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AMEX Delta Companion certificate Consolidated Thread

AMEX Delta Companion certificate Consolidated Thread

Old Jun 7, 2017, 11:23 am
  #1681  
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Originally Posted by JohnnyRockets
^^^^
Successful for the past few years on both first and cattle.

This is a weird case to be asking. Inventory changes all the time, even with cert in hand but no booking would do you no good. If one gets a DL reserve card ONLY for the cert, then I would say DON'T GET THE CARD.
I guess if you look at the Reserve card as a free FC ticket, the $450 fee does not make sense, but if you add the club membership as a nice perk, then the card makes sense.
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Old Jun 7, 2017, 11:42 am
  #1682  
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Originally Posted by qofmiwok
Of course I didn't like the answer. It doesn't do what you said it does. You said an "I or higher" search would give me the fare codes that qualify. It does not. In one case I just tried, it gives APP and FPP fares. Neither qualifies if it has to be an A or an I fare, right?

I am just following up on other people's replies that said there are more fares that show; they won't show you one if it costs more than another, unless you have a certificate on file. Again the "I or higher" does not seem to help at all.

J/C/D/I/Z fares are used on JFK-SFO/LAX/PDX/SEA/LAS/SAN/PHX/DEN non-stop routes. If you are interested in availability for those non-stop routes, you should use the "I or higher" search. For pretty much anything else, you want to do an "A or higher" search as most other routes use F/P/A/G fares for domestic F (including above routes that involve connections). The exception to the above rule in that domestic continuation flights of international flights also use J/C/D/I/Z fares. But these constitute a smaller subset of domestic flights. You can use flexible date search to search across a range of dates. Since it's an "or higher" search it can also bring up ineligible flight options (J/C/D or F/P). As mentioned in other thread, you can use ITA Matrix to search specifically for I or A fares. Note that you need 2 or more seats in the I or A bucket to use the cert.

Last edited by xliioper; Jun 7, 2017 at 11:56 am
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Old Jun 7, 2017, 1:25 pm
  #1683  
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Originally Posted by FlightNurse
I guess if you look at the Reserve card as a free FC ticket, the $450 fee does not make sense, but if you add the club membership as a nice perk, then the card makes sense.
If you already ordinarily purchase FC tickets in pairs for more than ~$500/ea, then the card could still make sense solely as a BOGO device. (I added an extra little bit to account for the lost RDM/MQM of the companion ticket, if that matters to the cardholder).

But generally I agree with you. What makes the Reserve card worth it is the combination of the BOGO, MQMs, and SC access.
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Old Jun 7, 2017, 7:35 pm
  #1684  
 
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Originally Posted by gooselee
If you already ordinarily purchase FC tickets in pairs for more than ~$500/ea, then the card could still make sense solely as a BOGO device. (I added an extra little bit to account for the lost RDM/MQM of the companion ticket, if that matters to the cardholder).

But generally I agree with you. What makes the Reserve card worth it is the combination of the BOGO, MQMs, and SC access.
In the old days (pre cert upgrade eligible), I normally redeem certs for friends and family. With new perks and DL 'enhancements', I don't think having the reserve is better anymore unless you NEED the MQM boost DL Plat is more than enough. Amex Plat seems to be a better card, or should I say DL miles seems to devalue too often (and also the x5 vs x2).
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Old Jun 7, 2017, 8:01 pm
  #1685  
 
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Booked with the Plat certificate for the first time since the new upgrade policy went into effect. I was able to find flights that worked well on T fares both directions about 7 weeks out. "Upgrades" to C+ cleared immediately on all 4 segments. I'm hopeful with the rules about companions carrying the member's status and the timing of our flights that we'll even clear to F on one or two segments.
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Old Jun 7, 2017, 10:05 pm
  #1686  
 
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Originally Posted by mattp1987
I'm hopeful with the rules about companions carrying the member's status and the timing of our flights that we'll even clear to F on one or two segments.
I booked prior to the policy changes, and requested upgrades when AmEx Platinum certificates allowed for them. Upgrades to C+ cleared immediately. Just finished travel, and we received first-class upgrades in four out of four segments, all >1000 miles mainline Delta. Quite an improvement over the regular economy seats I had counted on when we purchased the tickets. Thanks, Delta!
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Old Jun 20, 2017, 3:16 pm
  #1687  
 
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Having trouble booking China Eastern award using Skymiles.

Seats available according to ExpertFlyer and showing on Delta.com but erroring out when trying to book.

Called the Platinum line and they are seeing the seats but saying that China Eastern not confirming the space
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Old Jun 20, 2017, 4:52 pm
  #1688  
 
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Originally Posted by damaxer91
Having trouble booking China Eastern award using Skymiles.

Seats available according to ExpertFlyer and showing on Delta.com but erroring out when trying to book.

Called the Platinum line and they are seeing the seats but saying that China Eastern not confirming the space
Sadly that is very common, especially as of late. If it is really available (if EF so shows, and if MU is actually showing accurate inventory to EF & DL), not sure how and if anyone at DL can still get it done. They'd likely need to use the command-line res system and not the badly broken GUI one to even try to do so, may need to do it as long-sell, which agents are generally forbidden to do nowadays.

All I can say is HUACA and try a few times, but don't hold out much hope for it. The last few months very few if any MU available awards can be booked, and DL is clearly disinterested in finding and fixing the problem.
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Old Jun 20, 2017, 11:12 pm
  #1689  
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Originally Posted by RealHJ
Sadly that is very common, especially as of late. If it is really available (if EF so shows, and if MU is actually showing accurate inventory to EF & DL), not sure how and if anyone at DL can still get it done. They'd likely need to use the command-line res system and not the badly broken GUI one to even try to do so, may need to do it as long-sell, which agents are generally forbidden to do nowadays.

All I can say is HUACA and try a few times, but don't hold out much hope for it. The last few months very few if any MU available awards can be booked, and DL is clearly disinterested in finding and fixing the problem.
Agreed, my experience too. What is even worse is I tried to book two tix in J. EF showed availability. Even the DL engine showed availability to book two tix. When the DM line tried to book they could only confirm 1 in J (O class). Was able to confirm one in Y (X class) for same price. Go figure.

Old school advice is to do long sell like RealHJ says. But recently I had a situation where a long sell worked. Ticket was reissued but when agent refreshed screen she said the seat showed back unconfirmed even though ticket was reissued. She said she didn't feel comfortable leaving it that way as she was afraid MU would just cancel the reservation out and I would be SOL.

Sadly this is again another NOT_SO seamless ST experience. Per RealHJ, Delta is clearly aware and has NEVER cared to fix this. Booking on ST partners with DL miles is the most horrendous experience to be had with FF miles (I've used my AA and UA miles was easier). DL clearly has no interest in fixing it and simply instead wants people to believe what a great program the Skymiles program is.

My advice, just keep trying. Hopefully something will work out.

Lastly, if you can, try to book on KE, CZ, or CI. MU has the worst YQ fees out of all the Asian partners.
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Old Jun 20, 2017, 11:38 pm
  #1690  
 
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To be fair, booking CA award flights with most Star Alliance airlines is even more difficult and risky than MU with DL. It'll be booked, ticketed, confirmed, but CA will later without notification delete it's PNR, and sometimes it's never created at all, so you have a ticket, but no PNR, and thus you are not flying anywhere, and get no refund.** Many *A airlines blocked CA awards entirely. That is even worse. After a DoT complaint and management escalation UA fixed it (unlike DL, at least UA cares) and is now fine, and after escalation to Germany HQ LH came with a workaround (use "neutral availability" alternate search to find and forcefully book CA flights), but many other programs are just blocking CA entirely vs. fixing their problems or documenting a workaround.

**Same can happen with MU. At least it did it to me. Thankfully there was an open seat and I got it in the end, though I wasn't on the flight manifest due to DL/MU mess-up that had it DL ticketed but MU had no PNR/record of it (as DL does MU US airport check-in and ground ops, and one gets Delta logo boarding passes for MU flights here, so they had no choice and had to fix it), but there was no meal catered, which led to a mini-revolt in the J cabin involving pax/FAs/pilot as no one wanted to wait 2 hours for catering, and no one wanted to give up their meal on the 10h flight either. In the end FAs manually made an extra meal by taking a portion from all the other meals...so everyone got a bit smaller portion. ^ to the MU FAs on that.

So, it's not really unique to DL/SkyTeam issue, but rather an issue with mainland China state-owned airlines in particular. There's been some speculation that CA (who knows, may be also MU) will unconfirm/cancel (no notification or refund) award tickets on sold out flights, so that they can sell more seats for $$$ (or CNY, rather).

Most definitely, if it's not "HK" (hold confirmed), do not trust the ticket. It's very risky. It really is keep on trying and see if you can find anyone at DL who cares (may be if you get HIBRES and they still have the former NW customer centric spirit left in them that DL hasn't fully suppressed yet).
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Old Jun 21, 2017, 10:27 am
  #1691  
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Originally Posted by RealHJ
To be fair, booking CA award flights with most Star Alliance airlines is even more difficult and risky than MU with DL. It'll be booked, ticketed, confirmed, but CA will later without notification delete it's PNR, and sometimes it's never created at all, so you have a ticket, but no PNR, and thus you are not flying anywhere, and get no refund.** Many *A airlines blocked CA awards entirely. That is even worse. After a DoT complaint and management escalation UA fixed it (unlike DL, at least UA cares) and is now fine, and after escalation to Germany HQ LH came with a workaround (use "neutral availability" alternate search to find and forcefully book CA flights), but many other programs are just blocking CA entirely vs. fixing their problems or documenting a workaround.

**Same can happen with MU. At least it did it to me. Thankfully there was an open seat and I got it in the end, though I wasn't on the flight manifest due to DL/MU mess-up that had it DL ticketed but MU had no PNR/record of it (as DL does MU US airport check-in and ground ops, and one gets Delta logo boarding passes for MU flights here, so they had no choice and had to fix it), but there was no meal catered, which led to a mini-revolt in the J cabin involving pax/FAs/pilot as no one wanted to wait 2 hours for catering, and no one wanted to give up their meal on the 10h flight either. In the end FAs manually made an extra meal by taking a portion from all the other meals...so everyone got a bit smaller portion. ^ to the MU FAs on that.

So, it's not really unique to DL/SkyTeam issue, but rather an issue with mainland China state-owned airlines in particular. There's been some speculation that CA (who knows, may be also MU) will unconfirm/cancel (no notification or refund) award tickets on sold out flights, so that they can sell more seats for $$$ (or CNY, rather).

Most definitely, if it's not "HK" (hold confirmed), do not trust the ticket. It's very risky. It really is keep on trying and see if you can find anyone at DL who cares (may be if you get HIBRES and they still have the former NW customer centric spirit left in them that DL hasn't fully suppressed yet).
I haven't had experience with CA - sounds like a nightmare. Can't agree more though, it it's not HK don't trust it. I can only see DL saying "not my fault" when one of us is stuck in China somewhere with a cancelled PNR from a partner.

If you can get the MN agents in Hibbing or Chisholm that's your best bet like RealHJ says, unfortunately DL canned the direct number there.
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Old Jun 21, 2017, 6:14 pm
  #1692  
 
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Have tried over and over again but can't find an agent willing to long sell
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Old Jun 21, 2017, 8:30 pm
  #1693  
 
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Originally Posted by damaxer91
Have tried over and over again but can't find an agent willing to long sell
Same experience here. Agents are either deadly afraid to do it, or don't know how (lack of training), don't have access (DL doesn't want to let them do their job), or just don't care about the customer at all..

It's getting harder and harder to use DL SlyMiles...

And gone are the days when DL still had some elements of NW left within that cared about the customer. The DL corporate culture & attitude of "couldn't care less about the customer" is now practically thoroughly prevalent throughout.

@:-) TIP: if you are trying to book multiple seats on one PNR, have DL split it up and book it one by one. That may work. Or at least you'll be able to book the ticket for one of the passengers...then can try for the other one later, or may need to bite the bullet and buy a revenue ticket for the other pax. Based on some recent reports, it seems that DL is [i]may[/b] be able to book MU actual availability -1, so if MU has O2 available, DL can only book 1 seat.
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Old Jun 22, 2017, 2:14 am
  #1694  
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Originally Posted by RealHJ
Same experience here. Agents are either deadly afraid to do it, or don't know how (lack of training), don't have access (DL doesn't want to let them do their job), or just don't care about the customer at all..

It's getting harder and harder to use DL SlyMiles...

And gone are the days when DL still had some elements of NW left within that cared about the customer. The DL corporate culture & attitude of "couldn't care less about the customer" is now practically thoroughly prevalent throughout.

@:-) TIP: if you are trying to book multiple seats on one PNR, have DL split it up and book it one by one. That may work. Or at least you'll be able to book the ticket for one of the passengers...then can try for the other one later, or may need to bite the bullet and buy a revenue ticket for the other pax. Based on some recent reports, it seems that DL is [i]may[/b] be able to book MU actual availability -1, so if MU has O2 available, DL can only book 1 seat.
In the end it's bad IT and management's lack of care attitude to properly train or enable staff to do what it takes for the customer. Reminds me when DL implemented the dumb policy of 3 searches per call.
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Old Jun 22, 2017, 1:46 pm
  #1695  
 
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Looks like there was a minor change to the class drop down?

IIRC it used to be:
Basic Economy
Main Cabin
Delta Comfort+
Delta One

Now it shows:
Basic Economy
Main Cabin
Delta Comfort+
First Class
Premium Select
Delta One

Also, I have an award booked 3/4 SYD>CAN>HND on CZ, that I booked via DL.com. I was curious today if there was a price change on it, and DL.com doesn't show any routing SYD>TYO available. Anyone else having an issue? Seems similar to the China Eastern one above.
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