Delta Axes Its Phone Booking Fee
Phone booking charges are one of the most annoying fees airlines charge customers. In some cases, the fees can't be avoided because the airlines make it impossible to redeem award flights or find flight availability on their websites, although some carriers like AA now waive fees for awards that can't be booked online. Fortunately, there are other ways to avoid these fees — and one carrier is doing away with its phone booking fee altogether.
Delta announced that the airline will no longer charge its phone booking fee to customers. Previously, the airline charged $25 per ticket purchased over the phone. Only Gold, Platinum and Diamond Medallion customers previously had this fee waived, but now every Delta flyer is entitled to no-fee phone bookings.
Although the no-fee change is in effect, Delta's website still reflects the old fee. When we called to check on the status of this change, a representative told us there's is no longer a booking fee for any flyer, regardless of the flyer's elite status.
Hopefully, this is a sign of similar changes to come to the other two big US carriers — American charges a phone booking fee of $25-$40 and United charges $25.