What if your flight drops in price?

Hello...in my previous posts I've indicated that this will be my second time ever on a plane.

 

We have already purchased Our roundtrip flight from JFK to Barcelona for an upcoming cruise next end of April on Delta

 

All if a sudden today, the same flight we paid for dropped $167.00 each or, $334.00.

 

We booked Economy, then paid extra for Economy Comfort seats.

 

I know there are no refunds on our tickets, but I was wondering if anyone knows Delta's policy, if there is one, as to whether or not they will give you the lower price, or, provide a credit for future use.

 

I could not find any information on this, and wasn't sure what department of Delta to dial on the phone to ask.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

They most likely won't do that. Airfare is one the the few things not understood by mankind. You (almost) never know when they release sales and when to purchase your tickets.

Thanks for your reply. It's not a big deal that the price dropped so drastically. I just didn't have enough knowledge to understand as to whether or not they would credit you the difference.

 

Someone at my work said if a Delta flight drops more than $200, then they would issue the difference as a credit...know ever, they might be incorrect.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Depends on the airline and of course, the fare. It's called "rollover". The flight itinerary has to be identical. Doesn't hurt to call and ask. Used to be no minimum/no charge but I doubt if they are so lenient these days

The Delta sight says they do issue a credit for a future flight, but also charge a $250 change fee on international flights. Not sure how requesting a price refund credit is a change fee since nothing to the original flight is being changed.

 

And, listen to this. Since I'm a new flier, I found this shocking, but probably not to most of you.

 

Our flights are from Syracuse, NY to Barcelona, round trip with a plane change at JFK each way.

 

I paid $1224 each.

 

Tonight the same flights are $1075 each.

 

But here is the strange thing.

 

Round trip from JFK to Barcelona on the exact same flights, just taking out the Syracuse flight portions, is $1162!!!

 

How can the JFK to Barcelona round trip cost $87 more per ticket than the round trip from Syracuse?

 

That means the Syracuse to JFK and back flight are costing nothing. Delta is actually giving he person booking this flight a free $87 back to fly.

 

Anyway...I guess I was surprised by these strange prices.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

How can the JFK to Barcelona round trip cost $87 more per ticket than the round trip from Syracuse?

 

Because a lot of people will pay extra for direct non-stop flights.

We'll, once we get to JFK from Syracuse, we will be direct and non stop too. So I guess even though there is no choice but to fly from Syracuse to JFK, people should enjoy the FREE flight from Syracuse.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

The Delta sight says they do issue a credit for a future flight, but also charge a $250 change fee on international flights. Not sure how requesting a price refund credit is a change fee since nothing to the original flight is being changed.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Delta will give you the new, lowered price on your present itinerary. However as you have noted there will be a $250 change fee per person for the international ticket. Even though there is no itinerary change, you would be changing your fare class and that's why the change fee comes into play. The only time it's worth doing is if the new fare more than offsets the change fee.

Depends on the airline and of course, the fare. It's called "rollover". The flight itinerary has to be identical. Doesn't hurt to call and ask. Used to be no minimum/no charge but I doubt if they are so lenient these days

BRRRPP.

 

No such thing as "rollover". Changes do not need to be to same flights, but they are subject to change fees.

The Delta sight says they do issue a credit for a future flight, but also charge a $250 change fee on international flights. Not sure how requesting a price refund credit is a change fee since nothing to the original flight is being changed.

Because you are, in effect, cancelling the old ticket and purchasing a new one utilizing the newer fare. And "fare" does NOT mean the same thing as "price".

How can the JFK to Barcelona round trip cost $87 more per ticket than the round trip from Syracuse?

Because fares are not on a "cost" basis, but on a "city pair market" basis. IOW, they don't do "cost plus" pricing, but rather what the supply/demand is between city pairs. In this case, SYR-BCN has a lesser demand than JFK-BCN. Or JFK-BCN has a higher demand. Pick your point of reference.

That means the Syracuse to JFK and back flight are costing nothing. Delta is actually giving he person booking this flight a free $87 back to fly.

Not really. They are merely charging the fellow in NYC $87 more - to get to BCN. That's the key factor, the city pairs. Not the distance or the routing.

Anyway...I guess I was surprised by these strange prices.

Not strange....actually economically efficient, in the academic sense.

Hello Novastar...I haven't checked yet, but if for some reason my flight and price paid has the same fare code as the same flight with new, lower price, would that mean that $250 change fee might not apply?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Because a lot of people will pay extra for direct non-stop flights.

Not at all relevant in this case. It's a matter of the demand and price elasticity for specific city-pairs.

 

That's two.

Hello Flyer Talker....as always...thank-you very much for your input and airline lesson. I'm learning a lot from you and others as we prepare for our trip. All of your helpful information has been most welcome.

 

Dave

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Hello Novastar...I haven't checked yet, but if for some reason my flight and price paid has the same fare code as the same flight with new, lower price, would that mean that $250 change fee might not apply?

It might be in the same fare bucket, but I would highly doubt that the underlying "fare" is the same. This is how airlines manage price and inventory....there are dozens of "fares" between two cities, with designated prices for each. Sometimes "fares" are available, sometimes not.

 

And to conclude this....if you make a change, ANY CHANGE, you will be subject to the change fee. I know you want the money....unfortunately you aren't going to be getting it.

 

The only exception is if the change is made in the first 24 hours (or midnight the next day, depending on airline) after booking AND the fare rules allow for that cancellation.

 

Sorry to be harsh, but you bought a non-refundable ticket with provisions for $250 fees, per ticket, for changes. By making your purchase, you agreed to those fare rules.

 

Thought problem: Now that the price changed, you want other rules and a refund. Would you want the airline to be able to charge you more later if the price went up?

Hello Novastar...I haven't checked yet, but if for some reason my flight and price paid has the same fare code as the same flight with new, lower price, would that mean that $250 change fee might not apply?

 

No, that won't happen unfortunately. You will be charged the change fee, according to Delta's website, if Delta introduces a new fare or reduces a current fare and you choose to make the change to the new fare.

Hi Flyer Talker...yes, it would be great to get a refund, but it's not the end of the world and, I won't be dwelling over it. As I had mentioned earlier, I had no idea what the rules were. Since you have explained them to me, I now understand, and, can easily live with them.

 

Thank-you again .

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

The Delta sight says they do issue a credit for a future flight, but also charge a $250 change fee on international flights. Not sure how requesting a price refund credit is a change fee since nothing to the original flight is being changed.

 

It may help the thought process to consider airfares as a commodity, no different from stocks. The price constantly fluctuates based on supply and demand at any instant. Airlines have sophisticated, automated, and proprietary "yield management" software to adjust supply in reaction to demand...the goal being to maximize total profit. No different than electronic high-speed trading of stocks.

 

To your comment quoted ^^^, this is no different than buying shares of XYZ Corp. at $50/share....a week later it's $45. Of course you can't expect the brokerage to rebate $5 per share, even though it's exactly the same stock.

 

How can the JFK to Barcelona round trip cost $87 more per ticket than the round trip from Syracuse?

 

The good old supply/demand thing again. The price is not XX cents/mile like a taxicab, you are paying for transportation from SYR-BCN and demand is different on that city pair than JFK-BCN. Not surprisingly, the fares you found suggest more people in NY City want to fly to BCN compared to SYR. And if you could poll all the JFK-BCN travelers on the plane there will be many different fares paid with probably a 5x or 10x range for passengers in the same cabin!

 

Since convenience translates to demand, flights at convenient times with the shortest travel time will have the highest fares. A JFK-BCN nonstop at 9am is usually more expensive than a 2am nonstop, or a JFK-DFW-BCN connecting flight with a 6 hour layover.

 

Hope this unveils some of the mystery.

Edited August 15, 2014 by kenish

Thanks Kenish for your educational reply. This has been a whole new world to me, but, very exciting and informative. Everything you and others have pointed out, makes complete sense.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

We'll, once we get to JFK from Syracuse, we will be direct and non stop too. So I guess even though there is no choice but to fly from Syracuse to JFK, people should enjoy the FREE flight from Syracuse.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I am working on a flight from Washington DC to Bali Indonesia. I have found several "unexplainable" facts for this flight. It costs almost $900 more if you book the IAD to NRT (Tokyo) non-stop than if you add a 7 hour flight to Jakarta (CGK) to the exact non-stop. If you actually go past Bali to Jakarta and then take the 30 minute flight back you save at least $700 in economy. It can be 75K miles roundtrip for this flight but the IAD to NRT is 80K. I can fly to SFO for that 75K but it costs me 80K to go through any NYC airport. I have had months of "fun " trying a million variations on these flights as literally it is half way around the world and clocks in between 25 hours and 43 hours. In this case the long stopover (go to a hotel and take a rest in Tokyo/Hong Kong/ or other hub) is key -- if you lay over lasts more than 24 hours then it is a stopover and costs hundreds more. (one layover I found is 23 hours and 25 mins:p). What I have not found is any sale fares. Any special deals so far are ending Dec. 15 , 2014. Maybe next month when summer vacations are over.

Because a lot of people will pay extra for direct non-stop flights.

 

What is a direct non-stop flight? Direct flights and non-stop flights are two different things.

Dave4120,

The only way you can make a legal change to your itinerary is if the flight times change and your connection at JFK is compromised. (A legal connection time and a change of more than an hour could both be addressed here.) With Delta this is always a possibility so do monitor your reservation. If this should occur CALL - do not change it online as the website has the tendency to charge that dreaded $250 when the adjustment should be free.

We fly Delta almost exclusively and a reservation I made last Wednesday has already had a time change...par for the course.

And, Delta only allows one itinerary change for its less frequent flyers so do come back here if the expected should happen.

Monitor your flights too for aircraft changes which may, or may not, change your seats no matter which cabin you have booked.

Hello ALCPA1...thank you very much for pointing out some circumstances where we might be able to benefit based on an airline changing planes and or times.

Being new to flying in general, I have noticed when just browsing around on Delta's site, that many of their flight times and flight numbers change quite often. The aircraft used seems to be maintained more often than not.

 

If I understand you correctly, if I notice a price drop that also includes a flight time change and flight number change, I have a one time opportunity to re-book our current flight?

 

When a flight time changes and/or a flight number, do they automatically re-assign our Economy Comfort seats, where I have to be on top of this and call them right up to get the seats back we originally had before they made the change?

 

Thanks again for your help, and most if all, for your time educating us.

 

Dave

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Yes must say that I am also very appreciative of this information

 

I will remember for soon up

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

If I understand you correctly, if I notice a price drop that also includes a flight time change and flight number change, I have a one time opportunity to re-book our current flight?

Not exactly. You need more than just a change, it needs to be of some significance and you'll be moving to a different itinerary. A change of five minutes - nope. Also, if your time changes and you keep that changed flight, you don't have any claim for a ticket reissue and price adjustment.

 

Let's try an example...you have a flight from XYZ to Atlanta which connects to an international departure to ABC. The XYZ flight changes so that you would misconnect at ATL, so you need to switch to an earlier flight and that has a lower price. Now you can request the difference back. Or say the flight from ATL to ABC moves earlier. Same type of situation.

 

Unfortunately, I can't find a current DL webpage that definitively spells this all out. Likely because they don't want to promote that info any more than is absolutely necessary. I can say that you need at least an hour's time change (or to a sub-standard MCT) for you to try to claim this. The hour+ justification is a "disruption" to your travel plans, the second is that you no longer have a legal connection if your time is less than the MCT (Minimum Connection Time). And the hour is number that varies from airline to airline, and sometimes agent to agent. Wish I had hard numbers for you - perhaps someone else can provide.

When a flight time changes and/or a flight number, do they automatically re-assign our Economy Comfort seats, where I have to be on top of this and call them right up to get the seats back we originally had before they made the change?

There is no hard and fast answer. I've had times where there's been significant changes and the seats hold firm. Other times, they mix the deck. The big key is if the equipment changes. That usually results in seat re-assignments. On DL, this can be especially problematic if you have 757 equipment for your flight, since DL has multiple versions of this aircraft with different seating configurations. All 757s are not the same and sometimes they will swap models. So, I would be more alert with that airplane than others in the DL fleet.

Thanks again for your help, and most if all, for your time educating us.

I think I can speak for many here....we've learned bits and pieces over the years, sometimes through the school of hard knocks. For those who want to genuinely want to learn how this all works, we're more than happy to help. Sometimes with bad news, but always with the goal of a more informed and savvy consumer.

Look on the bright side: if the price had gone up, they couldn't have charged you the difference.

 

We once had a case with Delta where a price drop was more than the cost of the change fee so we switched, but that's rare. Once had to cancel a trip on United due to family health emergency and they waived the change fee, but the rise in fare more than made up the difference, so we paid a lot more than we originally would have.

 

Looking at DL now for an international trip in November and prices seem to be rising. Haven't booked yet because my wife's plans aren't yet set.