Originally Posted by
padreandrew
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Gee thanks guys for helping me decipher all of this. That's a lot of miles!
I do remember last year I full almost full fare to Tel Aviv from CAE and used an upgrade with miles (15000 each way I believe) and I still got a ton of miles in first class, plus the class of miles, plus at the time I was a Gold Medallion member. So it all came back like a big jackpot and it moved me from Gold to Platinum because I then flew immediately from ATL to Mexico City the next day in First Class.
I guess you just have to watch your status bar closely.
I did write my travel agent to make sure about what the true fare base was for the tickets.
The nice thing about becoming Platinum this year is that I still have 2 more unused SWU's for the rest of the calendar year and I am thinking of using them to either fly to Lourdes, France (site of the apparitions -- although I may only get as far as Paris since Lourdes is so far out of the way in the Pyrenees Mountains or just to Paris itself for a 10 day trip. It is amazing that I can get a fare in August round trip in First for around $ 2750 (last time I checked) but in September the fare sky rockets to $ 3500 or even higher in First! Something big must go on after September 1st or they must go back to regular Business seating.
Just to clarify, only the domestic DL flights are FC. The rest are business class, which DL calls Business Elite, abbreviated as BE. Also, you do not get any additional miles when you upgrade, whether with miles or SWUs (or for free as an elite on domestic flights). You earn MQMs and redeemable miles based on the fare class you purchased.
Lourdes is hot and crowded in August. It might be crowded all the time. To me it was fascinating to see the huge numbers of people in wheelchairs and on stretchers, plus many ambulatory elderly, some of whom looked very old indeed.
Of course, the Parisians flee in August and the city is partly closed and partly filled with mostly foreign tourists.
Are you looking at prices for BE fares to CDG or M class? Deeply discounted BE, such as S class, is more likely to be available at times when business travel is (expected to be) low. I'm not aware of DL having seasonable variations in M fares or sales on them, although there can sometimes be good sales on BE.