I have always gone with the original ticket expiration date is the date travel must be completed. No extensions. My daughter has a ticket expiring on October 24, 2024. Thought I would try and rebook it and then cancel after a couple of days. Cancelled it today (more than 3 days after rebooking) and the credit went back into her wallet with the original expiration date. So I guess Delta is closing this loophole, maybe slowly, but definitely closing.

Buy a dummy ticket for a tiny bit more money than your ecredit on a credit card for a flight in early May/25 then cancel it after 3 days and see what happens.

Do you need to purchase the trip protection to cancel?

No.

Looks like it may need to be more than 24 hours. I purchased a one-way ticket that cost $159. $100 was from a FULLY TRANSFERABLE eCredit ($100) and the other was charged to my Delta Amex Reserve. I booked main cabin (not BE, not 100% refundable ticket either).

38 hours later, I cancelled the ticket. The Delta email said I cancelled within 24 hours and so put the $59 back on the credit card and left the original cert intact (no change in expiration date).

Will try again but wait over 48 hours this time.

Did it still say you were within the free 24 hour cancellation window? (that might take longer than 24 hours). That's been the key for me -> making sure to wait until it no longer says that.

The other thing I learned (from Sydneyracquelle) is that you need to book the new ticket beyond the current expiration date, then wait 48 hours and cancel. I tried it booking a ticket within the expiration date and when I cancelled, the expiration date stayed the same as the original expiration date.

Yes, I did see that, which is what threw me for a loop. I figured it was Delta's stellar IT at work again (generic error or message).

Oh, that may be it as well. I guess I'll find out in a few days.

OK, so for *me*, I did not need to book a ticket PAST the expiration date.
I just had to wait the 48 hours, and then when I went to cancel, it issued a new eCredit with a new 1 year expiration date.

That just shows you how inconsistent Delta's system is. My guess is eventually, someone at corporate will figure it out and they will close the loophole with expiration date extensions.

The DL risk-free cancellation policy has always allowed cancellation up to midnight the following day after purchase for a full refund (rather than exactly 24 hours after purchase). This means you cancel potentially cancel up to 48 hours after purchase for refund under their policy.

"Cancellation request must be made by midnight of the day after the eTicket is purchased or midnight of the departure date of the first flight, whichever comes first. Cancellation request must be made before travel commences for the first flight."

Is it possible that at some point they started cancelling e-credits that had their validity extended through this trick? (This trick meaning booking a flight, then cancelling after 48hrs.) I could have sworn I had a couple in my account that seem to be gone now. But I am also not 100% sure that I kept track of them correctly.

Anything is possible, but it also gets messy. I haven’t don’t this as a “trick” but I have combined credits with various expiration dates. They’d have to break apart the transaction and then recreate the component credits to then cancel. I don’t see it happening any time soon because I also have A LOT of tickets and will claim that I’d have used the credit if it was floating out there as a standalone.

I imagine the most likely scenario in the future will. E for new cancellations to reinstate vouchers to their original dates and cash to a new voucher.

Hm. Interesting. If I had an e-credit from ticket, say 016...123, and it's not in my account anymore, but I also don't see that e-credit number used as a payment in any of my email booking confirmations, then the only thing that could have happened is that it expired or was cancelled, right? Maybe I got the expiration date wrong, but I was sure it was valid until December, and I do still see another e-credit valid until then. (But I think I can re-trace that one to a different ticket in my emails.)