Flight ticket changes/cancellations

[Howling Howie]

Hi. I purchased Delta tickets a few months ago for November and one of my children can no longer travel that date so I've decided to take along a playmate for my other child, thus needing a name change on the ticket. According to fare rules on this flight, I cannot make any changes, I can only cancel and rebook at another time for a $100 fee. In addition, the "new" person needs to book at current rate which is $75 than original price paid, essentially costing me $175 more. I do plan to go back again in February so I'm okay with the rebook. Anyone have ideas to bypass this? Because the kids are young, I need to keep the same flights, etc. It just seems ludicrous to pay $175 change fee for a ticket that costs about that much. Shame on me for not reading the fare fules I know, but I assumed it was the $25 I've paid in the past.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Howie,
I don't think there is anyway around this. And, just as and FYI, Delta express changes are 50.00, Song 25.00 and Delta 75.00.

 

[pnelson]

The only way around it is to leave the name as it stands. If they're young children, they usually don't ask for a birth certificate and they wouldn't have drivers licenses. I ran into this problem when I tried to book a ticket for a child we will be adopting. Since I don't know his name, I couldn't give them a name. It's a risk however to fly without a birth certificate even if they never ask, so I ended up not booking the ticket and hoping there will be a seat available when I have the child. But Delta was not willing to budge-even for special circumstances.

 

[Howling Howie]

Thank you for your replies. I called Delta directly and they said the change fee was $100 with the stipulations I've already mentioned(maybe because I purchased on Orbitz?).

PNelson: I actually considered this and spoke with my sister (it's her daughter I'd be taking, switching girl for girl). She doesn't have a problem with it, I just didn't know if there were only real safety reasons to be concerned about. We'd be travelling with her birth certificate in order to cruise out of the country.

I've explained to Delta that my ex will not allow my daughter to travel out of the country with me, but they will not make any exceptions unless I have a court order, etc. etc. and then its only a possibility that they will consider, hardly worth fighting for when she'd rather go to the parks in February anyways, instead of a dual trip.

Do you think there's any problem with the age differences, my daughter is 6, my niece is 12?

Thanks.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

The only problem I see is if you stated the age in the original reservation. Otherwise, none.

All the airlines have tightened rules and make very few exceptions, Delta is not the only one.