Originally Posted by
HeadInTheClouds
Well, I guess I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread and trudged through it as I assume this just recently changed... just in January of this year I did two KL-coded (V class) KL-operated US-EU tickets and upgraded them to Z inventory using DL GUCs. The process was shockingly easy actually. It was so painless that I had tagged that as the "ideal usage" pattern for future DL-GUC redemptions.
At least I educated myself here, and as usual, it seems things have gotten worse
.
Honestly I don't think it's that bad, especially if you know to look up space on ExpertFlyer, since half of the complaints seem to come from DL agents giving bad information about whether upgrades are even available.
The other main challenge is whether KLM Z space is available at all, and possible complications due to married segment availability, and especially how married segment availability works across mixed DL/KL-operated segments. But if you find a routing that's all-KL-operated and shows Z space on ExpertFlyer, it still seems to work pretty well, occasional HUCA requirements notwithstanding.