Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
That sounds good, although I would not encourage DL to reissue the ticket with the upgrade yet, just confirm it and send an email showing it on the reservation. I had an incident where the agent claimed that once the ticket is issued, the GUC is used, so it can't be returned if you cancel for whatever reason and moreover you can't then extend it to upgrade the domestic connecting segments. YMMV.
Thanks for the tip. In my case, I’m using SkyMiles (45k), and not GUC...but, I suppose best to wait for ticket re-issue till award space on both legs (JFK-LAX & LAX-SYD) opens up.