Korean Air Skypass - SkyTeam upgrade on KE flight using DL SkyMiles

Hi all,

I'll be flying on KE906 (FRA-ICN) on August 9 and wanted to use my Delta SkyMiles to upgrade from Y to C (using a "SkyTeam upgrade").

Unfortunately, none of the KE/DL agents I talked to so far was actually able to tell me
- if my ticket class (Y, one-way) and its fare base (YOW) is actually eligible for the upgrade
- if there are seats in the upgrade class (I?) on that flight
- how many Delta SkyMiles I would actually need for the leg FRA-ICN

Are these SkyTeam upgrade really that uncommon? I'm a little surprised that hardly anyone from KE/DL seems to have heard of them... :confused:

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Cheers
pilluelo

@Mods: I wasn't sure where to post this, but feel free to move this post to the DL or SkyMiles Forum, if necessary.

http://www.skyteam.com/about/miles/index.html

You should be able to upgrade YOW fare on KE.

The question is why bother? :confused: FRA-ICN YOW is about $5098+, while you can purchase COWKE for about $3923+. Agents are confused probably because you are the first one ever to inquire about it. :p

Terryk,

thanks for your quick reply.

Yes, I've already seen the SkyTeam page according to which an upgrade should be possible... nevertheless, I had talked to several DL agents who insisted that DL SkyMiles can only be used to upgrade DL flights.

The reason why the ticket was booked in Y is that my company has banned all C travel due to cost-saving measures (go figure), anyway the fare they were able to get was around €710 incl. tax (BTW, that's the price you get on the KE website as well). Not sure if this qualifies as "full-fare economy", though.

Cheers
pilluelo

........anyway the fare they were able to get was around €710 incl. tax (BTW, that's the price you get on the KE website as well)....

The fare is unlikely to qualify. Note upgrade eligibility is based on booking class. YOW contract fares may book into B or lower booking classes. You need to find out what your booking class is. It doesn't sound like your fare is anywhere close to full fare (about €3500 + taxes). KE website shows the lowest available economy fare.

Skyteam partner upgrades are almost unheard of since you usually can purchase a business class fare for less than full economy fare.

I'm confused...

The travel agency confirmed the ticket was in Y, and when I try to book this ticket on KE's web site, the fare shows up as "Economy Quality - a fully flexible economy class fare" (unfortunately, no booking class is displayed).

The problem is that the ticket has not been issued yet, so I cannot verify the actual booking class...

I'm confused...

The travel agency confirmed the ticket was in Y......

Y could mean one of the three things:
1) Y cabin - economy class;
2) YOW fare - it can be full fare, but it can be lower per corporate contract or tour code;
3) Y booking class - that's the one you need.

You really need your booking class code. No one can help without it. Your TA can tell you the booking class before issuing the ticket.