Save Money with Same-Day Flight Change on Delta

I have multiple clients whose preferred airline is Delta, all of whom are Diamond Medallion with the airline. One insight that always surprises them is how Delta Same Day Change works. It is a great way to save a lot of money, especially for those paying for First Class.

Although Delta advises customers to request a Same-Day change during check-in or on the mobile application, I find the online implementation to be severely lacking. I have always had to call in, and on multiple occasions, escalate to a supervisor, who knows the exact policy and can make the change for me.

Saving Money on Travel

I am one of the few full service travel agents who helps people with their end-to-end itinerary planning. As part of my work, I often come across different opportunities to help customers save money. I hope to share some of my findings with the wider public. As usual, in the world of travel hacking, not everything will be shared publicly. Too much public exposure can often undermine the deal we work to get for our customers.

Other posts about saving money include:

• Save Money by Purchasing Two One-Way Ticket
• Save Money with Air Canada Same Day Change
• Save Money by Searching on Several Travel Portals
• Save Money by Checking Air Canada US Dollar and Air Canada Canadian Dollar Website
• Save Money by Checking WestJet US Dollar and WestJet Canadian Dollar Website
• Save Money on WestJet by Booking with a Travel Agent
• Save Money with Same-Day Flight Change on Delta

What is a Same-Day Flight Change?

A same-day flight change is a flight change that you make, during the check-in window of your originally scheduled flight, to another flight, departing within the same calendar day.

As an example, if I am flying from Seattle to Los Angeles, tomorrow, and I am booking the flight today, these are the options I would see. You will notice the following prices for flights in First Class:

• 6.15am departure is $1,060 in First Class.
• 3.45pm departure is $489 in First Class.
• 5.59pm departure is $669 in First Class.
• 7.59 and 9.50pm departure is $419 in First Class

If I had a client who needed to be on the 6.15am departure, I would purchase a 7.59pm departure (assuming it is past 7.59pm on 16 May 2024) and then ask for a same-day flight change to the 6.15am departure.

In total, they would save between $576 to $651, depending on their Delta Medallion status tier.

Anyone who books the 6.15am departure, essentially is unaware of the value derived from the Delta same-day flight change policy.

Same-Day Flight Change Policy

Every airline has a different policy. I have written about Air Canada Same Day Change, and their policy can be effective for both Business and Economy Class travelers. In my opinion, the same-day flight change policy on Delta is only valuable for First Class and Delta One tickets. The policy is:

• If you have a Delta One, Delta Premium Select or First Class fare, you may make a same-day change as long as there is a seat available in the purchased cabin or lower cabin.
• If you have a Delta Comfort+ fare, you may make a same-day change as long as there is a seat available in Comfort+ seat or Main Cabin seat.
• If you have a Delta Main Cabin ticket, you can only be rebooked in the same fare class as your original ticket.

The biggest benefit for First Class, Premium Select, Delta One and Comfort+, is that the same-day flight change is based on any seat availability on the flight. Delta Main Cabin same-day flight change is based on the fare class.

Why booking First Class is ideal for Delta Same-Day Flight Change

In my example above, you could not purchase a cheaper Main Cabin flight and same-day flight change to a more expensive flight.

That restriction does not apply to any premium cabin ticket for those flights. You can change to any flight, assuming there is revenue availability, within 24 hours of your original flight check-in time.

Conclusion

Understanding how same-day changes work can help save a lot of money. What’s saddening is, I find most agents, even the Diamond Medallion agents, not to be well versed in this topic. I’ve always had to get a supervisor involved. However, the money savings more than makes up for the time spent involving a supervisor.