…..when you book an award trip to Seattle on Delta using SkyMiles, need to change flight times, and then have to cancel the whole trip…that’s when. It’s not like Delta hides these fees, but still. I booked an award trip to Seattle several months ago in Delta First at 80,000 miles. A questionable decision in and of itself, but I didn’t know what else I’d use the miles for. A month or so later, it became apparent that I needed to reschedule my flights. Origin and destination remained the same…as did my connecting point, but Delta still charges $150 dollars for the privilege. I’ll admit, being accustomed to AA where simply changing flights without changing origin and destination can be done without a fee, I hadn’t bothered to check whether or not Delta charged for such changes. Had I done so, I would clearly see where Delta does indeed charge for this.
Better yet, as my luck would have it, I recently found out that other commitments would prevent me from taking the trip to Seattle. I called to cancel the trip, and was of course charged the customary $150 award redeposit fee. Moral of this story: be Platinum or Diamond Medallion if you plan on canceling an award trip with Delta! Again, it’s not like Delta hides these fees from view, but it still feels a little wrong to have donated $300 dollars to Delta in return for what, I’m not sure. At least I got the miles back. 🙂
I’m a Diamond and I avoid these fees but I agree Delta is the ABSOLUTE worse carrier for these gouging fees. I have always wondered how any company could stay in business when even your best customers think they are constantly being ripped off. This is the same airline who just raised Asia award rates, some over 100% overnight with no advance notice. United changed their award schedule, not as severe as Delta, and gave 90 days notice.
I have used delta miles for many years , they are THE worst airline when it comes to finding ways to put there hand in your pocket — I make my reservations many months in advance because that is the only way to get a date without paying triple miles , but hard to stick with them , my last reservation I ould not get a none stop Athens N.Y. so I booked via Paris biz class , yes got it for 100,0000 miles but cost $503.00 for tax and fees — now need to make a change on outbound… Read more »
I feel for you – I dropped 160K DL miles for my family of four to fly from SMF to MCO for a Disney Cruise this coming July. Within a few days of making the res, I realized I was off by a day. $600 in change fees later the only thing I am happy about is that my DL miles are all gone and I am NEVER going to fly DL again. I recently had similar experiences with AA and UA (and don’t hold status on either) and both waived their associated fees. Guess who has my loyalty now?
MJ, you have to learn how to play the delta game (if you can). Yes I am PM but my wife is GOLD for now. When I use her miles I book as far out as I can and then get a flight with as little connection time as I can (say 31 min if there is one to find). Then you can sit and wait for the connection time to change. Once they do that to you – fee is free – to change or cancel and put miles back!