bergamini

I've been booking A fares this year a lot. I had to change from the 5:50 AM MSN>ATL>JAN today to the 5:15 PM (same routing) because of a minor procedure my kitty needed to have done. It was going to be $6XX to change it so obviously SDC was my best choice and since there were 20+ seats in Y on each plane I figured I'd get there somehow if I had any issues with SDC and instead just showed up at airport.

I called yesterday at 5:15 PM within the 24 hours for the later flight (and almost 12 for the first). The first two Medallion agent with whom I spoke said there were only P seats on the MSN>ATL and since I was on an A fare she couldn't rebook me since different fare class. She also said she couldn't put me in Y. She did offer to put me on Standby.

I did a hang up and call back and got the same story. On the third call, I got a better agent who noted the P seat and said even though it's P I can do an over-ride and get you in there. She did that although it took 5+ minutes for her to put me on hold and do manual re-issue. Of course I was effusive with my thanks and gave her a 5.

I searched the rules and confirmed that my understanding that if you are on a premium ticket you can get a seat in the premium cabin as long as one exists. Do others find any issues getting this in reality? Should I be worried that an A fare is maybe technically a coach fare with an automatic upgrade or whatever YUP methodology they are using? Or is it considered a premium cabin ticket no matter what? What if I'm on an A fare and there are seats in coach? Should I get them no matter what? That rule isn't explicit. And honestly, there are several coach fares that are more expensive than A on my routing (K & Y for starters based on my experience).

"To make a same-day confirmed change when booked in our premium cabins -- including Delta One®, First and Business Class -- you may make a same-day confirmed change as long as a seat is available in the premium cabin."

Tedgrrrr

you should have been allowed to change without issues. As always if an agent says no, just hang up and call back

flyerCO

If you pull up the SDC/SDS thread you'll see that the SDC policy for FC is one of the most confused things by agents. Yes any ticket in FC can SDC to another flight as long as there's any seat for sale, doesn't require same fare class. However some agents are so used to coach tickets they still apply those rules. Also I believe the system requires an override if it's not same fare class. Only time you don't get FC SDC is with free medallion upgrades.

BTW there is no such thing as an UP fare with DO anymore. Even though they book the same way, they are labeled as actual FC fares since April 2016

rylan

Yup, you had a first class ticket so you are able to SDC to flights with any seats available in the first class cabin. Fare bucket doesn't matter. Bad showing by the two agents who gave you bad and incorrect information.

One other thing... SDC is available 24hrs from your original flight. You don't have to wait to T-24 for the flight you want... so you could've called to SDC to the evening flight at 5:50am the day before.

ajwright

As other poster's have mentioned front line agents don't have the best training on the matter. In my experience, politely mentioning that the website says for first class you only need a seat available, and asking them to check the rule works pretty well - and you don't have to go through the hassle of calling back in.

WidgetTravels

As mentioned above, as long as there is F available you can SDC.

To answer your question on if you can be put in the Main Cabin, most PAG fares are still based on an underlying main cabin fare, and if that fare class is available, you can be placed in the Main Cabin if F (or W if you purchased Comfort+) is sold out.

NWA012

The biggest problem is automation does not support this and agents don't know the exception for a premium cabin. It happens quite a bit at the airport as well.

JW6130

Did you get into FC? It's a DM and KM-heavy route.

steveholt

HUCA comes up more with this than just about anything else with DL. I tried switching JFK-LAS to JFK-LAX-LAS and had four people say no for four different reasons before the fifth (correctly) made the change.

Halloweverybody

Question is if it is possible to SDC to D1 from non D1?

for instance, if my ticket is from BOS ATL LAX, in A
can I SDC on BOS JFK LAX in D1?

also,

if I use a RUC to go from say JFK LAX HNL,
can I instead SDC to JFK ATL HNL even though ATL HNL are not RUC compatible?

thanks for your reply!

bergamini

I did get the last seat in first and it rebooked as a P fare. I cared far more about getting on the flight and since each MD88 had more than 50 seats, felt it would be good either way. You jest but last Thursday there were over 70 people on upgrade list for the reverse route on MD88's.

jrl767

yes, most recently last Thurs (DCA-DTW-LAX became DCA-JFK-LAX)

can't speak to the RUC scenario, but I believe the answer is also yes

Steve007NY

Does this mean, for example, that if I'm on JFK-SAN IN FC,I can SDC TO JFK - LAX/SFO-SAN I'm D1 if any D1 seats available?

MSPeconomist

My guess would be that if you've confirmed a RUC upgrade on a west coast connection to HNL you cannot then SDC to one of the ATL, MSP, etc. nonstops that are not RUC eligible and preserve your FC/D1 seat, but I suspect that many agents wouldn't know or notice the difference.

suvayanr

You sometimes get pushback from agents since it explicitly says that all the cheap FC fares cannot include JFK-LAX/SFO, DCA-LAX, or BOS-SFO. But most agents will do it.