flyguy12345

I will be flying from the west coast to Sydney, Australia and I would love to try to fly in business/first class. After a bit of research, I've decided that I'd like to try to fly with Virgin Australia because their business class product looks great. So I would like to purchase an economy ticket on Virgin Australia for a flight from LAX to SYD and then upgrade to business class using points. My questions are...

Is it possible to upgrade soon after ticketing the economy paid fare? I've read about folks waiting until closer to the DoD and trying to upgrade that way, but I want to guarantee that I get seats in business class.
Is it better to book this through Delta and then try to upgrade from economy to business using Delta SkyMiles?
Is it better to book with Virgin Australia and then upgrade using Velocity Frequent Flyer points? I don't currently have any Velocity points, but I do have Chase UR and Amex MR points that I could transfer. I see that Amex is transfer partners with Virgin Atlantic, but I'm not 100% sure if either Chase or Amex are transfer partners with Virgin Australia.

Sorry for the questions, I'm newer here and trying to make sure this flight idea works as I'm hoping it will. Thank you!

gooselee

Nope, not at all. DL award space is very dynamic. Lots of people complain about award charts going away - that does indeed pose some problems, but one of the GOOD things that came from it is DL will raise and lower award prices all the time now based on market demand (or whatever other factors).

I rarely book more than 6 months out and have never paid more than 150k for a RT TATL in J.

flyerCO

You cant upgrade VA using DL points. You can book an actual award flight in business class on VA, but cant upgrade on a paid ticket. DoD upgrades are strictly $ affairs.

As for AMEX and VA, make sure this will work before transferring points. Ie is there upgrade space, and that they'll let you upgrade using an account that has never had any "earn" activity in the past. It'll likely also need to be bought directly from VA in order to upgrade using VA points.

Finally, VS (Virgin Atlantic has nothing to do with VA except sharing a common brand name)

manstein58

Requesting guidance here. Have about 800k Skymiles left from another life and want to burn them off this year. RT in Delta One to Italy is around 550k (things sure have changed in the last 10 years). Would i be better off using them on Alitalia? Magnifica v. DeltaOne? And how do Ii convert them? Thanks very much in advance

flyerCO

You dont convert. You book with DL regardless of airline you're flying. You can get for 80-110k each way, just need to find right dates and right city pairs. JFK-FCO can cost more than LAX-JFK-FCO, with same JFK-FCO flight. Just like revenue tickets price based on origin and destination, so do awards now.

bobf

I haven't booked this yet, as MU and CZ availability doesn't seem to get used up very fast, although some days it completely disappears, only to reappear the next day. Anyway, I've found a currently available return leg DPS-DTW, stopping in CAN and JFK for 85K (vs 140K for DPS-JFK). As JFK-DTW would be my last leg and I have to claim luggage in JFK, could I proceed directly JFK -FLL (rebooking luggage at JFK on a different ticket) without consequences?
Thanks
Bob

bobf

I found a good return award on this DPS-DTW (stops in CAN, JFK) for 85K. Since JFK-DTW would be my last leg and I have to claim baggage in JFK, could I proceed JFK-FLL (skipping last leg), rebooking luggage on a separate ticket without negative consequences?

bobf

Academic question. Now it seems all China Southern flights have disappeared. Delta.com does not give one much chance to think things over.

Joshua Guu

A warning to all who fly CI using Delta miles.
SYD - TPE operated by CI , J class.
Upon check-in the CI ground staff informed me my ticket had no Checked baggage allowance and if I wanted to checkin I had to pay 600+aud found it ridiculous so obviously did not pay. Lucky I had family in SYD so I just had them ship my belongings after. Called Delta after for confirmation and did not get a clear response. My ticket DID NOT state check in allowance but they had no control over how CI would charge me too.

As anyone else experienced this or similar? Is it only CI or does other partners do this too?

Best regards,
Josh

flyerCO

This is a CI not DL issue. It's reared its head before. As the flight was CI coded (assuming no other flights before it) then CI policy applies. Did you ask for a supervisor? All J tickets come with bag or weight allowance.

beachmouse

So if I use the platinum companion certificate, can I still use miles to 'upgrade' and guarantee the tickets are C+ at time of booking? I'm married to a tall fella who understandably is not enthused about playing Silver Medallion seat roulette for C+ on a transcon route.

bgriff

You can upgrade the companion certificate the same as any other flight. I don't think it's a 100% guarantee that Delta will offer a C+ upgrade offer to you on every flight, but whether they do or not has nothing to do with the companion cert.

Note that as a Silver Medallion, you can also secure exit row seats for free at the time of booking for yourself and others traveling with you, as long as it's an aircraft type that has exit rows outside of C+ (most that fly transcon do, other than some 767s).

beachmouse

I mentioned the exit row option to him earlier but he still wants C+ and I aim to keep him happy on trips and all

xliioper

I don't believe you can do it at time of purchase, but as long as there are a number of C+ seats still available, you should see a cash/miles offer after purchase. Note that mileage price is just the cash price at .01/mile (minus the 7.5% US excise tax on the cash offer). Most wouldn't consider it the best use of miles (as you can often get better than .01/mile in value with award flights).

bobf

I gave up. I thought, with months to search and starting 11 months out, I could find a good value RT J award from anywhere in the US to SE Asia (planning to use $ or more miles to the gateway (I am in S Florida), but could not find. So I searched for an OK value paid J on ST to SE Asia to accrue status (as I am on the edge of 2MM). But I could not find. So we are flying Qatar Airways MIA CGK RT for $3100pp J (Q suites to/from MIA).