One of the biggest silver linings coming out of the pandemic is that airlines have continued offering unprecedented flexibility, allowing free change and cancellation on many tickets, new and old. And Delta makes it easier than almost any airline to take advantage, whether your travel plans change … or you just want to rebook a flight if prices drop to save even more.

Book a main cabin (or Main Classic?!) fare and get a Google Flights price alert that prices dropped? Easy: You can cancel, rebook, and pocket the difference as a Delta eCredit. It's even easier for award tickets you booked using Delta SkyMiles. So long as you don't book a Delta basic economy ticket (which can't be canceled without paying hefty fees), you're set. 

And with flight prices dropping like mad recently, it's time to learn how to put this to use to save some money (or miles) on your upcoming Delta flights.

Not booked with Delta? The same concept applies to many other airlines – check our guide on how to get a voucher when prices drop!

 

How to Get a Delta Credit When Prices Drop

First things first: You need to know when the price of your flight drops.

The easiest way to monitor the price of a flight you have booked with Delta (or any airline) is to set up a Google Flights price alert.

Just enter the details of your upcoming flight, find your exact flight, and turn on the “Track prices” toggle – you'll need a Gmail account to do it. From here, Google Flights will monitor the price of the flight and alert you via email any time the price changes. Of course, you'll need to remember what you originally paid.

If your flight drops in price, you should be able to cancel it for a credit, rebook at the lower rate using that credit, and get a new Delta eCredit for the price difference. The Thrifty Traveler team has done this countless times over the past four years, getting eCredits to use towards a future trip in the amount of the price difference.

It's even easier using Delta SkyMiles. Just cancel your current ticket, wait a minute for your miles to go back into your account, then go back and rebook it using fewer miles.

Let me show you how this works. In the example below, I had a flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW). My dates were not flexible, so I had been tracking the flight via Google Flights price alerts. Once I ended up booking, I kept my price alert active.

A few weeks later, I got a Google Flights price alert email that the price of the fare had dropped substantially.
 

Delta voucher refund

 

Once you get a notification that the price has gone down, you can start the process of cancelling your existing booking.

You'll want to make sure your flight is eligible for a free change – and it should be so long as you booked a main cabin or higher ticket. Delta Basic Economy tickets will not be eligible for free cancellations – you'll forfeit $99 for most trips or $199 on long-haul international flights.

If your flight fits the bill for a free change or cancellation, head to “My Trips” in your Delta account and pull up your “Trip Details.” From here, you'll have the ability to cancel your existing booking.

Within a few minutes, you should have a voucher for the amount of your booking. It's that easy!

Read up on how to use Delta eCredits and vouchers for your next trip!

 

Things to Keep In Mind

Rather than automatically inserting a new Delta eCredit into a traveler's online account, Delta may only issue it via email … and bury it at the bottom of a lengthy message, to boot. 

Normally, any eCredits you earn from Delta should appear directly in your Delta profile, under “Certificates, Vouchers & eCredits.” That hasn't been the case for several of our team's recent rebookings. It makes it a manual process, meaning you'd have to save these nondescript emails with eCredits attached and then remember to enter them yourself at check-out to put them to use.

Read more: How to Make Sure You Don't Have Missing Delta Credits

Fortunately, Delta gives travelers plenty of time. Your credit will be valid for one year – not one year from the date you cancel, but from the day you booked the original flight.

Luckily, there's even a way to reset that clock if you're not ready to put it to use. You can book a “dummy” flight and then later cancel it for a voucher. Once you do that, it should be valid for another year from that “dummy” booking. With Delta, however, there is one small wrinkle: Your “dummy” booking must be more than the amount of the credit in order for them to issue an extension. 

Read more: A Quick Trick for Extending Your Flight Credits Before They Expire

 

What About Booking with SkyMiles?

Book your flights with Delta SkyMiles? The process couldn't be easier … as long as you book a Delta main cabin fare or higher (basic economy won't cut it), you can cancel that booking for an immediate refund of all your SkyMiles and any taxes and fees associated with the booking.

Those SkyMiles should be  immediately available in your account for another booking, while the refund of taxes and fees should show up within a few days. 

As is the case with cash bookings, Google Flights price alerts are your friend for SkyMiles bookings as well. Let me explain. 

We've noticed an undeniable pattern with how SkyMiles rates fluctuate: First, Delta might slash cash prices on a flight you've been eyeing – or maybe already have booked. Then, 12 or so hours (and sometimes 24 hours) later, SkyMiles rates eventually fall to reflect that earlier price cut. 

We've noticed that lag again and again and again. It means that the key to booking many Delta flights for as few SkyMiles as possible is to watch for a price drop … then wait a while to actually rebook with your SkyMiles. 

Read More: The Key to Getting Better SkyMiles Deals: Price Alerts & Patience

 

Bottom Line

If you have travel booked with Delta, keep an eye on the price of your flights. If the price drops, you can cancel your existing booking for a voucher and then rebook that same flight and pocket the difference with a voucher for a future trip. 

If you have a flight booked with SkyMiles, you can simply cancel your flight, get a full refund, and then rebook at the lower rates. 

 

Lead photo courtesy of Chris Lundberg via Flickr.