refund on return half of RT ticket, Delta

[NoWhiners]

Hi all

 

Hoping for some help from you more experienced flyers. We are taking a cruise out of Rome in late October. We booked RT air thru Delta, comfort+ to/from ABQ, and paid the small additional amount for changeable/refundable fares. Since then, we found a TA that we have booked and now we don't need the return half of the ticket. Can we get a refund for just this part? I have looked on Delta's site and can't find this exact answer and will keep checking. I also searched these boards with no luck (so far)

 

I am thinking it might be faster to just ask here and then contact Delta to pursue this. If I can't get a refund on just the return trip, do you think I could cancel the whole flight and just book a one-way premium or business fare, sort of a re-booking?

 

Thanks for any assistance. If it helps, the flights from Rome FCO are on Nov 14, Delta 67 connecting to ATL then Delta 1691 to ABQ.

[FlyerTalker]

Completely depends on the faring for the ticket.  If it was priced as requiring a round trip purchase, then you likely get no refund for the way back.  If it was a combination of two one-ways, you likely can get the second one back.  However, your description of "changeable/refundable" doesn't clarify if you receive it back as a flight credit or a refund to your method of payment.  Same with the issue of whether you have a change fee attached or not.

 

Only the specific fare rules for your ticket can answer these questions.  If you have the full fare basis code (not just a single letter) you could probably look it up through ExpertFlyer.  Or perhaps from the DL webpage for your ticket.

 

And yes, the devil is in the details.  There is no blanket answer for all tickets.

[NoWhiners]

Now that you explained it, that makes sense. The tickets are listed as RT and that's how I looked for flights, not 2 one-ways. When we booked refundable it said "back to original form of payment". As to the full fare basis code  or not, I don't see any letters (like the usual Y, sometimes W) but I do have the ticket numbers. Where can I find the full fare basis code?  I also don't see where Delta explains the fare rules but it does say I can change or cancel and shows some rules (like full refund to original form of payment if we cancel).

 

Do you have any hints/ideas where I can look (besides the Delta site, which so far hasn't really helped)? I could go in and try to cancel and see if it lets me cancel just the return, but that seems risky...

[6rugrats]

Your ticket was priced as a round trip.  If you cancel the return, it may reprice as a one way and the price may be higher than your RT ticket.  Is there some reason you just don’t call DL and ask them?

[NoWhiners]

3 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

Your ticket was priced as a round trip.  If you cancel the return, it may reprice as a one way and the price may be higher than your RT ticket.  Is there some reason you just don’t call DL and ask them?

 

Yes, I can call but I am trying to understand the playing field better and I don't expect it to be easy to get any info out of Delta. Even pre-covid, they could be hard to deal with and it seems like most companies love just having you hold for hours only to not provide much in the way of service.

 

I suppose I can check one-way fares on DL online, then call and ask if we can cancel the return leg. If not, maybe just cancel and re-book a one-way fare.

 

Does anyone know any better/smarter ways to do this?

[NoWhiners]

Just an update--I called DL. 4.5 hour wait!!

 

So, I guess whatever I'm going to do, it will be online  😁

[6rugrats]

You could check a one way fare for your same flights.  If it’s more than a round trip, just keep what you have and no show on the return.

I have found calling at odd hours results in less of a wait.

[NoWhiners]

That's a good thought.

 

I actually did check one-way fares, more than half but not awful. So I booked a one-way for both of us. Then went to cancel the RT. All was well until it told me "enter a valid email", which of course, I had. The very same email they had just sent my flight confirmation and receipt to.

 

Went back in to MyTrips and guess what--"can't find that confirmation number"!!

 

I think I will start again tomorrow, maybe the hold time will go down to something reasonable, like 3 hours 😁 How odd should the hours be--really late by ET, really early? We live in the Mountain time zone so that helps.

 

I would like to have something that confirms I canceled...not that I don't trust them or anything.

 

Thanks for your help.

[texasstar]

I have called Delta in the early evening, and they gave me the option to have a call back.  They actually called back earlier than expected and helped me with the problem.

[NoWhiners]

That's what I was hoping they would do. I was a bit surprised when the message said 4.5 hour wait and no option for a return call. Maybe Sunday is bad. I'm going to try tomorrow. I have to call; right now, I don't know if my RT tix were canceled and if my refund is on the way or what.