Fees for Changing Delta Airlines Tickets

Your suitcase is packed and you are ready to go when the unexpected occurs — there’s an emergency meeting at work, or a family member is ill. Now you worry that your Delta Airlines ticket could pose a problem to change. Fortunately, Delta, like most major airlines, will allow you to make changes to your itinerary. How much or little you will pay for those adjustments, however, will depend on the fare rules of ticket you purchased.

Check your itinerary to see if your ticket is refundable or non-refundable. If it is fully refundable, you are in luck. You can adjust the dates of your trip or apply for a refund without any penalties or fees.

 If your ticket is nonrefundable, Delta’s fare rules call for a $150 penalty for modifications to domestic tickets and a whopping $250 fee for international, in addition to fare differences. The fare difference is the sum of your newly-changed ticket price less the cost of your original ticket.

 Note that if you purchased your Delta ticket from an online or retail agency or through another airline, you must be prepared to pay an additional $50 "external ticket handling charge," in addition to other fees and penalties levied for changes.

You can avoid these hefty fees if your domestic itinerary needs adjusting to another flight on the exact day as originally scheduled. Under those circumstances Delta will charge a flat $50 fee, providing seats are available. If your ticket is fully refundable, there is no fee for a same- day change to your itinerary.

Also if you discover you need to change your plans early enough, you can cancel your ticket for free and re-book a new itinerary. This applies to all domestic e- tickets bought from the Delta website, ticket counter or the reservations sales department. To qualify, the cancellation must be made by midnight the day after purchase.

Changes to tickets can be made on Delta’s website. Use your confirmation number to display your itinerary, select "change flights" and make adjustments to your travel. Penalties and fees, if any, will update automatically. Pay the amount due and new ticket numbers and confirmation number will be generated.

If you made reservations with traveling companions and you are only modifying one passenger’s itinerary, you cannot make the changes online. You must call Delta’s reservation center.