Delta (SONG) Price Drop

[mema4]

My flight to MCO dropped yesterday from $175 (from Newark, NJ) to $127. I called Delta (SONG) today and because my ticket is non-refundable they will only give me a credit voucher for a future trip to be used within one year. BUT they charge you the $25 "Change fee" because they reissue the ticket. The only thing that changed was their price - I didn't change my plane or seats or anything else. The credit voucher is fine but the change fee I don't understand this. Does this sound right? Any advice is appreciated. Kathy

 

[cigar95]

This has become pretty much the standard practice over the past year - in fact, most carriers make the charge $100 rather than $25. It's presumably all related to the revenue problems the major carriers are finding - hence once they have your money, they want to improve their chances of keeping it rather than returning part of it to the purchaser.

Only advice is, in the future, wait to purchase until you find a fare you're happy with.

Sorry there's not happier news.

 

[mema4]

I was happy with the $175 until I saw the $127. But thank you for answering because I know now that this is the way it is. I guess once you purchase your ticket - don't check the price after that. Just go to Disney and enjoy.

 

[KilleriMac17]

I was happy with the $175 until I saw the $127. But thank you for answering because I know now that this is the way it is. I guess once you purchase your ticket - don't check the price after that. Just go to Disney and enjoy.

what i recommend is watch the flight for many weeks or even months before you purchase your ticket, thats what me and the wife do, because the prices go up and down and up and down, we got our ticks on dec24th, and since then the prices have gone up over $200, BUT, a few weeks before we got them, thats what they were going for, so if you watch, you can then snatch up tics when they are cheaper(they usually seem to go up right after someone buys tics, then start to drop the longer no one buys tics)

 

[Patsfan7]

Hi! I replied on the other link that you had mentioned this problem.... but here it is:

That fee is definately something new, and/or the person made a mistake. I did mine all through the web, and was not charged any fee.

As an aside, Song called me with an automated message stating that my return flight times had been changed. The change in the time would have made it impossible to catch the last shuttle out of the airport. So, my husband called and got us put on another flight that ended up to be landing just ten minutes before our orriginal flight. We were not charged any change fees. So, I have found Song to be most accomodating.

You may want to e-mail their customer service department and comment that you do not think that you should have been charged the change fee since nothing had been changed. A price adjustment was made. See if that helps. As I said before, my rate had dropped twice for our September trip, and both times I got a full credit to the current price. Maybe the person was just inexperienced, or maybe new rules went into effect 1/1????? Worth a try to get the $25 back on each ticket!

Oh, and yes, all three times I have done these things new tickets were emailed to me. Did you have paper tickets instead of e-tickets maybe? My husband just had to fly to FLA for a funeral, and some of the airlines were only allowing paper tickets for the flights, and in turn when you went to finalize the purchase, they were charging an extra $25. Could this have been where the fee orriginated from? Let me know, because I have felt relatively safe in just purchasing my e-tickets, and then watching, knowing that I would be eligible for the voucher, but if this is their new policy I will be more careful in the future. Thanks.

 

[goofy4tink]

Patsfan7....did you get a refund or a voucher on-line when the price dropped? I tried that a year ago and was issued a voucher but there was a $25 fee per ticket. But I figured that $70 in my pocket was better than nothing. Also, how did you go about it on-line? Just curious since I had to actually speak to a person to do it. Thanks.

 

[mema4]

Patsfan7 and Goofy4tink: I made the reservations on-line on Delta's website - I was emailed my e-ticket (so it was not a paper ticket). When the price dropped I emailed customer service and I was told that I had to call to get the refund. When I called I was told that the $25 change fee is because they have to reissue the ticket and I said that nothing has changed only the price which was their change not mine. The gal that she doesn't make the rules she only has to enforce them. So I did email back to customer service from the SONG website this time and told them exactly what you said that I do not feel the $25 change fee was necessary because I didn't change anything. That was yesterday and I have not gotten an answer yet. I have been issued a $23 voucher. Maybe the change fee is something new as one of the poster's said because this happened to me two years ago and I didn't get charged any fees. Thanks for all the input and I will let you know when/if I receive an answer from SONG.

 

[Patsfan7]

I had orriginally purchased the tickets on-line, and was issued e-tickets. When the price dropped, I emailed them from their website. The vouchers were issued, at the same time I was emailed new e-tickets reflecting the new price. When the price dropped again, the same thing happened.

The other issue Song resolved I had forgot to mention. It was a big change, and again, they did not charge the $25 fee: We were in Orlando, scheduled to fly out during hurricane Jeanne. The night before the hurricane, we called Song at about eleven o'clock at night when it was announced that the Orlando airport was closing at ten a.m. Song re-booked us on a flight out of Tampa, and we were able to get out on time. (the disney hotel, as well as the rental car company did not charge any fees, and changed our reservations including refunds for time not used also) This was great rather than being stuck with no hotel room until we could get another flight out of Orlando!

I hope the beginning explained how I was issued the orriginal price adjustment vouchers. PM me if there is anything else I can tell you.

 

[mema4]

Patsfan7: When was this - maybe charging the change fee is something new.
If it was just recently then I will call them back again. Thanks-

 

[Patsfan7]

The price changes I had were just before our trip September 17-26 2004. The return was changed from MCO 9/26 to TPA 9/25/04. This change was made due to the hurricane. This took place on 9/24/04.

The change in flight times was for our upcoming trip 1/29/05. That call was made on 12/14/04, so about three weeks or so ago.

(I don't know if you had read my other posts about this, but Song had an automated call to our house to let us know that they had changed their flight schedule. Our orriginal flight would be taking off and landing an hour after it had been orriginally scheduled. This hour difference would make it impossible for us to disembark, get our luggage, and get on the last shuttle out of the airport all within 20 minutes, so we asked to be reassigned. They found room for us on a flight that would land just 10 minutes before our orriginal landing time, giving us over an hour to get on the last shuttle. They moved our seats, issued a new itinerary, and we were all set with no charges)

Good luck, and let us know how you make out!

 

[Patsfan7]

Wondering how you made out???
Thanks.

 

[vacanut]

My price dropped from $87 to $49, do you think its worth calling to get the price difference, do you think there will be problems with them rebooking my flight I'm SO afraid of potential mixups.