UPDATE 12/14/20: I finally got word back from a Delta spokesperson that this announcement applies not just to paid tickets, but to awards as well!
Where you lead, I will follow…
It used to be that American Airlines and United would copy Delta whenever they made changes, but the roles have temporarily been reversed and it’s Delta going all Gilmore Girls and following the lead of American Airlines by permanently eliminating international change fees.
You can find Delta’s full announcement here. The permanent removal of change fees on international flights applies to travel originating from North America and has come into immediate effect. That’s applicable not only on flights operated by Delta but codeshare and joint venture partners too.
The notable exclusion to this is that Basic Economy fares will continue to have change fees which is the same stance that American Airlines took.
In addition to the permanent elimination of change fees, Delta also announced that they’re extending their existing waiver of no change fees for all travel on tickets purchased through March 30, 2021. That incorporates Basic Economy fares and international travel originating outside of North America.
When American Airlines made their announcement, United advised that they’d be extending their change fee waiver. With this latest policy change by Delta though, I suspect we’ll get an announcement in short order from United advising that they’ll permanently remove change fees on international flights too. What’ll be interesting to see is if they decide to one-up American and Delta by including Basic Economy fares seeing as those are still excluded by the other two airlines. It’d be nice to continue seeing a race to the top rather than bottom.
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[…] week, we saw Delta permanently remove international change fees and United followed suit soon after by also removing change fees (albeit with a poor policy if you […]
What about fees for changes or rebanking miles on award tickets? That was covered for domestic flights – is that included in this announcement?
It wasn’t included in the announcement, but I was told today by Delta that yes, award fee changes are included too.
Fantastic – thanks for the follow up Greg! This paired with lifetime Gold status means Platinum just isn’t that interesting anymore, so I’ll focus on other things.
[…] today we reported that Delta would be permanently removing change fees on international flights originating from the […]
Love the Gilmore girls reference!!
Thanks! My wife binge-watched it so that song got stuck in my head for weeks.
[…] 12/9/20: Delta has eliminated change fees for Delta tickets when flying from North America to anywhere in the…. Additionally, Delta has extended the existing waiver of no change fees for all tickets purchased […]
Yes. Thank you for the info. Any chance you could consolidate all the current rules on changes and cancellations by airline?
Yep, that’s something Greg’s working on right now 🙂
xlnt. thanks for the heads up