Question If Canceling a Delta Flight

[antmaril]

Can anyone tell me what happens if one person on a Delta reservation cannot travel and has to cancel. Can the other people on that same reservation still take the trip? Obviously, there is only one reservation number, but each person has their own ticket number.

I can’t find anything on the Delta website addressing this and when I call, the wait time is more than four hours!

Thanks!

 

[Brett Wyman]

Yes of course. Each person has a separate reservation number even when booked together or at the same time. The canceling person will receive a credit for future flight, minus any penalties of course.

 

[antmaril]

Yes of course. Each person has a separate reservation number even when booked together or at the same time. The canceling person will receive a credit for future flight, minus any penalties of course.

Thank you, but isn’t there just one reservation number? Each person would have their own ticket number, but everyone is on the same reservation number (when purchased together, of course). This is what I am concerned about. One person on the reservation can’t go, but the other two still can.

 

[Gitelfor]

Have you tried sending a DM to Delta on Twitter, noting your confirmation number, name of customer, to be cancelled, etc.?

 

[antmaril]

Have you tried sending a DM to Delta on Twitter, noting your confirmation number, name of customer, to be cancelled, etc.?

No, but I tried asking the question on the Chat feature on the Delta website and went around in circles. I haven’t purchased the tickets yet, so I think the best thing to do is to make theee separate reservations. I was hoping to make one reservation using my Delta Amex card, which would give each of us one free checked bag. I think the safest thing to do these days is to have three separate reservations.

Thahks for responding.

 

[wdp]

No, but I tried asking the question on the Chat feature on the Delta website and went around in circles. I haven’t purchased the tickets yet, so I think the best thing to do is to make theee separate reservations. I was hoping to make one reservation using my Delta Amex card, which would give each of us one free checked bag. I think the safest thing to do these days is to have three separate reservations.

Thahks for responding.

Delta can easily "divide" the reservation later if you end up not wanting to travel together. Those who are divided off of the original reservation will get a new confirmation number.

No problem changing a reservation for only a subset of travelers on that reservation.

There's some additional benefit to all being on the same reservation. If there's a flight disruption (schedule change, mechanical delay, weather delay, or anything else) then the computer will try to rebook all of you on the same flight. Even if separate reservations are manually "linked" by Delta reservations you can't count on this.

I would book it as one reservation and divide later if necessary.

If you have a non-Basic Economy ticket, fare differences (but no change fee) will apply to those making changes. If you have a Basic Economy ticket then fare differences PLUS a change fee will apply. (This is better than the old policy where BE tickets were "use it or lose it.")

One SMALL exception to everything said above about dividing your reservation If you use an American Express companion certificate (issued upon renewal of some DL Amex cards) then the two passengers booked with the buy-one-get-one must travel together. The paid passenger can fly without the companion passenger, in which case the companion ticket is forfeited, but the companion passenger cannot fly without the paid passenger.

 

[sam_gordon]

No, but I tried asking the question on the Chat feature on the Delta website and went around in circles. I haven’t purchased the tickets yet, so I think the best thing to do is to make theee separate reservations. I was hoping to make one reservation using my Delta Amex card, which would give each of us one free checked bag. I think the safest thing to do these days is to have three separate reservations.

Thahks for responding.

You don't need to book with your Amex to get everyone a free checked bag. Everyone just needs to be travelling with you. That might mean all on the same reservation, or the reservations be "linked", but you don't need to use the AmEx for that perk.

 

[antmaril]

You don't need to book with your Amex to get everyone a free checked bag. Everyone just needs to be travelling with you. That might mean all on the same reservation, or the reservations be "linked", but you don't need to use the AmEx for that perk.

Thank you. I have a call into Delta to link the reservations.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

I’ve done this - it goes by ticket not resv #
I understand your concern
It looks strange when I printed it out but that person no longer had a ticket - when I checked in using the resv # they did not come up

 

[butterscotchcollins]

I booked them separately. How do I link them?

At this point you’re better off calling the Delta # on the back of your Amex (or the Skymiles dedicated line if you have status) - and if you can’t wait on hold, use the callback feature.

 

[antmaril]

At this point you’re better off calling the Delta # on the back of your Amex (or the Skymiles dedicated line if you have status) - and if you can’t wait on hold, use the callback feature.

I am waiting for a call back. It should be in the next 15 minutes or so.

 

[antmaril]

I’ve done this - it goes by ticket not resv #
I understand your concern
It looks strange when I printed it out but that person no longer had a ticket - when I checked in using the resv # they did not come up

Good to know. Thanks. I did make separate reservations, but I have a call into Delta right now to link the reservations. That should do it for this trip.

 

[antmaril]

Delta called back (estimate was an hour and 20 minutes - it actually took two hours and 15 minutes). Anyway, the reservations are now linked and the agent confirmed that my travel companions will not have to pay for their first checked bags.

Thanks, everyone. I learned something new today!

 

[SirDuff]

Yes of course. Each person has a separate reservation number even when booked together or at the same time. The canceling person will receive a credit for future flight, minus any penalties of course.

No, no they don’t. If they were booked together, it is one reservation number.

However, you can drop one person (or some number less than everyone) without cancelling everyone’s booking.

 

[antmaril]

No, no they don’t. If they were booked together, it is one reservation number.

However, you can drop one person (or some number less than everyone) without cancelling everyone’s booking.

Yes, the Delta agent confirmed that if I had made one reservation for three people, I could have canceled someone from the reservation. She said that I would have to call Delta to make that happen, though. I told her that the wait times are very high. The first time I called it was 4.5 hours. She seemed quite surprised by that. I, then, told her that when I called this time it was an hour and twenty minute estimate, but it took over two hours to get her call back. Again, she seemed surprised. She said that in light of those long wait times, I did the right thing by making three separate reservations and linking them. So, I am all set.