Originally Posted by
mridley2
Update from my JFK SEA flight trying to use RUC on JFK SEA portion before SEA PVG.
after being waitlisted for the UG I noticed a few weeks ago my RUC request was removed. after a few times of HUCA i found an agent to re apply the certificate. At check in I was reassigned to Delta One seat 3C. Awesome! But the new seat was not re ticketed so I was unable to check in. So I waited for the electronic ticket to be issued. Lo and behold my UG was removed and I was put back in Comfort+. I called and was told that the ticketing desk rejected my UG because I was trying to use an RUC against the rules! I was so pissed. Called multiple times but absolutely nothing I could do.
Ironically my friend on the same flight and also PM was able to Upgrade weeks ago and his ticket was reissued with no problems. I guess he came across a more friendly ticketing desk agent. He was also using RUC on the same flights JFK SEA PVG.
what is the rationale for this rule change? Does DL suspect they sell less INTL D1 seats by allowing RUC on the domestic portion of the itinerary??
So I did some digging on this whole situation and I have uncovered the following details that actually shed a different light on all of this...
Mainly, the certificate is actually valid end to end, for all portions, and that's the main reason why you cannot split it. For example, I just used a GUC on HND-MSP-BOS, and put the "hold" on it so that it would only use it if HND-MSP had cleared the space. Then when that was successful, I called back Delta to clean it up and they pushed through the upgrade on MSP-BOS without problem.
I was told the same applies to domestic flights with connection as well, the certificate is valid for all segments end to end. Although you may find that segments clear only one at a time, so be sure if this is the case to make sure there is a "hold" on the certificate so that it prioritizes a specific segment FIRST. For example, it would be a waste to use it on BOS-JFK, but JFK-LAX is of course highly valuable. Get them to prioritize the JFK-LAX portion, and then you can call back and clean it up for the BOS-JFK portion later, assuming it still has upgrade space (and if it doesn't, they'll just put you on priority waitlist)
After being informed all of this, I guess my view has changed a little... I must say that if they are going to enforce that rule, AT LEAST it's very nice that you can get end to end on one certificate. That is definitely appreciated!