goal is to extend I would NOT take the refund. You would likely get two expired eCredits back + $100.

Yes, thats what happened last time i was in a similar boat. Though It may be a new ecredit if you get lucky. But it 100% won't be more than 100 USD going back to your credit card. Your original form of payment was 100 USD and ecredit and that's exactly what you're getting back.

Thank you both for your input. I just got ecredits to burn until August 2025. Plenty of time.


Here's a pet peeve regarding ecredits: I book for myself and 3 family members. Im the sole provider. But if have to use ecredits, I can't use them interchangeably....even though it's all from the same wallet... So say my kids arent going somewhere, but wife and I are, I cant use their ecredits even though I paid.....

just ranting.


But thank you both again from the bottom of my heart.

SOP. Airline tickets (ecredits are generally unused tickets) are never transfersable on the major carriers.

If I booked a flight for November 2024 using eCredits that expire March 2025 then I now need to cancel, do I get back eCredits that are valid until March 2025, or do they extend to be a year from the booking date for when I made the November 2024 flight booking?

Potential warning about eCredit vs. eTicket

It appears that Delta is now issuing eTickets when you cancel instead of eCredits. Even though the website and the email state you are getting an eCredit, it shows up in your wallet as an eTicket.

Several issues with this:
1) Delta's systems seem to have a "bug" (so far) when an "ecredit" gets converted to an e"ticket". At least it's happened to me 4 times in the last few months and each time it's been the same issue (different credits/tickets). Basically, the eTicket shows (in their system) as being "used", and if you try to book online, it won't let you use it. If you call in the agent won't be able to use it either as it'll show "closed" on their end. Fortunately each time, the agent has "seen" that it's not closed, but then has to get a different dept. to assist in re-converting to an eCredit so that you can then use it
2) eTickets apparently cannot be used in conjunction with the Delta Amex Companion Certificate There's a method to convert to an eCredit, but it's horribly messy, and with the above issue, you'll need to spend at least an hour or more on the phone with the agents for 2 separate phone calls.
3) Lastly, it seems that the "history" is preserved with the eTicket so Delta's systems show the agent that say, you had an expiring eCredit, "extended it" (which NOW converts it to an eTicket with new expiration date, NOT an eCredit with new expiration date), but since it's "extended" it's now showing up as "used".

I have no idea if this is Delta's attempt to "fix" the extension of expiring eCredits, or just incompetence on their IT systems, but just wanted to give a heads up since there's no other forum thread about eCredit vs. eTicket, but the it does appear Delta's systems treat them differently and that Delta has made a change and now issues eTickets if you cancel (whereas before it was an eCredit)

hurnik , let’s say you’re an average traveler. Bottom line from what you're saying is that you have to make a phone call to book. Right?

FWIW, I haven’t had this issue at all. Most recent cancellation was 3 weeks ago.

If you're an average every day person who simply cancelled a flight and tries to book again, yes. Unless you want to use your new "eCredit" (which is really an eTicket) with your companion certificate, in which case, now you find out that you CANNOT.

But since this thread is for extending eCredits, this complicates things quite a bit, IMO.

I believe this new eTicket situation was implemented sometime around June/July of this year (whereas if you cancelled something prior you'd get an eCredit, and not an eTicket).

Honestly, I'm not sure any of this is new behavior. I've always gotten eTickets back when cancelling a trip.

However, what does seem to be new is the CSR's being trained to look back at the history of the eTicket which potentially goes back multiple years if you're been at this game a while.