When Is The Best Time To Call To Cancel A Flight?

The best answer is usually before the flight departs. Delta, as well as many other airlines, will give you credit on the value ($) of the ticket if you cancel your flight reservation before the flight is scheduled to depart. To be safe, I recommend cancelling the flight reservation as soon as you know you're not going to make the flight, especially if you hope to use the ticket at a later date, less any fees.

The major airlines, such as Delta, American and United, will allow you to cancel your flight reservation and allow you to use the value of the tickets towards future travel on that same airline within 1 year of ticket issue. Usually these airlines charge fees if you have to cancel or change the reservation for which you were ticketed. So if you purchased a ticket on Delta costing $400 and can't use it for the flights you reserved, you can still retain some of the value towards another flight with Delta as long as you:

• Cancel your existing reservation in advance of the scheduled departure
• Understand you will be charged a change fee of $200 for domestic travel & higher for international travel, plus any difference in air fare if your new travel plans are more expensive
• Rebook and use the ticket within 1 year of the original ticket issue date

If your ticket cost less than $200, then the change fees will cost more than the ticket is worth. In that case, it doesn't matter when you cancel the flight, or even if you do so at all.

If you think you may want to travel again on Delta (doesn't have to be the same destination) and paid more for the ticket than their change fees, keep a record of the ticket number and call them in advance if you're not going to be on your reserved flight.

Delta Reservations: 800-221-1212.

Most airline tickets are E-Tickets (electronic tickets) so don't worry about the type of ticket you have. The most important thing is to retain a copy of your ticket number which will start with 006 if you're traveling on Delta.

There is none, as you must cancel by email. Also, your cancellation will be effective only if it's an e-ticket. If it is, you have one day in which to cancel, but the "one day" is defined in a complicated manner. For that definition and more details, see http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-w.... (Scroll down to TERMS & CONDITIONS.) As you'll see, there are itinerary restrictions as well.

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