First Class Monetization, or FCM: The Definitive Thread
Apr 26, 2019, 1:58 am
#4531
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: ANC
Programs: DL DM
Posts: 1,859
Weird FCM glitch tonight
Recently I have started to notice FCM offers between ANC and SEA as low as $110 each way. We took advantage of those for a trip this week. Tonight, I saw the same offer for an international trip we have in September. We decided to snag them as we have approx 30 hours of travel each way on our trip and a few hours in F is worth it to us.
We are on separate reservations.
My spouse (silver status) selects the offer first on the app tonight. It is successful, charge goes through, seat reassigned to first class (Z). All looks good.
I (gold status) then go to do the same on my app. Same offer. Get to the final stage and it errors out. Tried 2 more times on the app. No luck. Tried on DL.com with the same error. Then I noticed that on each of those 4 attempts DL charged a pre-auth ($110) to my Amex. No "receipt" was issued and my seat remained the same in C+.
Called the Gold Line to see if it was an inventory issue or if they could help. Very friendly agent saw the same FCM offer but did not see any charges associated to the reservation, no receipts, etc. She was not sure why the system kept displaying an error. She got the IT desk involved and they manually reissued the ticket with the segment we were trying to upgrade into First (D). She says that the four pre-auths should drop off in a few days and I shouldn't be charged for the segment upgrade due to the inconvenience. (I'm sure it's also because my return portion of the trip is paid D1).
Anyway, we shall see if the 4 x $110 pre-auths drop off. It looks like my ticket re-issue was just an even exchange.
Anyone see this FCM glitch before, or similar?
We are on separate reservations.
My spouse (silver status) selects the offer first on the app tonight. It is successful, charge goes through, seat reassigned to first class (Z). All looks good.
I (gold status) then go to do the same on my app. Same offer. Get to the final stage and it errors out. Tried 2 more times on the app. No luck. Tried on DL.com with the same error. Then I noticed that on each of those 4 attempts DL charged a pre-auth ($110) to my Amex. No "receipt" was issued and my seat remained the same in C+.
Called the Gold Line to see if it was an inventory issue or if they could help. Very friendly agent saw the same FCM offer but did not see any charges associated to the reservation, no receipts, etc. She was not sure why the system kept displaying an error. She got the IT desk involved and they manually reissued the ticket with the segment we were trying to upgrade into First (D). She says that the four pre-auths should drop off in a few days and I shouldn't be charged for the segment upgrade due to the inconvenience. (I'm sure it's also because my return portion of the trip is paid D1).
Anyway, we shall see if the 4 x $110 pre-auths drop off. It looks like my ticket re-issue was just an even exchange.
Anyone see this FCM glitch before, or similar?
Apr 26, 2019, 8:02 am
#4534
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,070
You can see this with today's BOS-RDU flights. DL5451 has one seat in all FC buckets, but nothing in Y, so only a J0F fare is bookable. DL5096 has C and B inventory and thus you can book a BA0UA0FJ fare that books into C booking class. While there's also inventory in Z, the coach fare buckets for the FC fares that book into this are empty and they also have advance purchase requirements (so even if there was inventory, you couldn't book them).
DL 5451 J1 C1 D1 I1 Z1 W0 Y0 B0 M0 H0 Q0 K0
L0 U0 T0 X0 V0 E0
DL 5096 J2 C2 D0 I0 Z2 W5 Y5 B2 M2 H0 Q0 K0
L0 U0 T0 X0 V0 E0
Last edited by xliioper; Apr 26, 2019 at 8:27 am
Apr 26, 2019, 8:57 am
#4535
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: DL PM 1.57MM; AS MVPG 100K
Posts: 21,375
that’s a really good explanation
don’t remember if I mentioned my experience with FCMing a Concur-issued ticket a couple months ago ... after the 24-hour window has passed, the booking agency (World Travel) has to contact DL for the fee waiver code; on the website I was seeing a difference of $264 (SEA-ATL-DCA redeye) between my U fare and I, but the WT agent was telling me it would cost over $600 because DL doesn’t release all seats in a bucket to Concur
the other complication was that the fee waiver for upfaring **only** applies to the originally booked flight. so I couldn’t extend my layover by an hour to a flight where Concur showed I availability
at that point he said “Wait a sec ... I’m actually seeing that I can book Z on your flights, so your cost is $219”
don’t remember if I mentioned my experience with FCMing a Concur-issued ticket a couple months ago ... after the 24-hour window has passed, the booking agency (World Travel) has to contact DL for the fee waiver code; on the website I was seeing a difference of $264 (SEA-ATL-DCA redeye) between my U fare and I, but the WT agent was telling me it would cost over $600 because DL doesn’t release all seats in a bucket to Concur
the other complication was that the fee waiver for upfaring **only** applies to the originally booked flight. so I couldn’t extend my layover by an hour to a flight where Concur showed I availability
at that point he said “Wait a sec ... I’m actually seeing that I can book Z on your flights, so your cost is $219”
Apr 26, 2019, 10:33 am
#4536
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: Delta. AA, National EE, HH
Posts: 162
TUS-MSP
Was 694.xx on 4/09
435.xx on 4/10
748.xx on 4/11
Flight is on 5/11 so we will see how this goes.,
Was 694.xx on 4/09
435.xx on 4/10
748.xx on 4/11
Flight is on 5/11 so we will see how this goes.,
Finally showed back up at a tempting $728.xx
Apr 26, 2019, 11:40 pm
#4539
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,070
Apr 27, 2019, 1:46 am
#4540
Join Date: May 2018
Location: HPN, PVG, HLD
Programs: DL DM
Posts: 79
Just booked a round trip SAN-SEA-PVG-LAX-SAN, with $480 total in V fare. Immediately got PVG-LAX FCM offer to PS with $199. Took it and called DM desk for mileage upgrade, 45k miles taken and the upgrade cleared immediately! So $679 + 45k miles = round trip SAN-PVG with the returning trip in D1, pretty good deal.
Apr 27, 2019, 7:48 am
#4541
Join Date: Mar 2006
Programs: Delta Platinum, AA Plat Pro, F9 Elite 100k
Posts: 151
Apr 27, 2019, 3:21 pm
#4542
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: DL PM 1.57MM; AS MVPG 100K
Posts: 21,375
Apr 27, 2019, 4:08 pm
#4543
Join Date: Mar 2006
Programs: Delta Platinum, AA Plat Pro, F9 Elite 100k
Posts: 151
For a D1 seat I would feel that way, but since I've been snagging equal distance flights from MCO-SLC for $129 it's hard to justify $283 in another standard 757 seat.
Interesting thing though...C+ was full before they switched it to a 763. They had re-assigned my seat when they went to the 763 to another economy seat. When they switched it back to a 753 they kept my new 763 seat assignment, which happens to be C+ on the 757. The ticket was not re-issued as SU.
Interesting thing though...C+ was full before they switched it to a 763. They had re-assigned my seat when they went to the 763 to another economy seat. When they switched it back to a 753 they kept my new 763 seat assignment, which happens to be C+ on the 757. The ticket was not re-issued as SU.
Apr 27, 2019, 4:59 pm
#4544
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Seattle
Programs: DL DM; Hyatt Globalist; etc
Posts: 540
Flying SEA-SAN on Monday afternoon, there've been offers in the $80 - $100 range for as long as I've had the ticket (a couple of months), finally decided to pull the trigger given there's only four seats showing available on the seat map and I really don't want to fly in C+ on a 739 if I can avoid it.
Ended up digging into my stash of SM, 9,300 for an F seat in a 738. For a >1,000 mile flight, not bad. I can't help but wonder if I would have gotten the UG had a few other people not taken the offer before me, but ah well.
Ended up digging into my stash of SM, 9,300 for an F seat in a 738. For a >1,000 mile flight, not bad. I can't help but wonder if I would have gotten the UG had a few other people not taken the offer before me, but ah well.