Mar 15, 2020, 10:29 am
Last edit by: Maestro Ramen
FARE RULES:
I pulled down the DL fare rules (these are BUD-SEA but they all appeared nearly identical). I posted them on a share. We can easily grab the AF and KL variants if others need those.
Q: This is a fully flexible fare with free changes. Does that mean I can change the flight dates as I want without paying anything extra?
A: No. The airline simply doesn't charge a change fee. But depending on the fare rules, you will still need to pay the difference to the new price.
Q: But I read that some people could change their flights for free...?
A: The rules for this fare (linked to above) specify that historical pricing shall be used if either at least one flight from the ticket has been taken or the outbound remains the same. In other words, in order to be able to change your flights for free, you must have flown at least one flight from your booking. Otherwise, you can only change the inbound. The outbound has to remain the same or you will be charged the fare difference.
Q: Can I change the rest of the itinerary after flying the first segment without any other charges or additional fare differences?
A: Yes this is possible according to the fare rules where after completing the first segment, you can change the rest of the flights for free (with the condition that the same fare class is available- I-class - in this case. According to the fare rules, after flying the FIRST segment (in the case here BUD-XXX) the historical fare is used. Possible to use the first stopover at AMS or CDG (see post #830).
Q: But some people could change their outbound flights for free!
A: They got lucky. It was probably a bug on the website/in the app. When no flight from the ticket has been flown, the fare rules do not allow changing the outbound without repricing.
Q: Ok, ok, so I can only change the inbound for free. How do I do that?
A: You search for availability for alternative flights on ITA Matrix using "F ..I2FFHU" in the extension codes. You must search for round trip flights as this is a round trip fare. Then you ignore the outbound result (as long as you haven't flown at least one flight from your ticket) and just try to rebook your inbound on the website/app.
Q: I have found availability on ITA Matrix, but the app/website doesn't show me those flights!
A: Keep trying. Sometimes you may have to serach in a different way (split up the searches, e.g. HNL-LAX and LAX-BUD), sometimes you just have to repeat the search several times. But that's no guarantee the desired results will turn up (and without repricing).
Q: It doesn't work. Can I just call the airline to make the changes?
A: Please don't unless you need to. Calling can increase the risk for all of us that they'll change their mind and disallow all further changes, or simply cancel everyone's tickets. However, as this fare has now been running for months and has seen many calls made about it, it is reasonable to expect that calling will not cause issues at this stage. As best practice, avoid attracting attention on the low price paid, and avoid making additional demands or tempting your luck. Remember you get to fly a J ticket for the cost of a Y fare.
Q: How many times can I make changes?
A: In theory, as often as you like, but you can't make more than two changes online/in the app. After that, you'd have to call, which we are trying to avoid.
Q: I've changed my mind. Can I get a refund?
A: Yes, the fare was fully refundable. Just contact the airline or fill out a refund form online.
Q: Due to Coronavirus, I need to extend my travel plan beyond the original expiry date. What can I do?
A: For Delta tickets (starting with 006) you can travel at any point until December 2022. Changes to flights within a 10 month window can be done at any point on the app, following the rules above. If you want to fly later than 10 months from now, you can call Delta and ask them to "park" your ticket. You will receive a ticket number that ties to an eCredit which can be used later to buy tickets. As long as you keep the original itinerary, or if you have flown at least a segment, you will not be charged a fare difference. Bear in mind that the eCredit may only be refundable if your original flight was cancelled (which is very likely in those day and times). Note that only Delta in the US are able to do this so do not call the EU numbers (use Skype to save money on international calls). According to user feedback: iMessage agents seem to also be able to do this, but twitter agents not.
I pulled down the DL fare rules (these are BUD-SEA but they all appeared nearly identical). I posted them on a share. We can easily grab the AF and KL variants if others need those.
Q: This is a fully flexible fare with free changes. Does that mean I can change the flight dates as I want without paying anything extra?
A: No. The airline simply doesn't charge a change fee. But depending on the fare rules, you will still need to pay the difference to the new price.
Q: But I read that some people could change their flights for free...?
A: The rules for this fare (linked to above) specify that historical pricing shall be used if either at least one flight from the ticket has been taken or the outbound remains the same. In other words, in order to be able to change your flights for free, you must have flown at least one flight from your booking. Otherwise, you can only change the inbound. The outbound has to remain the same or you will be charged the fare difference.
Q: Can I change the rest of the itinerary after flying the first segment without any other charges or additional fare differences?
A: Yes this is possible according to the fare rules where after completing the first segment, you can change the rest of the flights for free (with the condition that the same fare class is available- I-class - in this case. According to the fare rules, after flying the FIRST segment (in the case here BUD-XXX) the historical fare is used. Possible to use the first stopover at AMS or CDG (see post #830).
Q: But some people could change their outbound flights for free!
A: They got lucky. It was probably a bug on the website/in the app. When no flight from the ticket has been flown, the fare rules do not allow changing the outbound without repricing.
Q: Ok, ok, so I can only change the inbound for free. How do I do that?
A: You search for availability for alternative flights on ITA Matrix using "F ..I2FFHU" in the extension codes. You must search for round trip flights as this is a round trip fare. Then you ignore the outbound result (as long as you haven't flown at least one flight from your ticket) and just try to rebook your inbound on the website/app.
Q: I have found availability on ITA Matrix, but the app/website doesn't show me those flights!
A: Keep trying. Sometimes you may have to serach in a different way (split up the searches, e.g. HNL-LAX and LAX-BUD), sometimes you just have to repeat the search several times. But that's no guarantee the desired results will turn up (and without repricing).
Q: It doesn't work. Can I just call the airline to make the changes?
A: Please don't unless you need to. Calling can increase the risk for all of us that they'll change their mind and disallow all further changes, or simply cancel everyone's tickets. However, as this fare has now been running for months and has seen many calls made about it, it is reasonable to expect that calling will not cause issues at this stage. As best practice, avoid attracting attention on the low price paid, and avoid making additional demands or tempting your luck. Remember you get to fly a J ticket for the cost of a Y fare.
Q: How many times can I make changes?
A: In theory, as often as you like, but you can't make more than two changes online/in the app. After that, you'd have to call, which we are trying to avoid.
Q: I've changed my mind. Can I get a refund?
A: Yes, the fare was fully refundable. Just contact the airline or fill out a refund form online.
Q: Due to Coronavirus, I need to extend my travel plan beyond the original expiry date. What can I do?
A: For Delta tickets (starting with 006) you can travel at any point until December 2022. Changes to flights within a 10 month window can be done at any point on the app, following the rules above. If you want to fly later than 10 months from now, you can call Delta and ask them to "park" your ticket. You will receive a ticket number that ties to an eCredit which can be used later to buy tickets. As long as you keep the original itinerary, or if you have flown at least a segment, you will not be charged a fare difference. Bear in mind that the eCredit may only be refundable if your original flight was cancelled (which is very likely in those day and times). Note that only Delta in the US are able to do this so do not call the EU numbers (use Skype to save money on international calls). According to user feedback: iMessage agents seem to also be able to do this, but twitter agents not.
{prem fare gone}: AF/KL/DL/VS: BUD-US from $750 R/T
Mar 18, 2020, 12:24 am
#466
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: YVR/LAX/PVG/TPE
Posts: 760
Thanks but no need! Hungary has closed its borders, and god knows when Schengen Area actually goes into lockdown mode. FI still is refusing refund, even though both sides have bans in place. I am not going, just staying home, full of hatred towards FI. I sincerely hope they go out of business, even WOW would have done a better job here.
Also for the fare, I could not change the flights as I called the DL agent, as they asked me for fare-diff double the amount of original fare, so I cancelled for a full refund.
Also for the fare, I could not change the flights as I called the DL agent, as they asked me for fare-diff double the amount of original fare, so I cancelled for a full refund.
Mar 18, 2020, 12:41 am
#468
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Western Europe
Posts: 205
Mar 18, 2020, 12:52 am
#469
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: YVR/LAX/PVG/TPE
Posts: 760
And they probably have known it since they invalidated the Hawaii routings, and given 1200USD EU-AKL routings with LX, it is not too far fetched to have DL put 800-USD price tags on EU-USA.
Mar 18, 2020, 1:07 am
#470
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Western Europe
Posts: 205
they have way bigger fish to fry right now, and honestly, it is not bad to get a cash injection from some savvy travelers on a certain website right?
And they probably have known it since they invalidated the Hawaii routings, and given 1200USD EU-AKL routings with LX, it is not too far fetched to have DL put 800-USD price tags on EU-USA.
And they probably have known it since they invalidated the Hawaii routings, and given 1200USD EU-AKL routings with LX, it is not too far fetched to have DL put 800-USD price tags on EU-USA.
Mar 18, 2020, 1:11 am
#471
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: YVR/LAX/PVG/TPE
Posts: 760
not sure, have tried virtually all dates, could not find any fare that is 0HUF on change page. Also there is virtually no I bucket available.
Mar 18, 2020, 1:14 am
#472
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Western Europe
Posts: 205
Strange. I was checking on Expert flyer yesterday and for the potential rebooking dates I have in mind for my route there were plenty of I buckets left. I wonder if rebooking would be free in that case, even when done before departing on the first leg.
Mar 18, 2020, 1:15 am
#473
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: YVR/LAX/PVG/TPE
Posts: 760
no search results on DL page provided I class I think. You can try all dates, but for me it will take way too long.
Mar 18, 2020, 1:36 am
#474
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: AA Exp
Posts: 836
Thanks but no need! Hungary has closed its borders, and god knows when Schengen Area actually goes into lockdown mode. FI still is refusing refund, even though both sides have bans in place. I am not going, just staying home, full of hatred towards FI. I sincerely hope they go out of business, even WOW would have done a better job here.
Also for the fare, I could not change the flights as I called the DL agent, as they asked me for fare-diff double the amount of original fare, so I cancelled for a full refund.
Also for the fare, I could not change the flights as I called the DL agent, as they asked me for fare-diff double the amount of original fare, so I cancelled for a full refund.
"I try my best to make friends, be local, and help as many as possible during my travels. I hold myself to the highest standard when it comes to this travel gospel."
Mar 18, 2020, 1:47 am
#475
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: SE+, OWS
Posts: 373
Nice one: wishing a company to go out of business just because they are in panic mode because of a pandemic and not handling things the way you want at this very moment. You know that would result in many many people losing their jobs? Just wait a bit, sure they will take care of it - if they survive at all - after this is all over.
"I try my best to make friends, be local, and help as many as possible during my travels. I hold myself to the highest standard when it comes to this travel gospel."
"I try my best to make friends, be local, and help as many as possible during my travels. I hold myself to the highest standard when it comes to this travel gospel."
Mar 18, 2020, 1:53 am
#476
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: YVR/LAX/PVG/TPE
Posts: 760
Nice one: wishing a company to go out of business just because they are in panic mode because of a pandemic and not handling things the way you want at this very moment. You know that would result in many many people losing their jobs? Just wait a bit, sure they will take care of it - if they survive at all - after this is all over.
"I try my best to make friends, be local, and help as many as possible during my travels. I hold myself to the highest standard when it comes to this travel gospel."
"I try my best to make friends, be local, and help as many as possible during my travels. I hold myself to the highest standard when it comes to this travel gospel."
Also FYI, I have created a different thread in another part of FT, as I really do not want to derail this thread from this great fare.
Mar 18, 2020, 2:48 am
#478
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,487
I've three trips to play with: one one prime codes only will bring up the rebooking engine as normal [results mentioned above]; one with a mix of DL/KL primes and codeshares tells me it can't be done online for reasons and one for my parents is all KL codes [booked on DL] that gets to the "which flight do you want to change" screen but then fails and suggests calling. Entirely possible that all of that is the result of the rebooking engine being overloaded right now though. I've also months before the first trip starts, so I can wait for a while before I see if DL will reissue on prime codes. Of course, that goes against my desire to perfect the flights now!
As for why I'm playing, I separated the BUD legs into weekend mini-breaks and have the US trips as standalones from AMS. For the start of the Hawai'i fare I just booked a random weekend in November - then persuaded my parents to try it and it turned out that that a different weekend would be better for my father [who is semi-retired but has less flexible work]. He really doesn't get the urgency though, so by the time he told me this Hawai'i got pulled and I was amazed that delta.com allowed me to complete the transaction I had up for them at the original price. I then realised I'd goofed and flown them to Hawai'i the day before we get there too. So while it's not critical to change, it would make life easier if I could.
Mar 18, 2020, 2:49 am
#479
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: AMS
Programs: KL PFL; BA Gold; A3 Silver; EY Silver; SU Silver
Posts: 2,488
@Keter you did it on orbitz or DL?
Strangely DL.com seems to allow to change and cancel tickets issued via agents. Unlike AF/ KL and most other airlines. Maybe there is a special arrangement for this.
I only mentioned that it is likely that automated exchanges via the website are only possible once due to GDS tools limitation. All further changes has to be processed by a human.
Of course I am not going to create any extra work for airline agents at this moment, just getting educated in terms of what can be done to have the full plate of available options later when I need it.Also for such complex itinerary its rarely possible to book exactly what you want unless you can ask a human agent to book the itineary, most OTAs will not book what you want (ie the itinerary you created using ITA Matrix).
Mar 18, 2020, 5:00 am
#480
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: ZRH
Programs: LX-SEN, KL-Gold, BA-Gold, LA-Comodoro
Posts: 94
As I am not very familiar with DL Skymiles, could one of you experts shortly check/confirm the following "statements" regarding this fare:
All ticketed on KL Stock (057)
AFxxxx op. by AF -> According to Farebase of AF / Distance (e.g. I=200%, MQM 150%)
AFxxxx op. by KL -> According to Farebase of AF / Distance (e.g. I=200%, MQM 150%)
AFxxxx op. by DL -> According to Farebase of AF / Distance (e.g. I=200%, MQM 150%)
DLxxxx op. by DL -> 5 Miles per USD of this concrete segment / (e.g. I= MQM 150%)
KLxxxx op. by WS -> No miles at all
KLxxxx op. by VS -> No miles at all
Is this correct? Thanks a lot
All ticketed on KL Stock (057)
AFxxxx op. by AF -> According to Farebase of AF / Distance (e.g. I=200%, MQM 150%)
AFxxxx op. by KL -> According to Farebase of AF / Distance (e.g. I=200%, MQM 150%)
AFxxxx op. by DL -> According to Farebase of AF / Distance (e.g. I=200%, MQM 150%)
DLxxxx op. by DL -> 5 Miles per USD of this concrete segment / (e.g. I= MQM 150%)
KLxxxx op. by WS -> No miles at all
KLxxxx op. by VS -> No miles at all
Is this correct? Thanks a lot