I'm trying to do a mileage upgrade for my husband on DL280 (SIN-NRT-ATL) and currently only SIN-NRT is available (7 upgrade seats avail). I'm assuming that I am probably SOL for an upgrade NRT-ATL, but I set up an expert flyer alert anyway. Of course I can't even do the SIN-NRT upgrade without changing his entire ticket.

This of course got me wondering if there is any type of iPhone app similar to expert flyer with push notifications.

However, my bigger question - do you think is it EVER reasonably possible to get a mileage upgrade on the NRT-ATL leg? He is departing on 3 June, which is only 8 days out. Unfortunately the earliest that he will ever be receiving his eticket from the company is about 2 weeks out. He will be on this same flight at least 1x/month, so that is why I am curious.

His new company uses Delta for everything, and this is really our first experience with Skymiles.

Thanks - I look forward to frequenting the Delta forum here!

Haven't flown the NRT-ATL leg so I'm not sure how realistic an NRT-ATL upgrade is, but from what I've seen on Flyertalk it seems to be a tough one. I haven't seen an IPhone app that will do what you're asking but I would be interested in getting it if there is.

It depends on his fare class, only Y, B, or M fares are upgradeable for international travel. There is a fare chart at http://cwsi.net/delta.htm

If no Y,B, or M fare class, then no milage or certificate upgrade. Period. End of story.

If on a Y, B, or M fare, and he has enough miles in his skymiles account, call Delta and have him put on the wait list.

He's always booked as M class and he definitely has the miles. The inventory is definitely the issue. I didn't realize there was a wait list, so thanks for that tip!

I can't speak to the upgrade availability questions, but here are some unsolicited suggestions:

If your husband has elite status with another airline, he should request a status match with Delta. That would at least give him the bonus miles that Delta gives to Medallion members. Your husband should hit Platinum or Diamond Medallion pretty quickly flying that route once a month.

https://www.delta.com/skymiles/about...ance/index.jsp

At the Platinum or Diamond level, he can request upgrade vouchers (called SWUs) which (as with mileage upgrades) are good only on Y, B, or M fares. However these can be waitlisted for day of departure such that he should get upgraded if seats are open. I don't know if this can be done with mileage upgrades.

Having said all of that, Delta is not a good program for those who want upgrades on international flights. The fare requirement is pretty steep in that the YBM fares are quite a bit higher than the deeply discounted coach fares. And the upgrade availability can be limited and difficult to work around.

But it seems like your husband will be flying Delta, so hopefully we can help you to make the best of it!

Take care,
David H.

Delta does seem to be a pain, but we're not the ones paying for it, so I guess we'll do what we can

He has heard through the grapevine that a lot of his coworkers have an obscene number of unused miles because it is so hard to use them. Ah well.

I upgraded ATL-NRT and NRT-ATL on 2 tickets with PMUs, but that was like 2 years ago

But how can this be? From what I see, It's very easy to use DL SM. 80,000 miles on a domestic F itin is commonplace, or how about 635,000 SM for a PHL-FCO redemption, not all of which is in J? It won't take many redemptions to annihilate anyone's SM account.

I booked an M ticket on BKK->NRT->SLC->ATL->DTW->NRT->BKK with all international legs upgraded via miles a half year ago. Then had to change it a month or so ago and got BKK->NRT->ATL->DTW->NRT->BKK with the non BKK les upgraded. Called back 2 weeks ago and got those.

From my looks. ATL<>NRT legs were 50/50 at any point in time, but changed frequently. I would put you at 75% or better.

and RTS comes through with yet another constructive, and helpful response!

Do you think we can come up with an acronym for this? 635kPHLFCONAOWIIJ, perhaps? I feel like I've read this in at least 29 of RTS's posts over the past week, despite the fact that nobody else was able to find said 695k itin.