akonradi

In my experience with getting reissues done without having to go through the queue, I don't tell the first phone agent what I want. I just say, "Hello, can you please transfer me to the international reissue desk?" That has never failed me.

If I tell the initial agent what I want and they don't know what I am talking about, then they're more likely to deny my requests. My limited sample of front-line agents shows that not many of them understand the rules or processes for upgrading from PV to Affaires; the people at international reissue, IXXRES, and IRRRES know their stuff.

mnredfox

Well, in terms of fare it really is about who operated the flight. Even if it's DL ticket stock and DL coded, if it's W it's valid for UG. I've bought two tickets in the past few months on DL 006 stock on DL coded AF operated flights showing W fare basis, eligible for UG.

The no manual reissue process BS really annoys me. DL's agents continue to be ridiculously uninformed about this process. I have complained over and over about this as I continue to have issues when agents tell me that "it will be taken care". I've posted my woes here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ocedure-3.html

For me I supposedly keep getting lost in the queue to do manual UG's. Either way, the previous poster is correct. The ticket MUST be reissued, the other agents are just telling you they don't need to reissue now, that the manual reissue desk will take care of it. But IME, the only way to make sure it is headache free is to have the agent call the reissue desk and to have it done before you get off the phone. When your SWU is shown as closed, you have a new 006 ticket number, and your ticket details in your PNR show O class (not your PNR itself, but when you click "Details" by the ticket number and the pop up box shows O) then you are good to go.

If you are showing O and W at the same time, you should be good to go regarding O space as DL correctly is holding that. But until it is ticketed it isn't guaranteed that AF or DL might drop that status, hence have it reticketed ASAP.

vgb2001

+1
Just asking to be transfered without going into much explanation is the most efficient way to go

stanfordhokie

Today, two DM agents could not even tell that I had cleared a waitlist into Z space on their own metal for an international itin. Third call I asked for the international reissue desk immediately who took care of it in a matter of minutes. What is wrong with these agents?

DLATL777

The last DM agent I got on the phone yesterdays sounded like a newly hired early 20s female who had to put me in hold 2-3 times as it was obvious she had NO idea how to search for KE award availability (Im only giving these details to paint the picture-I couldn't care less the gender of the agent). She then told me she found availability and transferred me to the international reissue desk...only to be told that she put in a D fare for a business class leg on an award ticket (which is paid business....) and that there in fact was NO award availability on my flight. This was after 20 minutes of hold time.

Just one of the many awful phone calls I have with these "good" agents at the DM line.

akonradi

90% of the time that I have to call in, I just wish that I had a direct number to international reissue or IRRRES. Wrong answers are all over the place in other reservations outlets.

mtkeller

In her defense, the award booking class has just changed from D to O, so if she asked a colleague, she might have gotten bad information (or found documentation that hasn't been properly updated).

j.bell

Thanks - that did the trick. The agent sent me off to international reissue right away, but then the international reissue agent protested that it would happen automatically in the queue. I told him that the agent I spoke with last night told me that I would need to have it manually reissued and politely requested that he look into it and after ~30 minutes it was reissued with 2 x 25k mileage deductions. Another 15 minutes he came back and said that it is 25k because it's a DL W fare, it would have been 15k for the AF W fare (which was ~$4k more), and confirmed and reissued the ticket. No luxury tax though, since I am only transiting CDG.

Oh well. 20k more than I hoped to spend, but with any luck the AVOD will be out and I'll get 20k back, right?

wp_kid

has the mileage pricing for W -> O upgrades changed recently? folks earlier have been charged 15k per way, now it's 25k?

spin2nd

It's dependent on the ticket/class. Air France 'W' Class is 15k whereas Delta 'W' is 25k b/c its actually equivalent to AF 'A' class which is lower thus requiring the higher award...can be confusing, I know.

SDQBound

You were charged 10,000 extra miles that were not supposed to be charged. You should immediately call DL back. Per http://www.delta.com/skymiles/use_mi...ards/index.jsp It's 15,000 miles and there is no mention of 25K if the booking class is W from Delta. Also, "A" cannot be upgraded to O anymore.

j.bell

Yeah.... that's exactly what I thought. When I was on the line with the manual reissue folks (to get this reissued into O) I brought this up and the response that I got was along the lines of "Well, the DL W fare really wasn't upgrade eligible but somehow someone put this through so we're going to reissue it, but charge you 25k, if you keep pushing maybe we'll review the res. and you won't get an upgrade at all".

Out of curiosity called back again today. 20 mins on hold w/ front line GM agent, who then agreed and sent me to international reissue. 15 mins on hold with international reissue and it was corrected (to 15k). So much for consistency.

mnredfox

Oh that's a load of crap, you shouldn't get it but since I can make it happen for you I'll charge you and extra 10K? Sounds like the same BS story on why they charged me luxury tax...

kahuna613

I've just finished reading through this entire thread and am still not sure I am understanding mileage upgrades. I will shortly begin traveling to Europe and Africa several times a year for the USG, meaning (I believe) that my tickets will be Y-fare on U.S. airlines only, per the Fly America rules. In that case, as someone without any SWUs, am I able to upgrade using miles if I am flying DL codeshares in Y class operated by KLM or Air France? I will not be able to re-issue the tickets with AF or KL flight numbers.

akonradi

You cannot take AF/KL O inventory on a codeshare; the ticket must be (re)issued on the AF/KL flight number to pull this award space. I am not familiar with Fly America, but you definitely cannot use a SWU on a codeshare without first changing to the operator's code.