Can You Cancel Delta Award Ticket?

Can You Cancel Delta Award Tickets?

Delta is among the leading airlines in the global market and has a well-developed program of frequent flyer called SkyMiles. Most flyers often use their SkyMiles to purchase free award flights on Delta Airlines and other airlines that it has a codeshare agreement with. However, what if the plans of the traveler change and he or she needs to cancel the Delta award ticket reservation? This article focuses on the policies and regulations that have to do with canceling award flights that were booked through the SkyMiles loyalty program.

Delta Airlines Award Ticket Cancellation Policies

As a general rule, Delta SkyMiles award tickets are non-refundable and cannot be canceled for a refund or the redeposit of the miles into your SkyMiles account. 

However, there are some exceptions and policies that determine your options when it comes to cancelling or changing award travel booked through the SkyMiles program:

Change and Cancellation Fees for Award Tickets The COVID Delta has currently led to the Delta change and cancellation policy for Award tickets, where it has eliminated fees. This means that one can alter their origin/destination or calendar date of travel without any implication. It means that you will still be charged for any remaining miles if you decide to switch to a higher-class service.

Same Day Changes Allowed Award tickets booked with miles can also be changed on the same day of the flight without any extra charges, provided the origin and destination airports remain the same. You will just have to pay for the additional amount of the miles if the new flight has a higher mileage charge.

Additional charges for changes not under parameters mentioned above: Delta charges mileage redeposit fees in addition to any fare difference for changes on the award tickets. For domestic flights, there is a charge of miles plus the fare difference in case of changes. Flights that are international attract a fee of miles plus any difference in the fares for the new flight. All these fees are charged per passenger.

No Refund for Award Ticket Reservations Unlike paid tickets, you cannot get a refund or redeposit of miles once you cancel your award ticket reservations, except for taxes and fees. The miles are used while booking the ticket, and the passenger will not be able to use them again.

Changing Award Flight Dates Using Miles

As for the award tickets that are booked via SkyMiles, despite the fact that you cannot get a refund if you cancel it, you can always use the miles which were originally used for the canceled award ticket to book a new one. Here is how it works if you need to cancel but still want to use the miles for future award travel:Here is how it works if you need to cancel but still want to use the miles for future award travel:

Cancel the First Step: This means that the individual has to contact Delta reservations and cancel the award flight booking. Make it clear to the agent that you would like to use the miles from this reservation for another award ticket.

Mileage Deposit Fee For the Delta Airlines award ticket, charged Delta will cancel the ticket but retain the mileage redeposit fee that varies depending on whether it is a domestic or International trip. As mentioned earlier, domestic flights attract a standard fee while international flights attract a more costly redeposit fee.

number of miles used to reserve the first ticket will be redeposited into the member’s SkyMiles account less the applicable fee. Usually this process occurs as soon as possible and the miles are credited in the account after cancellation.

Once the miles have been repaid to the SkyMiles account, you can go ahead and book a new award ticket using the available miles. The only drawback is that you will need to pay for the redeposit fee in miles in addition to the amount required to pay for a new ticket.

Important Factors to Consider Before Cancelling Delta Award Flight

There are a few key things to keep in mind as you consider whether or not to cancel an existing SkyMiles award ticket booking:There are a few key things to keep in mind as you consider whether or not to cancel an existing SkyMiles award ticket booking:

• The miles used for the ticket cannot be exchanged for cash or be credited back to your account in terms of dollars.
• You will be required to pay the redeposit fees when redeeming the miles for future awards ticket. Domestic redeposit is cheaper compared to international redeposit.
• Award inventory is severely restricted; canceling does not necessarily mean that another award seat will be available on the new dates/flight that you prefer.
• It means redeeming SkyMiles for the redeposit fee means expending more miles than the cost of the ticket.

Alternatives To Outright Cancellation

Instead of canceling Delta award tickets, you may want to consider these options first:Instead of canceling Delta award tickets, you may want to consider these options first:

• 2021 Due to COVID waiver policy, change dates/flights if possible without fees.
• Flight change on the same day to any other flight with the same departure and arrival airports at an extra cost of additional miles.
• Availability: complimentary to standby on earlier/later flights on day of departure.
• If you yourself can’t use the ticket, better sell it to a relative or a friend who might need it. Unlike the American system, name changes are not permitted in the English system.

Although it turns out that award tickets are valuable, there is also a general understanding that there is less flexibility when it comes to them. Knowing what you have in terms of choices before cashing in your points helps you know whether the concept is still relevant. You can actually check Delta’s latest policies or call a SkyMiles agent if you have more issues on what applies given your redemption.

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