Delta Fees Increased August 1st

[shoes99]

Delta has increased their fees effective August 1st for the following:
These are the new fee:
Telephone ticket purchase $20 per ticket
Same Day Stand By $50 per ticket
Fee to Change Existing Reservations $75 per ticket

 

[danjoan14]

I guess it was a good thing that I booked my tickets on July 31st. Tickets going home to PVD from MCO were $104 pp for November. The next day, August 1st, the price was up to $165 pp. SWA prices are up to $250 pp. Thank you Delta!

 

[Jillpie]

okay, I can see the booking by phone fee going up, they want online booking use to go up.
But I certainly don't understand the same day stand by fee going up. I used that small perk in March with my son, they charged me 50.00 3 hours before we boarded to change our flight. Its was great. So why wouldn't they want to fill those empty seats, especially if they're going to stay empty? I'm talking a few hours before these flights take off? I don't get that one.

 

[CarolA]

I don't know. I complained and will monitor AirTran. While I don't like them, if they don't follow with these fees, I may move more of my leisure travel to them...... (I miss living in Nashville with SW!!!!)

 

[MrMarv]

CarolA----I don't blame you; I just finished a vacation which included three nights in Music City USA, and that airport is a breeze compared to some of the others I've flown through over the past twenty-plus years.

That was a very modest walk from the arrival gate to baggage claim to the Hertz counter to my rental car.

Why can't all airports be that simple to navigate????????

 

[GoldenOldie]

...But I certainly don't understand the same day stand by fee going up. I used that small perk in March with my son, they charged me 50.00 3 hours before we boarded to change our flight. Its was great. So why wouldn't they want to fill those empty seats, especially if they're going to stay empty? I'm talking a few hours before these flights take off? I don't get that one.

I disagree. Even though you are flying the same day, you are still changing your reservation. They *could* charge you the $75 fee but they give you a break at $50.

You may look at it as filling an otherwise empty seat but the airlines look at it as you changing your reservation and now leaving an empty seat on your original flight. It takes their counter rep time and effort to make the change on both flights (new and original) and they charge you for it.

Besides, with flights being as full as they are these days, I don't really think this one will be much of an issue in the overall scheme of load management.

 

[CarolA]

I disagree. Even though you are flying the same day, you are still changing your reservation. They *could* charge you the $75 fee but they give you a break at $50.

You may look at it as filling an otherwise empty seat but the airlines look at it as you changing your reservation and now leaving an empty seat on your original flight. It takes their counter rep time and effort to make the change on both flights (new and original) and they charge you for it.

Besides, with flights being as full as they are these days, I don't really think this one will be much of an issue in the overall scheme of load management.

Counter Rep? WHAT COUNTER REP?????? They do NADA!!! I did ALL of this on thier stupid Kiosks. As I pointed out in my complaint I can't even find Counter Reps in ATL to TAKE THE BAGS AFTER I check in.

That's my complaint. I am paying to "self serve"??? And today that costs MORE then it did a week ago? HOW????

I actually have done it fairly often so it is an issue!

 

[cigar95]

Carol, I'm assuming that your question is rhetorical, since we already know the answer - if a big enough sector of the public is willing to pay $75 for a service, then the company is wasting their money by charging only $50 for it.

That's the thing about services that are provides as a "convenience", above and beyond the basic service - they're equivalent to a "luxury", so it's easier to raise prices.

 

[CarolA]

Well, today I decided to spend an extra hour in the Delta Crown Room drinking the booze rather then pay the $50 to Delta.

I sent them an email outlining both the "lost revenue" (i.e., the $25 they would have gotten before) and the "cost" (i.e., the booze I will consume) LOL!

I have a feeling I won't be alone. Wonder if they might see an increase in time spent and "booze" consumed in the Crown Room LOL!!!! It would serve them right!

Actually the $50 stand by fee is not what burned me up, it's the $75 change fee. I have tickets purchased where that's half the value!!! So now I will start buying them on SW again and just driving the two hours to Birmingham for those trips that "might" not occur. It was cheaper to pay DL the $50 but gas isn't that high.... so DL just lost that revenue.....

 

[triplefigs]

I called Delta yesterday to change our Sept tickets to Feb. I was extremely sweet when they told me about the increase in change fee by $25. I asked if there was a manager I could speak to to have the increase waved, and they did wave it! WTG, Delta! Only cost me $100 to change 5 tickets (the new ticket was a little cheaper).

 

[CarolA]

According to Flyertalk.com they are SUPPOSE to honor the conditions when you purchased. So if you purchased before 8/1 I would ask the fee to be changed BACK to the old amounts.

Thier idiot Kiosk yesterday tried to charge me $50 to change a FULL FARE Y CLASS ticket. NOPE. That's not a "standby" that's a confirmed change and should not have a fee (as the counter rep quickly assured me when I FINALLY got to her. Milwaukee has exactly two reps and one customer was trying to fly unaccompanied minors to Germany without paying the fee. Delta was having NONE of that and I don't blame them!)

Delta did sent me a nice apology for that screw up on the idiot Kiosk!

 

[NancyIL]

My little airport has American and Northworst. I like flying American, but I don't like their $100/ticket change fee. We had Delta for a few years, and I flew that to Orlando several times. I got disgusted with them a year ago when they pulled out of here and I had to fly out of a different airport for my Thanksgiving trip using Delta miles. Their dropping of my seat assignment every time a flight number or time changed was the last straw. Thank goodness the miles are used up and I never have to fly Delta again.

I will fly AirTran out of Bloomington, IL (1 hour away, free parking) if the fare is $40 or more lower than flying out of my home airport. We're flying AirTran out of Indianapolis on Thanksgiving morning (2 hours away, $8/day parking) because the difference in airfare for 3 people was worth the price of gas and parking. I had already bought our AirTran tickets for Thanksgiving when Southwest released its schedule for late November - at lower fares. However, Southwest's non-stop flights were at less optimal times than AirTran's, and would've required driving to Indy the night before and staying in a hotel. As I posted in another thread - AirTran changed our return flight time by 4 hours, but I called and they changed us to a later non-stop flight back to Indy.