Originally Posted by
vgb2001
For my next SAN/CDG/SAN, I wanted to fly lowest coach possible for the SAN/CDG (flying with companions) and return with AF premium voyageur (W fare on DL).
If I try to price (using "by schedule" and/or "multi-destination"), T fare is available on the way to CDG, W fare available on return but the two can;t be combined and the system switched the T to a Y as soon as the return chosen is W. I tried calling several time and agents could not make it happen either.
On the other hand, I went to AF website and could get there what I wanted (deep discount coach to CDG and return on W). Is this a glitch in DL reservation system or can they indeed have more restrictive rules for the codeshare fares than the orginal carrier?
The issue is that, if part on an AF ticket, the domestic portion on DL metal in not eligble for comp upgrade. So I had to buy a separate tickets, DL for the domestic and AF for the TATL... Afraid of misconnections now...
My guess is that DL and AF for whatever reason do not make discounted W class seats available as codeshare seats on DL's website. This fall I am taking a leisure trip to London. As a DM, I wanted to buy an M class ticket from the East Coast and realized for $2.5K roundtrip that it just is not worth using the systemwide upgrades. I still wanted better service and the 150% MQM, so I started looking at AF Premium Economy. At the time I did a search on the DL website, I found I could only obtain $2.5K roundtrip seats in AF premium while in contrast I could obtain a W sale fare directly through AF for $1300 roundtrip.
DL lost my business on this trip because of the inability to use the SWUs at a reasonable price. Two years ago, NW commonly had "B" fares to LHR for about $800 roundtrip in fall and winter; now the M fares cost about as much on the routes as buying advance purchase business elite seats.