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Delta has so many rules when it comes to paying for things that it can really make your head hurt. For example, if you buy an eGift card you cannot spend it just like cash on everything Delta. No, you can only spend it on things they say you can. Normally for me this is not a big deal, but frustrating that you can turn cash into limited use cash. But that is not what today’s post is about.
Take a look at the screen shot above from my “My Delta” page (in my wallet). At the bottom you see a bunch of tiny eCredit vouchers that have expired. Sure they are tiny and you may be thinking it was silly of you to let them expire, but here is why it happened.
I book dozens and dozens of Delta flights a year. Should I not be able to use these up along the way? Not always, as there are a number of times I am using eGift cards to pay and cannot mix and match them with these eCredits. Or, what happens more than that is, I have some kind of bump voucher that is larger than these little ones and as you can see per the T&C you can only use ONE per person per ticket (plus some other form of payment like a credit card). Really frustrating and the result is year after year I have had some small denomination of eCredits expiring on me.
I believe, since they started selling them, Delta has always allowed the use of up to 3 eGift cards plus another form of payment like a credit card. This has worked very well for me with the many $50 eGifts I get each year from either my non-Delta AMEX card or when I use this to get $25 back flying on a FlexPerks ticket (for the incidentals credit the day of flight). But this has not worked with eCredits – until now! Take a look:
Notice the wording on the checkout page. It now says: “Use up to 3 eCredits per passenger”! And when I went to purchase a ticket the other day and used the “Find Credit” button and selected two of them I had I was allowed to select them and use them both on a ticket (sorry I was so excited I forgot to take a screen shot – bad blogger)!
I really hope this is a intentional change and improvement by Delta and not a glitch but by the wording on the checkout page it sure seems like it is a planned upgrade and I am thrilled. Delta makes all kinds of bump or other eCredits hard to spend by restricting them to you only (or someone with you on the same ticket). Being, at long last, able to apply up to 3 eCredits just like eGift cards is a solid step in the right direction.
Have you been able to combine more than 1 eCredit on a ticket as well recently? – René
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Nothing is fixed and nothing was broken. You can only use ONE e-credit that is part of a left over ticket. If you have a e-credit that is the entire value of the ticket than you may combine with others. The value of the first e-credit used makes the rules. You can use 3 forms of payment total, so in most cases you can only use 2 at a time. I just double checked since I have different types of e-credits in my account.
@Ryan – Disagree. I have many times had either left over ticket bits that I could not combine or left over bump vouchers that I could not combine. Even the T&C (on each of my vouchers) in the screen shot show this clearly ie 1x per person per ticket.
data point: I just used an e-credit, 3 gift cards and a credit card to purchase one ticket.
@Geoff – Thanks. Yes the 3eGifts has been working perfectly so far.
Rene. Leftover ticket values are still only 1 per ticket. Just tried again
@Ryan – Thanks for data point. Maybe mine was a one-off. I wish they would align this as with eGifts.
Depends on the ticket, if out of the US, code share etc, it seems with some. Also if you were to have a credit from a ticket that you used miles to pay down (first class discount to coach via miles – may not be Rene’s way but I use it) those cannot be then used on international flights…Sometimes tough to navigate where and how credits can be used. I have not used many of the purchased credits, usually from cancelled, changed, rebooked flights.
I agree that it is more complicated. Delta distinguishes between gift cards, which do permit multiples, and other e-credits (travel vouchers), and permits only one of the latter. Their web screen is therefore confusing at checkout: saying three but in fact allowing only one in such cases. If you are lucky and speak to a Delta rep and explain the existence of three small travel vouchers, they will sometimes be kind enough (with assistance of a supervisor, who actually had to do the work)–to cancel the three small ones and exchange it for one larger one, to permit you to get the value. That was a courtesy gesture and worth trying.
very complex and some of ours have expired!! Had an interesting new rule today or maybe an old rule i did not know!!!My daughter was on a work trip and got ill -hospitalized and could not travel-she used one part of the ticket to get to the work venue and would not be using the other- to return home for quite sometime!!so i called delta and they said when she want s to use it call and we will take care of it…Today i called and low and behold you cannot use the $$$ for a 1/2 of your ticket as the first half has the $$$ attached to it and the return does not have $$$?????? new one on me??? SURPRISE.. so much for a $600 ticket…
I can re-confirm that there is no policy change. I am on the phone with the Medallion Desk now and they will only let me use 1 voucher at a time. The ONLY exception is an open ticket (whatever the crap that means) What a dumb policy. all my e-credits are unused potions of tickets so I have no idea what an open ticket is. Its hard to tolerate the policies of US airlines.