Change & Save: How I Plan To Save Hundreds On My Delta Tickets This Year

How To Change A Delta Ticket

One of the few silver linings of the pandemic has been some very consumer friendly changes by the airlines. Most notably has been many airlines allowing free changes. This is what has made the Southwest Rapid Rewards program so revered since before the pandemic. You could cancel Southwest award flights without penalty right up until take off. For cash tickets you could cancel even their cheapest fare class without penalty and get a voucher good for one year. Now the same can be said for many airlines, include Delta. Because of that I thought I would show you how to change a Delta ticket and how that can turn into big savings. I was able to do just that on my one way ticket to Las Vegas and rack up $70 in savings on a future flight.

How To Take Advantage Of Free Changes

Before we get into the details on how to change a Delta ticket I want to share some tips on how to save money with this opportunity. I will focus mainly on cash tickets although the same theory can be used on Skymiles / award flights. This also works for any other airline that now allows free changes. This advice assumes that you know you can use Delta vouchers in the future.

Book Early To Lock In Your Rate

The first tip is to book early on in the process to lock in your price and set the bar. Flights are often as cheap as possible early in the schedule.  By booking the flight you are setting your baseline price. You can then continue to check up until the travel date to see if the price has changed. You can then check on a set schedule, something like once a week, or set a price alert with flight tracking programs etc. If the price drops you can rebook the flight and use the voucher on another flight.

Just be aware that the voucher is good only for a year from when you booked the flight not from when the flight was to take place. So if you book it 9 months out it will expire 3 months after the flight was scheduled. You can use the voucher on any flights that come up in the meantime. If you are booking with Skymiles this isn’t an issue since the difference in miles is credited to your account.

Quick Search With Saved URLs

If you want to quickly check your flights once per week then save the URLs of your searches. You can do this on Google Flights or Delta and just click through them every so often and check the prices. Save them on a Google doc for easy reference anywhere. This is much quicker than manually searching each and every time.

Use The Vouchers With Amex Airline Incidental Credits

The one good thing about having Delta credits is they pair nicely with Amex airline incidental credits. If you use a voucher, or gift card, for part of the purchase you can book the rest with your Amex card and as long as the charge is $250 or less on the card it should trigger the credit. Be sure that Delta is your selected airline first. Check Flyertalk for the most up to date data points.

Disclaimer: Remember That These Credits Will Be Person Specific

One disclaimer I should make is that these eCredits are specific to the person the flight is booked for. Because of that I would not be as freely booking flights for non frequent flyers. I do this mostly for myself but may not be so adventurous with bookings for my wife since she doesn’t fly as often. She flies on cash tickets even less often.

Step By Step How To Change A Delta Ticket Guide

Now that we know why this is a valuable option I will get into the details on how to change a Delta ticket to save money. The really nice thing is you can cancel and rebook your flight at the same time. There is no need to do two separate activities. You could also switch it to another flight if a better routing becomes available for the same price etc.

Step 1: Log In & Select Modify Flight

First up is to select the flight you want to change. You will need to log into your account and select the appropriate flight. Once you locate and open the details of the flight you need to select the Modify Flight option.

Step 2: Select Change or Cancel Flight

After you select Modify Flight you will be brought to the screen to select if you simply want to cancel the flight or if you need to make changes to the flight. If you are looking to rebook at a cheaper price then select the change flight option.

Step 3: Select The Flight / Route You Want To Change

Since my flight was a one way booking I only had one option. If it was a round trip flight you would see more than one option. You could select to change only one of the flights, or multiple. It will all depend on your specific need.

Step 4: Select The New Delta Flight

Next up I went and selected the exact same flight that I had booked before. You could also choose a different one on the same day, or another day, if that better fits your needs. I simply wanted to rebook my current flight at the lower price. The savings amounted to just under $70. I have highlighted the credit above.

Step 5: Delta eCredits Are Saved

The really nice thing with Delta is that the E Credits are saved on your account.  You will still want to take a screen shot of the information and save it somewhere just in case.  As you can see it shows my credit amount and the expiration date. This date is a travel by date, not a book by date. So I need to use the credit, and fly, by the 24th of January 2023.

This date will normally be a year from when you booked the original flight. That is not the case here because of covid extensions etc. But it should be going forward for the most part.

Step 6: How To Use Your eCredit

Using your Delta eCredit is very simple as well. When you go to book your next Delta flight and you get to the payment section just select Use eCredits. Any credits that you currently have available with Delta should auto populate. Just select the ones you want to use and be on your way. You can use up to 5 eCredits per passenger on Delta tickets.

How To Change A Delta Ticket: Final Thoughts

I plan on taking advantage of free changes with Delta, and other airlines, for as long as it is around. This is the same way I have worked the Southwest Airlines program over the years to save hundreds of dollars and thousands of miles. If you play it right, you can have similar results. Remember to only do this speculatively if you know you will have use for the eCredits in the near future since they expire. If you are worried about having credits you can’t use then try to book with Skymiles instead if possible. This is how I plan on draining my Amex airline incidentals and it should cover a lot of my Delta domestic flights this year.

Let me know if you have been taking advantage of the free change rules from airlines as well down in the comments.

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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