FOOLISHRUNNER

I purchased an "M" fare that I upgraded with SWUs for a trip from PVG-DTW at Christmas. For work reasons, I had to change to fly Shanghai to Beijing, then to Detroit on the non-stop, again in a "M" fare which got me upgraded to business purchased through the diamond desk. Lo and behold, I check in at Shanghai and I am not in business or first on China Eastern to Beijing and they won't let me have access to the lounge even though I only have a 6 hour layover connecting to the Detroit international flight. I figure it is just China Eastern's agents not being knowledgable about the Delta system.

I suck up the 2 hours in coach to Beijing and make my trip to Detroit in business with no issues. When I finally get credit for the miles, I notice I only got 50% MQM miles credit for my MU flight not the minimum 100% or the planned 130% credit. I call the Diamond Desk and it turns out the agent sold me a lower class ticket and charged me extra for the privilege of changing my itinerary with a new fare code that only got me 50%. So the Diamond Desk does not help on international segments with partner airlines. Next time, I will review each segment's fare code before agreeing to any changes. Oh, I forgot, now that Delta is screwing with all of its partner MQM earning power, it doesn't make sense to use Delta for foreign travel partners. I will be switching to another alliance to earn mileage.