How To Change Your Delta Airlines Flight For Free, Step By Step Instructions
One of the few good things that came out of this pandemic is airlines have rolled back some of their terrible fees. Things like close in booking fees, flight cancellations fees and flight change fees have been removed. These are punitive charges that frequent flyers have put up there in the hall of shame right next to resort fees. Don’t get me wrong, this change is solely because of the uncertainty of the world and travel right now. The airlines know that people are unlikely to book flights these days without an out clause. So let’s not all celebrate them, because I am sure these fees will be back as things normalize, but it is something we can take advantage of right now. Wouldn’t you just happen to know that I had to do just that. The process was easy like a Sunday morning! I wanted to do a quick step by step guide for you on how to change your Delta Airlines flight for free.
Delta’s Current Ticketing Rules
Here is the breakdown on Delta’s current rules.
- Until March 31, 2021
- Tickets originally purchased between March 1, 2020 and March 30, 2021, can be changed without a change fee* for up to a year** from the date you purchased it.
- After March 31, 2021
- For Delta tickets purchased in 2021 (after the expiration of our Peace-of-Mind Purchasing waiver for all travel purchased through March 30, 2021), we’ve eliminated change fees and Award redeposit fees permanently for Delta tickets purchased for travel originating from North America to anywhere in the world (excluding Basic Economy fares).
Their full terms can be found here.
Step By Step Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions on how to change your Delta Airlines flight for free:
Step 1
Log into your Delta Airlines Skymiles account. If you don’t already have a frequent flyer account you should. They are free and Delta Skymiles never expire so you might as well collect them for every flight you take.
Step 2
Once logged in select my trips at the top of the site, or app, and then select the trip you need to change. Once you have that pulled up select modify flight which is highlighted to the right.
Step 3
Next you will want to select if you want to change your flight or cancel it. If you cancel it you will get a voucher to use for a future flight. The voucher will be good for one year from when you purchased it originally. I needed to change my flight since my parents recently moved and I needed to fly into a different airport.
Step 4
Once you select to change your flight you will be brought to this screen. It will have your original flight options populated. You could just change the dates if you wanted or change the airports, or both! There really are no rules, you could change both airports and the dates and even add in an extra flight if you wanted to. You will need to pay the difference but this is like using the voucher you would have received for cancelling in real time.
Step 5
The final step is when it is time to pay the piper. As you can see my new flights were about $50 more than my original flights that I am changing. I had to pay the difference but this is a lot cheaper than the change fee I would have normally had to pay on top of it.
I also wanted to point out the MQM and miles earned estimate in the lower left on this screen. That is an easy way to see what type of return you are getting on the flight and to check your status quest progress.
How To Change Your Delta Airlines Flight For Free – Final Thoughts
This process was quick, simple and intuitive. I was thinking I may need to call in to make this work like we had to back in March and April. But Delta has gotten their stuff together and made this a simple process. It is like I am flying Southwest but on Delta 😁.
Hopefully my instructions on how to change your Delta Airlines flight for free is helpful. There is no need to fear the process and it is helpful for anyone that needs to make a more speculative flight booking. I hopefully won’t need to use this option again in the future but I am glad to know it is there available to me.
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Mark, I have two paid tickets on Delta one way, JFK-FCO for October 2021. I purchased the tickets in November,2020. I was going to take a cruise out of FCO to Dubai. The cruise was cancelled. So if I change or cancel the tickets, will I only have two months to use a new one or voucher? November/December 2021?
Thanks
Yeah if you wait till the end to make the cancellation you would only have until the date in November to rebook. That is my understanding of their terms at least.
On a different note, United is still lying about getting rid of redeposit fees on awards tickets. I have a flight for August 2021 booked with points (I booked it after United made the announcement that they were getting rid of redeposit fees) and if I try to cancel on the website, it says there is a $75 redeposit fee.
I would try reaching out via Twitter or calling in and see if it is an IT glitch or what is going on.
Wonder how the $49.60 will code. I’ve had a terrible time using my Amex credits on Delta recently, made worse by Bethany showing screen shots of Chats where she got reimbursed for stuff that I didn’t.
I wondered if it would trigger the credit or not too. I just use Southwest (easiest) or buy seats on a low cost carrier myself. Has made my life a lot easier.