This schedule change and irregular operations policy provides you with the options to either accept the reaccommodation provided by Delta, offer customers alternate reaccommodations without the need to contact Delta for assistance, or to issue ticket refunds to customers as outlined below. The guidelines below are effective for travel on/after October 28, 2024. 

Applies to:

• All Points of Sale – Domestic and International Travel
  • “Domestic” means scheduled flights within and/or between the U.S. and U.S. Territories
  • “International” means scheduled flights to/from the U.S. or U.S. Territories and points outside of the U.S. and U.S. Territories
  • “U.S.” means the 50 states comprising the United States of America and the District of Columbia
  • “U.S. Territories” means Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam
• Itineraries issued on DL-006 ticket stock
• Schedule changes and irregular operations described below under the “Schedule Change and Irregular Operations Rebooking Guidelines” header
• Delta-marketed flights (including flights operated by Delta Connection carriers or other codeshare partners)

Schedule Change and Irregular Operations Rebooking Guidelines

To qualify for a complimentary change, the schedule change or irregular operation must meet one of the following guidelines:

• A flight cancellation
• An earlier departure of:
  • For tickets issued prior to October 28, 2024, 120 minutes or more for domestic and international itineraries
  • For tickets issued on or after October 28, 2024, 180 minutes or more for domestic itineraries or 360 minutes or more for international itineraries*
• A later arrival of:
  • For tickets issued prior to October 28, 2024, 120 minutes or more for domestic and international itineraries
  • For tickets issued on or after October 28, 2024, 180 minutes or more for domestic itineraries or 360 minutes or more for international itineraries*
• Departing from or arriving at a different airport than originally scheduled
• A change in the routing which adds one or more stops to the original itinerary
• A downgrade to a lower class of service
• A flight number change
• A change in operating carrier, for example from Delta Mainline to Delta Connection carrier, or vice versa
• Any change that causes a misconnect

Where the impacted passenger is a passenger with disabilities and the schedule change or irregular operation results in a change in aircraft that means one or more accessibility features needed by the passenger are unavailable, please contact GSS for assistance.

*Where multiple schedule changes may, in the aggregate, result in an earlier departure or later arrival time described above, please contact GSS for assistance.

Note: PNRs eligible for a complimentary change are also eligible to cancel their itinerary and request a refund of the unflown portion of the ticket, in lieu of making the complimentary change.  Additional details are outlined below.

Schedule Change Handling in the GDS

If the affected PNR meets one of the guidelines above, to process the schedule change, the travel professional must:

• Reconcile the agency PNR by removing (cancelling) old or changed segments in the PNR (Please contact your GDS help desk as needed to determine the proper status codes).
• Determine if the schedule change is acceptable:
  • If the schedule change is acceptable and the ticket has been revalidated, no further action is required.
  • If the schedule change is acceptable, but the ticket has not been revalidated, the ticket will need to be reissued. Please follow “Required Documentation for Reissue” below.

Rebooking Options for Unacceptable Schedule Change or Irregular Operations

• The new flight may be rebooked in the same O&D or alternates within a 100 Mile radius of the original flight
• The new flight may be rebooked in the same Cabin (Cabin to Cabin)
  • Rebook the new flight in the same Class of Service if available
  • For Main Cabin fares - If the same Class of Service is not available, rebook in the next available class of service, up to Y Class
  • All other cabins – The new flight may be rebooked in the same Class of Service if available, or the next available class of service, same cabin
• The new flight may be rebooked two days before or two days after the original flight date (+/- 2 days). 
• Reaccommodations must be on a DL-marketed and DL-operated flight or a DL-Connection flight
  • For flights impacted within 72 hours of departure, customers may also rebook on a JV Partner AF, KL, or VS for same day travel; confirm in the highest booking code in the same cabin for the operating carrier.  To rebook on any other JV Partner, please contact GSS for assistance.
• In addition, the PNR must be documented with Required Documentation as noted below
• The ticket must be reissued as an even exchange and the customer must be contacted with the new flight information.
• When changes on the outbound occur, the unaffected return may be changed to protect the original length of the trip or station change. The return travel must be booked in the original class of service.

If alternate space is not available as outlined above, travel professionals must contact Global Sales Support for assistance.

Required Documentation for Reissue

• Document the PNR with the following OSI message:
  • OSI DL REISSUE DUE TO DL INVOL
• No waiver code is needed

Refunds Due to Schedule Change or Irregular Operation

Refundable Ticket

U.S. - based travel agencies and travel agencies in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico may refund fully refundable tickets through normal ARC processing. Travel agencies that report via BSP may refund fully refundable tickets using normal BSP processing.

Non-Refundable Ticket

Travel agencies can refund a non-refundable ticket(s) when there has been a Delta schedule change or irregular operation if one or more of the following apply:

• A flight cancellation
• An earlier departure of:
  • For tickets issued prior to October 28, 2024, 120 minutes or more for domestic and international itineraries
  • For tickets issued on or after October 28, 2024, 180 minutes or more for domestic itineraries or 360 minutes or more for international itineraries*
• A later arrival of:
  • For tickets issued prior to October 28, 2024, 120 minutes or more for domestic and international itineraries
  • For tickets issued on or after October 28, 2024, 180 minutes or more for domestic itineraries or 360 minutes or more for international itineraries*
• Departing from or arriving at a different airport than originally scheduled
• A change in the routing which adds one or more stops to the original itinerary
• A downgrade to a lower class of service
• A flight number change
• A change in operating carrier, for example from Delta Mainline to Delta Connection carrier, or vice versa
• Any change that causes a misconnect

Where the impacted passenger is a passenger with disabilities and the schedule change or irregular operation results in a change in aircraft that means one or more accessibility features needed by the passenger are unavailable, please contact GSS for assistance.

*Where multiple schedule changes may, in the aggregate, result in an earlier departure or later arrival time described above, please contact GSS for assistance.

Required PNR Documentation

When the qualifying schedule change, irregular operation, or flight cancellation is received in the GDS, please add the OSI message below and submit the refund in the GDS.

Note: the OSI message must be added before the itinerary is canceled.

PNR must be documented with the following OSI entry:

OSI DL REFUND PER DL INVOL

No-Show – Automatic Refund

If the customer does not request a refund or an itinerary change after the schedule change or irregular operation occurs and they no-show the first open flight segment on the ticket, all remaining flight segments will be canceled and automatically refunded. (Note: Net and bulk fare tickets must be refunded by the issuing agency and will not be refunded by Delta.)  If your customer knows they do not plan to travel on the flight, please encourage your customers to contact you for reaccommodation or a refund prior to no-showing.

Refunds must be issued to the original form of payment.  Refunds for tickets purchased with a credit card will be processed within 7 business days. Tickets issued using any other form of payment (including without limitation cash, check, eCredit, gift card, or miles in the SkyMiles Program) will be processed within 20 calendar days. Customers can check the refund status online at Check Refund Status (delta.com).

If the customer does not want to travel and does not want the ticket to be refunded, the reservation (or remaining flight segments) will need to be rebooked prior to departure.

Additional Information

• To ensure timely handling of reaccommodations and/or refunds, travel agencies are required to include customer contact information (e.g., email address) in the initial booking of the PNR for customers.
• The travel agency is responsible for advising the customer of the new flights, the customer’s right to cancel and obtain a refund, and for reissuing the customer’s ticket.
• Changes outside of the guidelines above are subject to the reissue rules of the ticketed fare. This includes any applicable additional collection or administrative service fees.
• Failure to comply with exception processes specific to this reaccommodation policy may result in a debit memo.
• For requests outside of the above guidelines or questions, please contact Delta’s Global Sales Support, AF/KL Trade Support or Delta Reservations for assistance.

Delta’s schedule change and irregular operations policy is subject to change at any time without notice in Delta’s sole discretion.