SWU usage and timelines - is this normal?
 

apologize if this question has been raised - quick search resulted in nada

booked a B fare from ATL to LON for Dec 13. Seat Maps shows wide open ( i know --don't use that as your guiding factor)

Wanted to use one of about to expire SWUs for this trip. No z fares 290 plus days prior to flight and all DL could is to waitlist me and I can not use my SWU until I am cleared.

question 1 - does this make sense and is this normal (can't release a z seat and use an swu that far in advance?)

question 2 - any tricks on how to use the swu for this leg?

question 3 - what has been the experience of you FT'ers wrt using SWU on a waitlisted basis particularly close to a major holiday.

thanks in advance

No experience booking anything that far in advance but no surprise that Z is not available. There seems to be a waveform that only the yield guru's at DL know, but I think 45-60 days out and then again maybe very close in. (???)

Nobody can "open up" Z, except the aforementioned rev folks.

The good news is I have been able to successfully use a SWU after its expiration date - I was waitlisted with the SWU linked to the record. I don't know if that is standard practice or not, YMMV - but it did work. If it matters, expiration was only two days before the flight.

ATL-LHR is a very tough upgrade in general, J sells.

Holiday is probably not a factor for your dates of travel. SWU's (with their M+ fares) tend to be used for business (e.g. company paid) travel which is tapering off near the holidays and you're not on in the hardcore holiday window anyway. Day of travel is more of a factor.

As you will hear over and over, never book expecting to use a SWU unless there is Z availability confirmed. There are no tricks. If you are on a SWU waitlist and Z opens up you should get upgraded. I would subscribe to EF and have an alert set for Z availability > 0. Then if it opens up you can call DL immediately to confirm an upgrade. BTW, if you could leave earlier in the week, there is availability on the 10th, 11th and 12th. Nothing on 13th/14th and available again on the 15th and 16th.

thanks to all for the feedback- will do the EF route/notification.

called the DM desk again and another agent worked a way to protect my about to expire SWU.

She booked me ATL BOS LHR and was able to link one of the SWUs (z seats were available) to that PNR and then rebooked me ATL LHR with that same SWU tied to the revised itin.- still wailisted to BE but atleast i did not lose the SWU -
on a side note although I requalified for DM again -- I probably will not use or select SWUs in the future

I guess the ATL LHR is a protected DL jewel

Since it is a B fare I guess I have options.

+1

That is some pretty cool creativity on the part of a DM agent. Would totally earn a Job Well Done cert from me if I encoutered it - I'm very much not used to that level of customer service other than from Chisholm. (Come to think of it, I'd be curious for you to check your receipt for your flight - was the ticket issued by SLCRES or HIBRES?)

hibres -- was thinking about doing that but wasn't sure it that would get her into trouble

So did she reissue the ticket for ATL-BOS-LHR in Z and then do a change to ATL-LHR?
Just wondering if you got a receipt or saw anything showing it was booked in Z. Or, does your SWU in your account show as closed now?

I agree that is very creative.

my original itin was in b class atl lhr, I then received an email with the atl bos lhr routing with z class and one of my many swu's closed (dated today) then i was rebooked back to atl lhr still in B but waitlisted. the used swu from today still show closed and my upgrade status is waitlisted. so 50% of my goal was done thanks to her -- i.e use one of the many swu's --my logic was damn I earned it and i am going to use it vs make it wall paper.. now for the other 50% goal -- get that be seat. mrs earle is already there with an award ticket

when booked rt (150k miles) confirmed etc, then did a dummy booking for one way 200k and then did another fake booking rt --- 325k. wow more then double points swing in just a few days for a trip over 290 days away

go figure

Sorry for the newbie question - what is EF and how does one use it to look out for Z opportunities?

Yeah, sounds like the agent did what I was guessing... great job on her part to get the SWU in as closed with the ATL-BOS-LHR routing. So now its locked in there with the routing change and you'll either clear in advance whenever Z becomes available or go to the gate upgrade list.

Oh and regarding the award ticket... its been demonstrated that just by searching or creating dummy bookings, it makes the system 'think' there is demand so it will jack up the price. Nice huh

EF = ExpertFlyer.com and with a paid subscription you can set up a alert for inventory in various fare buckets. You'll get an email when it finds some, saves having to check 20 times a day :)

Would you be happy to pay the B fare and sit in Y?

If not, check availability BEFORE you buy!

Though a B fare is probably fully refundable.

I knew it! :) Another tick in the column of amazing customer service from the Chisholm, MN call center. The most welcome announcement Delta could make would be that all DM calls get routed there by default.

I always figure that if I provide the JWD cert number over the phone, they get the satisfaction of knowing I'm pleased and then it's up to the agent whether to redeem the points - I figure they know better than I would whether it would cause issues with their management.

You can speak in generalities on the JWD cert's info space, you don't have to tell DL what they did for you exactly why you gave it if they bent the rules a bit.