Originally Posted by
Billy Mumphrey
Yes, I would think GUCs would be easy to rebook after cancellation since they are paid bookings upgraded to the Z class. My auto-rebooking worked for me so I never had to call in, but perhaps
NOLAnwGOLD just got a bad agent.
Anyway, if you have a partner award, you would still expect some flexibility when your flight is cancelled (e.g., if the partner flight cancelled on your day, and there is no award availability, you could still choose to fly on the partner flight the day before or the day after). I realize Delta has to request this kind of accommodation from the partner airline, but my experience is that KLM will grant reasonable requests while AF will not.
If the GUC books into partner O class (award inventory) for the upgrade, it could be harder to rebook and maintain the upgrade than when the original fare class upgrades into Z for the upgrade.
I suspect the reality is that people will find it easier to have a DL agent rebook them into confirmed D1 space if the ticket has already been reissued for the upgrade versus the GUC (or miles supported) upgrade just having been confirmed but with no ticket reissue yet.