You may have initially been connected to one of Delta's infamous off-shore call centers. Apparently they aren't empowered to do anything that's "off the script" to include waiving fees, HOWEVER when a schedule change is made and the departure and/or arrival time is no longer convenient there should be NO FEES charged to change your itinerary to times that work better for you. That is why when pressed they could not point to a published rule about the 90 minutes because it was total crap!
I too have had the occasional scrape with the contract call centers. They are not Delta employees so have no vested interest in providing anything more than barely adequate levels of customer service. I wouldn't be surprised if they get incentives for collecting fees eithng er. I was trying to make changes to a refundable ticket and the agent working in the Montego Bay call center wanted to charge me a change fee and wouldn't budge on the issue. After some time I gave up and told him to simply refund the ticket and I'll just re-book the new dates online. He then had to transfer my call stateside (which I had already asked him to do) because apparently they aren't allowed to refund tickets - even those they know to be refundable. Amazing!
Anyway, I'm glad Delta finally did what they were supposed to do in the first place. If this ever happens again try this. While going through the prompts at the beginning of the call answer as if you want to change an international ticket even though you are calling about a domestic ticket. Your probability of being routed to a stateside call center the first time is much higher. Also if after being denied several times mention that you'll be sending a complaint to the DOT. That sometimes wakes them up!
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