Update:
- American has matched Delta’s waiver of change fees and the difference in fare for international travel to/from the US that was booked before today for travel through February 9th. Changes can be made to begin or conclude travel on January 25th or earlier. Changes can be made from now through January 25th.
- United will also waive change fees and the difference in fare for international travel to the US that was booked before today for travel through February 15th. Changes can be made to begin or conclude travel on January 25th or earlier. Changes can be made from now through January 25th.
The CDC announced yesterday that starting for arrivals into the US on 1/26, a negative COVID test (rapid or PCR) from within the past 3 days will be required for everyone 2 or older. Failure to provide a negative test or proof of a positive test from within 3 months with a Doctor’s clearance to travel will result in denied boarding.
In response, Delta will allow people who have tickets booked before today for travel through February 9th to change their trips to begin or conclude on January 25th or earlier. While many airlines are currently waiving change fees, Delta will also waive the difference in fare.
Changes can be made from now through January 25th.
HT: D93
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28 Comments On "[Matched By American And United] Delta Waiving Fare Difference On International Tickets To Beat The New US COVID Testing Requirement"
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If I booked on priceline would they waive the difference ?
They should.
I have an award ticket for January 25 jfk-tlv will they allow me to change it even no award available?
Is there a reason you don’t want to call them?
Laziness
They should.
“Delta will allow people who have tickets booked before today for travel through February 9th”
Why February 9th? What about people who bought tickets to travel travel through March and April why wouldn’t they wave the change fee as well?
My assumption is that people booked for April won’t change to January to avoid testing, but making a trip 2 weeks earlier is something they’d consider.
don’t think so, avoid testing is a deal breaker for most People, its hard enough to comply with outbound international flights to test proof regulation and we will see lots of cancelation because of this new CDC policy unless they wave the change fee difference for the next few months.
Wow! Waiving change fees is one thing. Never did I expect an airline waive a fare difference albeit for a short period of time!
do you think other airlines like AA will do this as well?
or unlikely
Looks like AA has matched this. Found it under travel alerts. Not exactly working yet as it still wants to charge me a fair difference
Call them?
HUCA twice. Managed to get a rep on chat that fixed reservations for 11 people across 6 different PRNs. Pit-cun
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/travel-alerts.jsp
I have a United award reservation tlv-ewr on January 28 booked by Turkish, who has to do the change United or Turkish?
Turkish, but that will be extremely tough to pull off. Good luck!
will they waive the $25 cancellation fee?
i just found tickets on momondo for elal tlv to nyc for $605 sample dates june 1 to 8
I just switched a flight 2 days ago. It was only $70 different, but I wonder if they will give me a credit…
I’ll call United and ask.
Unlikely.
United just posted these restrictions on a reservation I have for a flight from Puerto Rico to EWR on 1/26. According to the cdc, the requirement to test is when flying from a foreign country. I hope United will update accordingly.
I just called Delta to change our flights to a week earlier and they still quoted me a difference in fare price. I explained that there shouldn’t be one, the agent had no idea what I was talking about. He put me on hold to find out and came back and said it only applies to the return flight, like if I was out of the country already. I hung up and would like to call again. Where on Delta’s website can I find this new policy?
Thanks!
Link is in the post.
HUCA is key, as always.
Will the cdc require the letter of clearance in english? will they accept it from an israeli doctor in Hebrew?
Sounds like a recipe for packed planes to front-run the change (and maybe realize some ticket revenue sooner than later for financial reporting purposes).
United language says you can change without fare diff. American does not. I just tried and it didn’t work with 2 diff agents. The language with American isn’t clear and might be difficult to accomplish.
What about a Delta flight scheduled to take off at 11:55pm 1/25? It arrives on the 26th, but it sounds like it is only a boarding issue, correct? Also, what if the plane takes off late? Will that pose an issue?