Success using pu503 to upgrade to affaires!
 

YAY :)
I just upgraded my W premium voyageur (very cheap) fare on CDG/JFK to Affaires using one PU503. It did take 45 minutes on the phone but it is done!
Definitely chosing more SWUs as my next plat benefits this year!!! All of the sudden, they became a GREAT VALUE!!!!! Better than $200 delta voucher for sure!

Congratulations. I have a trip coming up in late January to AMS and frankly might just fly via CDG vs going direct for this one bennie.

Moved to thread on Cyprus: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...cyprus-dl.html

This is not such great news after all...
 

I am surprised that no one has noticed that this is just AF reducing the number of free (award) seats, by having pax pay for a seat and then use their PU503 to upgrade to the next class of service, as the PU503 upgrades come out of the same fare bucket as award seats. This means that for those who actually want to redeem their SkyMiles, where AF was one of the few shining beacons of hope, it will suddenly get a lot harder, as now a lot of the O seats will be snapped up by paying pax using PU503 upgrades, thus making less available for award bookings.

IMO still it's overall a greater loss than a gain. Now it's even easier to gain, rapidly devalued SkyMiles, and yet even harder to spend..

I personally like the flexibility.. flying business class to Europe for $1,400ish and getting 150% MQMs seems like a great deal to me. As others mentioned, AF opens up a TON of last minute award seats, so I don't think this will be as much of an issue as you think.

I sure hope so!

Has anyone had any luck upgrading from W to O using SWU on AF stock? Still not O availability for my dates, but I'm hoping something opens up!

I had success, after a bit of work, doing this yesterday. Using expertflyer, I figured out which AF route to Paris had availability in O on the dates I want to travel. I checked the PV fares on AF.com. The first agent I spoke to yesterday on the DM SMS line made the reservation on an A fare (PV class of service) and said he was confirming the upgrade for me. But on DL.com, I could see that he'd "upgraded" me to an E fare, whatever that is. I said, "Shouldn't this upgrade into an O fare?" "Uh, yeah. Let me fix it." So he did, sort of. First it showed as confirmed in A, waitlisted in O. Then the "waitlist" status changed to "Contact Delta." So I said, "Am I confirmed or waitlisted? Because Delta.com is showing me as waitlisted or 'Contact Delta.'" "You're confirmed for the upgrade. But I can't process it until you give me the certificate numbers." :rolleyes: He hadn't even asked me for the certificate numbers. I pointed out that this is for September 2011, so I don't have them yet (though I could get them, as I've already requalified). Polite but frustrating discussion ensued. Ultimately, I said, "Look, I've ben through this before. Will you check with a supervisor please?" He put me on hold. He comes back and tells me he'll get a supervisor, but I have to "get out of the reservation." Uh, ok. Eventually he comes back and says he'll connect me to a supervisor in customer support. He puts me through to another line that eventually answers with a recording, "Thank you for calling Delta Air Lines Corporate Headquarters in Atlanta. We're currently closed. Our hours are..."

I look on DL.com, and it looks like he fixed it. The A-fare flights are gone from the reservation, and only the O upgrade is there.

I call back and get someone else. I direct her to my reservation. "So, what I'm trying to do is book into Premium Economy on Air France and use a Systemwide Upgrade to upgrade into Business Class service for the flight." "You're trying to do what now?" :rolleyes: I repeat. "Is this an award ticket?" "No." I explain again. "You can't do that." "Yes, I can. It's new. Please check with a supervisor." She goes away. I get disconnected.

Third time was the charm. The agent knew what she was doing and confirmed that everything was in order. The upgrade was confirmed. I did not need to give them my SWU numbers yet. Just wait 'til a little while before the flight, call in with the numbers, and have the ticket re-issued.

As another FlyerTalker I discussed this with pointed out, it's a sign of pretty poor training when the customers know the rules better than the agents on the Diamond line.

Of course, I learned all this from FT. So thank you to FT! I got flights to Paris on the exact dates I wanted, and the A fare is ~$1000 cheaper than the M fares and I fares DL.com was showing.

Just booked another one of these for my mom using one of my SWU's as a companion. And we grabbed another seat on the same flight for mom's husband, using mom's SkyMiles. Thanks are due to expertflyer for helping me find the availability.

Three pax in Affaires on the same flights cost: two PV tix @ $1700 each plus four SWU's, and 100,000 SkyMiles plus $133 in tax. Pretty good stuff.

This brings to mind a question that I didn't find the answer to on FT with my search: How many companions can one DM bring on the same flight using SWU's to upgrade them? Could we have bought the third ticket in PV and used two more SWU's to upgrade mom's husband?

No offense to you but I really wish DL wouldn't practice this policy. I think it's wrong. A customer shouldn't be able to put a seat/upgrade on hold because *they might* have the upgrade instrument available just before the flight departs. What a bogus policy. It's also why DL got rid of the "hold for 24 hours" policy on revenue tickets -- now you have to show you can pay for the ticket but they give you a 24hour grace period in case you change your mind or your plans.

If I'm someone trying to get "O" space on the flight now and I have the upgrade instrument in hand, DL could deny me the upgrade because "O" space is zeroed out. Yet you have a seat on hold and could easily not come up with the upgrade instrument, cancel your flight, etc. So I missed out on the upgrade while you held it selfishly and possibly won't use it.

This is not directed at you Megatop but more at DL. I think DL should stop this practice immediately.

BTW - the one time I tried to do this when I had already ordered my SWU's electronically but they hadn't arrived the agent emphatically told me no and I was fine w/ that answer because I thought that's the way it worked.

-RM

I don't think theres a limit, at least I've never seen one. Congrats on your successes- this new enhancement totally changes the way I think about SWUs. Keep us updated on how the ticket reissuing plays out. Hopefully its painless.

RobOnLI: I understand what you're saying, though it doesn't resonate with me on the cancellation issue. Anyone who reserved an award seat or an upgrade could cancel it, DM's without any penalty. As for having the means to upgrade, I see your point and recognize its validity.

Nevertheless, I'm not persuaded. I like the current policy because of timing issues with SWU issuance and expiration. To grab upgrade availability, it's often a good idea to book way in advance. In the case I'm reporting on here, we did it at 330 days from the return flight. If DL adhered to the old NW policy as you advocate, no one would be able to grab any u/g seats beyond the current year's SWU expiration date of 2/28/11 unless and until that pax qualified for and selected PM/DM choice benefits for the following year. That would give a huge advantage to those who reach 75k or 125k MQM's early in the year, which will include a lot of DMs as they pass the PM re-qualification line. Now, I've already requalified and can grab my SWU's for 2011 (valid through 2/28/12), but lots of flyers can't. That especially affects those who are going for PM. If they don't reach 75k MQM until December, they wouldn't be able to grab hold of any upgrade inventory until then, which would be only three months from March departures, by which time a lot of inventory would be gone. The same goes for other times during the year. In May this year, I reserved a ticket for April 2011 and confirmed my u/g. Yet I didn't pass 75k until this summer. I shouldn't have had to wait until then to confirmed my u/g space, and I'm glad I didn't. It shouldn't be that the only pax who can reserve April 2011 upgrades in May 2010 are those who've already passed 75k MQM's.

Just 4 posts before your question was my post describing my sucessfull upgrade using my SWU from W to O. O is very often realease closer to your flight. (in my case, less than 3 weeks).

I hope this is not always the case as I would have to look elsewhere. My current trip had O on the outbound but not the return and so the fare went high like a regular DL M rather than AF W.

Comment: I wish mods were merge this tread with http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...d-flights.html because it is tricky staying up with both of them.

+1
It would really be helpful to merge those threads.