Delta and American Follow United, Eliminate Pesky Flight Change Fees

The sudden changes are a dream come true for the commitment avoidant everywhere.

Ryan Fletcher/shutterstock
Ryan Fletcher/shutterstock
Ryan Fletcher/shutterstock

In an effort to win back the money of social distancers who've mastered the Google Maps virtual tour, both Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are eliminating pesky -- and costly -- flight change fees indefinitely.

This news closely follows United Airlines' pledge to eliminate change fees permanently. American announced on Monday that it has eliminated change fees for all domestic and short-haul international flying, along with some other flight-alternation perks, like allowing customers to fly standby on earlier flights to the same destination (that last one starts October 1 of this year). 

“In a world that’s constantly changing, American is resolute to our purpose of caring for customers at all points of their travel journey,” said American’s Chief Revenue Officer Vasu Raja, in a press release. “American is offering more flexibility and ease than ever before, should travel plans change." 

Similarly, within the same hour, Delta announced its own flight change fee changes, but claimed that this was actually part of a plan it started to develop in 2019. Along with an extension of the change fee waiver, the company promises "risk-free" flight cancelation for 24 hours after booking a flight. 

“We’ve said before that we need to approach flexibility differently than this industry has in the past, and today’s announcement builds on that promise to ensure we’re offering industry-leading flexibility, space and care to our customers,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian, in a press release. “We want our customers to book and travel with peace of mind, knowing that we’ll continue evaluating our policies to maintain the high standard of flexibility they expect.”

Most airlines waived change and cancelation fees amid COVID-19 chaos, and opportunistic folks swooped in to buy just-in-case tickets. Around that time it also became extremely difficult to get a refund for flights (which is illegal), so the Department of Transportation stepped in, called bullshit, and empowered passengers to report their airlines. That means you're much more likely to get fair treatment this time around.

But keep in mind that a lot of these refund conflicts were for flights that the airlines themselves canceled, and if you buy tickets now you likely won't get such special treatment. American, for example, said that it will provide credits if the new flight you change to is less expensive than your previous one. 

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Ruby Anderson is a News Writer at Thrillist. Send your tips to randerson@thrillist.com.