Economy seating on a long haul flight
Jul 10, 2019, 11:41 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 2
Economy seating on a long haul flight
Newbie flyer so this might not be the right place to ask. I'm booking a trip through a 3rd party that will wind up putting me on Alitialia flights ORD-FCO-CAI and back. The ORD-FCO leg is listed as a DL flight (Delta?) on an A300-200. Does anyone have an opinion on how survivable economy seats are with a 9+ hour overnight flight? I'm only 6' but have long-ish legs so knee room is a concern. I've only flown a few times and flights were usually <5 hours so I could deal with the discomfort from not being able to move my lower legs more than a few inches all flight but the thought of double that time is worrying.
I should have ~120k points between Citi ThankYou and Chase by the time I fly. Does anyone know if those could be used to upgrade (via various transfers) to something more comfortable?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!
I should have ~120k points between Citi ThankYou and Chase by the time I fly. Does anyone know if those could be used to upgrade (via various transfers) to something more comfortable?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!
Jul 10, 2019, 12:08 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,665
You will find it difficult, if almost impossible, to upgrade a DL flight sold under an AZ code.
You can probably forget about using those credit card points to upgrade. Again, having a flight with one code and a different operator is going to count against you.
You will also probably struggle to pay for a comfort/exit row seat too, again for the reasons of having an AZ code on a DL flight.
When is your flight? At the moment, the only airlines that fly direct non-stop between ORD and FCO are Alitalia, United and American Airlines. There may be some seasonal service by Delta, but I suspect that you are actually on an Alitalia service.
If you're on an Alitalia flight bought via Alitalia, you can make an offer, aka bid, for an upgrade. However, buying it via a third party, or having a ticket with other airlines on it, may make your ticket ineligible to even participate in this bidding scheme.
You can also forget about using your credit card miles to leverage getting a mileage upgrade. Using Alitalia's frequent flyer programme, only fare classes Y, B, M, H, K, V and T on Alitalia can be upgraded, and can cost as much as 90,000 Alitalia miles. Not only are you unlikely to have availability on your dates for a mileage upgrade, but I doubt there is any way to get those credit card miles into Alitalia's frequent flyer programme, and I also doubt your ticket would be in any of these fare classes, as these are all respectively the most expensive fare classes ranked from most expensive downwards, and the cheaper economy fare classes are ineligible for upgrade.
If you were to try and upgrade via the Skyteam mileage upgrade programme, you would also likely be out of luck; again, you run into availability issues, but if you were to try using Delta Skymiles to upgrade, it does not appear that Skymiles can be used to upgrade on Alitalia:
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You can probably forget about using those credit card points to upgrade. Again, having a flight with one code and a different operator is going to count against you.
You will also probably struggle to pay for a comfort/exit row seat too, again for the reasons of having an AZ code on a DL flight.
When is your flight? At the moment, the only airlines that fly direct non-stop between ORD and FCO are Alitalia, United and American Airlines. There may be some seasonal service by Delta, but I suspect that you are actually on an Alitalia service.
If you're on an Alitalia flight bought via Alitalia, you can make an offer, aka bid, for an upgrade. However, buying it via a third party, or having a ticket with other airlines on it, may make your ticket ineligible to even participate in this bidding scheme.
You can also forget about using your credit card miles to leverage getting a mileage upgrade. Using Alitalia's frequent flyer programme, only fare classes Y, B, M, H, K, V and T on Alitalia can be upgraded, and can cost as much as 90,000 Alitalia miles. Not only are you unlikely to have availability on your dates for a mileage upgrade, but I doubt there is any way to get those credit card miles into Alitalia's frequent flyer programme, and I also doubt your ticket would be in any of these fare classes, as these are all respectively the most expensive fare classes ranked from most expensive downwards, and the cheaper economy fare classes are ineligible for upgrade.
If you were to try and upgrade via the Skyteam mileage upgrade programme, you would also likely be out of luck; again, you run into availability issues, but if you were to try using Delta Skymiles to upgrade, it does not appear that Skymiles can be used to upgrade on Alitalia:
Originally Posted by Delta
Valid Carrier: Valid only on Delta Air Lines, Delta Connection® carrier-operated flights, and certain Virgin Atlantic/Air France/KLM and Aeromexico-operated flights. For Air France-operated flights, upgrades are available from Economy to Premium Economy to Business only on transatlantic Joint Venture flights between U.S. cities and Paris (CDG and ORY). Upgrades are not available on any Air France flights operated using a Boeing 747 aircraft. For Air France/KLM operated flights, upgrade request must be completed 24 hours before the departure. Mileage Upgrade Awards on Virgin Atlantic are only available on flights marketed by Delta Air Lines. Mileage Upgrade awards on Aeromexico are only available on flights marketed by Delta Air Lines and operated by Aeromexico for travel between the United States and Mexico. For passengers connecting in Mexico on flights originating in the United States, mileage upgrade awards for a Domestic Mexico flight are available only if the ticket was booked for a Delta-marketed/Aeroméxico-operated flight.
Jul 10, 2019, 2:50 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 2
Thanks for the detailed reply, irishguy28! From other reading, I was seeing that getting an upgrade would have been unlikely, but I really appreciate the explanation as to why.
The trip is planned to depart Nov26 and return Dec 7 or 8. The dates are still in flux but that should be pretty close. I'm working through Costco Travel for the vacation package and they are the ones choosing Alitalia. I haven't asked if they can pick a different airline - not sure if they can.
The trip is planned to depart Nov26 and return Dec 7 or 8. The dates are still in flux but that should be pretty close. I'm working through Costco Travel for the vacation package and they are the ones choosing Alitalia. I haven't asked if they can pick a different airline - not sure if they can.
