@colfac92 Thanks, I knew the event is an annual thing, I had posted before that, at my kid’s school/city, which has a huge annual music festival, no visitors, period, are allowed into the dorms that weekend. No one without a student ID swipe gets into a dorm. The notice went up maybe 2 weeks before the event. I wouldn’t expect a school to give more than several weeks notice about special requirements during a massive annual event.
I have gotten credits from Delta on non-refundable flights in the past, even when they are advertised as “non refundable, no credits, final sale”, etc.
Call customer service and tell the representative your story. Don’t feign illness, dead grandparent, or embroider. Just tell them the story. The rep does not have the authority to give you the credit, but his/her supervisor does. Ask to speak with a supervisor when you are done.
I am always amazed at how terrific the Delta folks are. Most of the time, I am allowed to rebook the flight (same itinerary for a later date). I never ask for a refund (the ticket is non-refundable) and I never ask to be able to use the ticket for a different flight (that’s when the change fees kick in). But I ask if I can apply the ticket to a future flight and I have never had to “eat” the unused ticket. (unlike some other airlines… this wouldn’t work on many other carriers).
But Delta is great. Worth ten minutes on the 800 number imho…
Delta has a new class fare which is pretty bare bones, and it sounded like that may be what the OP purchased. It doesn’t allow a seat selection til I believe 24 hrs before the flight, like SWA. Some other airline recently announced it was going to offer a similar fare level (united or American, I forget). It for a lot of restrictions.
When I looked, her class repeatedly said no refunds. That did raise the question of a possible credit. But somewhere the wording seemed to insist, lowest fare for no special considerations.
Still, if it were me, yes, I would call. You never know.
Lots of complaints online, both airlines, and flyer chat sites, about this fare class.
One other piece of advice, if you haven’t met with the official yet: tell him you really need his help in solving your dilemma. If he tells you no exception can be made, ask him if he can help you find another solution. Like, does the university have some guest housing that might be available for this particular case?
If your friend stays the night (or weekend) what are the ramifications? Who’s telling on you? Does your roommate care? Honestly, is the campus police showing up at your door?
@gouf78 At my kid’s university, the weekend of major music festival, no one could enter a dorm without an student ID allowing them access to that specific dorm as their own dorm – since swipes are linked to your own dorm. So yes, depending on the city/school/event, someone is checking and the visitor likely would not be admitted.
Delta is crap about changes and isn’t flexible at all, but if you call and are persistent you definitely have a decent chance of getting something out of it. I second the thing about trying southwest out. There was something out there that said southwest has the highest customer satisfaction of all airlines. My dad used to be a loyal delta customer (he travels a couple times a month for business), but he started using other airlines about two years ago and now does not use delta at all. He uses southwest when he can, it’s cheaper and quicker. It’s ridiculously easy to change a flight, and you can often get vouchers or stuff like that if you run into issues.
This is excellent advice. Too often people making appeals come off as argumentative and entitled (not the case with the OP, IMO). By reframing the topic as a simply looking for a solution to an inadvertent problem chances of resolution increase.
Time to wheel in the extra big foot locker… 