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AMEX Delta Companion certificate Consolidated Thread

AMEX Delta Companion certificate Consolidated Thread

Old Sep 15, 2018, 10:02 pm
  #2266  
 
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Does Delta charge the same for award flights of Air Tahiti Nui? I got quoted 40K OW for LAX-PPT on Jan 15, and then for the next day Jan 16 they told me 60K.
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Old Sep 20, 2018, 11:37 am
  #2267  
 
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Originally Posted by ken.yong
Does Delta charge the same for award flights of Air Tahiti Nui? I got quoted 40K OW for LAX-PPT on Jan 15, and then for the next day Jan 16 they told me 60K.
Seek no logic, for ye shall find none.
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Old Sep 20, 2018, 12:59 pm
  #2268  
 
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Originally Posted by ken.yong
Does Delta charge the same for award flights of Air Tahiti Nui? I got quoted 40K OW for LAX-PPT on Jan 15, and then for the next day Jan 16 they told me 60K.
Is one in X and other in O?

If 40K is OW in O, that is a great deal, even less than HA HNL-PPT (short 4h flight but a whopping 47.5K OW in J).

I would suspect 40K is X price, 60K is O price. But only way to know for sure is to pull it up online (if it shows) or if not then ask in what class it is.
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Old Sep 20, 2018, 10:42 pm
  #2269  
 
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Am trying to select my seat for my CZ ticket that was booked w DL miles.
How do i find the CZ locator? I tried using CZ's seat resv site with no luck

CZ Change Seat LInk

Last edited by kaiotes; Sep 20, 2018 at 11:10 pm
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Old Sep 20, 2018, 11:58 pm
  #2270  
 
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Originally Posted by kaiotes
Am trying to select my seat for my CZ ticket that was booked w DL miles.
How do i find the CZ locator? I tried using CZ's seat resv site with no luck

CZ Change Seat LInk
DL refuses to give it to you on the ticket/receipt, as NW did.

You need to e-mail DL and ask them for it (or call).
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Old Sep 23, 2018, 7:52 pm
  #2271  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
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Originally Posted by FlightNurse
what issue are u having?
No available flights. SOLD OUT is all I get.
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Old Sep 29, 2018, 10:44 pm
  #2272  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
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Posts: 2,191
VS Availability

I've noticed that Delta is not showing the same award availability on VS that VS actually has. Anyone else notice this as well?
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Old Sep 29, 2018, 11:06 pm
  #2273  
 
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CI paid full Y ticket, upgrade to J using skymiles Skyteam Mileage Upgrade awards

@RealHJ,
Thanks for the help a while back. I've changed my plan of attack to get from YYZ or JFK to AKL. Using skymiles with DL's Skyteam Mileage upgrade, I can use 30k miles one-way to upgrade CI flights booked in Y. I can book JFK-TPE-AKL in Y on CI for US$2600 RT. The fare is a through fare, no break in TPE. I spoke to 2 agents at DL and got 2 answers. Does the mileage upgrade terminology "one-way" mean per segement or per direction. I got both answers.

Also...CI 53/54 flys TPE-BNE-AKL and AKL-BNE-TPE. EF award and upgrades search can find 53 and 54 TPE-BNE but cant find/load TPE-AKL or BNE-AKL. There are lots of days that O and X space exist TPE-BNE so I imagine it should exist BNE-AKL. Anybody seen this behaviour?
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Old Sep 30, 2018, 4:09 am
  #2274  
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Inventory for CI53 TPE-BNE, CI53 BNE-AKL, and CI53 TPE-AKL, are all different things. While one aircraft, it's technically three different flights. You need inventory on whichever version you're booked.

Upgrade is per direction. JFK-AKL is one direction.
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Old Sep 30, 2018, 12:08 pm
  #2275  
 
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I would call to do the ST mileage upgrade immediately after booking, so that in case it doesn't work out you can still cancel w/in the 24 hour window.

The SkyTeam mileage upgrades are very rarely used, so most DL agents probably have little to no experience with that, so the one thing that you are guaranteed is inconsistency and uncertainty on being able to do it, regardless of if it is actually available or no.

I unfortunately don't know into what fare class it books, though it being a mirror of O availability would certainly make sense (though that's not to say that is how it is).
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 8:29 am
  #2276  
 
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Originally Posted by MarkP24
I've noticed that Delta is not showing the same award availability on VS that VS actually has. Anyone else notice this as well?
Yes. It is a bit all over the place and hard to understand. I use both the VS site, DL's website and the phone if I really need a particular flight. I've found that sometimes when you call they see different inventory. Also sometimes online is literally bookable (I am a Diamond so can cancel) but calling says it is not there. Also VS flights don't seem to show most times when connecting to another DL partner example - VS JFK-LHR and 9W LHR-BOM. You need to call and force them to combine (they usually will).
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 11:06 pm
  #2277  
 
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Cool My story...how to go about using DL SkyTeam Upgrade on CI flights. It can be done!

Originally Posted by Utskicat
@RealHJ,
Thanks for the help a while back. I've changed my plan of attack to get from YYZ or JFK to AKL. Using skymiles with DL's Skyteam Mileage upgrade, I can use 30k miles one-way to upgrade CI flights booked in Y. I can book JFK-TPE-AKL in Y on CI for US$2600 RT. The fare is a through fare, no break in TPE. I spoke to 2 agents at DL and got 2 answers. Does the mileage upgrade terminology "one-way" mean per segement or per direction. I got both answers.

Also...CI 53/54 flys TPE-BNE-AKL and AKL-BNE-TPE. EF award and upgrades search can find 53 and 54 TPE-BNE but cant find/load TPE-AKL or BNE-AKL. There are lots of days that O and X space exist TPE-BNE so I imagine it should exist BNE-AKL. Anybody seen this behaviour?
So I got this trip booked today. It took hours but worked out in the end. I wanted to share the process for anyone else looking to do this.

To recap, I was able to find a Y class RT fare on CI for JFK-AKL (via TPE-BNE) for $2649.35 USD. I first called DL. Their instructions for using SkyTeam Mileage upgrade on CI flights (or any SkyTeam Upgrade) is to book the flights directly with Delta. They will then immediately process the upgrade to Business and reissue the ticket. This was surprising to me because I wansn't sure how DL could issue a ticket using a CI fare. (I had already looked extensively on EF, there were no Delta fares that had CI routings.) I kept saying that it only made sense that I book the Y ticket directly with CI and then call Delta back (as has been mentioned in other posts here). Every DL agent was SURE this would not work because their system can "only" access AF and KL pnrs. After almost 2 hours on the phone (the agent was great, she was slowly starting to side with my logic when she realized there were no DL fares with CI routings and became persistent with various other support desks). She finally found some small department called "Skyteam Upgrades" and spoke with someone there that verified the process 1) Book with CI directly, needs to be CI ticket stock, and must be Y segments, no code shares, and Y fare basis. 2) Call DL back. DL will book I class (she checked my flights for I class first, it was all available, even though O (award space) was not. 3) She said most DL agent's have no clue about Skyteam Mileage Upgrade and claim its not possible. She said to tell agent when I call back just to contact the Skyteam Mileage Upgrade Dept at internal extension 300-8743, that only they can pull the CI ticket, create a DL ghost PNR and reissue into Business.

Armed with this info, I called CI in LAX. Side note...currently the china-airlines.com website does not offer any full Y fares. It only offers fulll PE fares (W) which are not eligible for Skyteam Upgrade.

Called CI and within about 20 mins had the exact itinerary and fare I found on EF and fared in ITA Matrix in Y class. Got CI PNR and CI Ticket No.

Called Delta back (Elite line), explained very concisely to the agent my last few hours and quoted the internal extension number for the Skyteam Upgrades dept. She very politely stated that upgrading CI flights was not possible and that there was no such department or extension. I also politely asked her to please attempt the extension. She came back on about 3 mins later and stated that she would be transferring me to the Upgrade agent, that this was a "new process" she was not aware of.

I relayed this to the lady at Skyteam Upgrades and she said its nothing new and no body knows how to contact them. She said that their number is very clearly listed in all internal documentation in how to process a Skyteam Upgrade, but agents get the terms "Skyteam Upgrade" and "Skymiles Upgrade" confused or don't search for the info correctly.

She had me upgraded and reissued in under 5 minutes.

As soon as she completed the upgrade, a DL PNR immediately appeared in "My Trips" in delta.com. The trip showed all of the CI segments, showed CI fare info, but when reissued was reissued with 006 ticket number. She said she did get a confirmed HK response from CI/amadeus that the I class segments were validated. I'm crossing my fingers she was right. (I have high hopes, when I booked the Y ticket with CI, the CI agent also confirmed she could see I class open for all of my flights.

I then called CI back to reserve seats. On their end, they only saw the original 279 ticket in Y and the Y segments, but said when other airlines make changes on shared control PNRs, it can take overnight until it updates. I logged into Amadeus checkmytrip and saw same thing...still the original ticket. I will check again in the morning.

Followup notes:
1) EF cannot pull I class for CI. (which is their Business class upgrade inventory). I assumed that I class would mirror O class (award Business) which EF does report. In talking to both DL and CI, I found many flights that had O class sold out, still had I class available.
2) CI has a 48 hour risk free cancellation policy for flight departing USA...BUT ONLY IF BOOKED on their website. Since I booked directly with their ticket office, there was no free cancellation (since they will hold for 7 days before ticketing subject to fare change if you desire).
3) I mentioned not being able to book a full Y fare on CI's website. CI said this was odd and they would open a ticket with their IT/Rev Mgmt teams.
4) All of CI's full Y fares are refundable but have a $100 USD fee to refund. I found this very strange for a full Y fare. I mentioned this to the CI agent, she said they moved to this fee for full fares a few years ago.

After all of this I'm pretty happy. Since these are CI flights in Y, I will get about 27,000 MQMs for next year. And over 60 hours of CI Business class flying in the A350 for $2650 + 60k (30k x 2) miles seems like a deal.

Lastly, after I was all done, I realized I booked AKL-TPE a day early by accident. Yep. I'm a looser. I have no idea how fixing that will be, but its too late to call back tonight. I guess it gives us another data point I can report back here!

Thansk to @RealHJ for all of the help in previous posts!

Last edited by Utskicat; Oct 4, 2018 at 11:13 pm
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 11:30 pm
  #2278  
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Note you may have a 2nd PNR with China Airlines. When changes like this are done, you can sometimes end up with a double PNR. One showing you in business with a 006 ticket and the original PNR with CI ticket. Hopefully it correctly updates. In case it doesn't this is first thing to have them look for.

BTW CI has been running Z fares from JFK/LAX/YVR/YYZ-SYD/AKL for around the same price. May not be available for your dates of travel. However it's something to look at.
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 11:49 pm
  #2279  
 
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Originally Posted by flyerCO
Note you may have a 2nd PNR with China Airlines. When changes like this are done, you can sometimes end up with a double PNR. One showing you in business with a 006 ticket and the original PNR with CI ticket. Hopefully it correctly updates. In case it doesn't this is first thing to have them look for.
I wondered if this was maybe happening...

Originally Posted by flyerCO
BTW CI has been running Z fares from JFK/LAX/YVR/YYZ-SYD/AKL for around the same price. May not be available for your dates of travel. However it's something to look at.
Interesting. I have spent hours looking for something like that. Closest I found was AC fare RT only (and only on their website) for CAD $2600 all in from YYZ-YVR-TPE in J on a 787-9. I just couldn't piece together a J class option from TPE to AKL for under $4000 total. I just looked up all Business fares YYZ-AKL and JFK-AKL for next 330 days on CI on EF and cheapest EF is reporting is D fare for US$4944 RT. Where are you finding these Z fares? I'm intrigued!

Thanks!
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 11:55 pm
  #2280  
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Originally Posted by Utskicat
I wondered if this was maybe happening...



Interesting. I have spent hours looking for something like that. Closest I found was AC fare RT only (and only on their website) for CAD $2600 all in from YYZ-YVR-TPE in J on a 787-9. I just couldn't piece together a J class option from TPE to AKL for under $4000 total. I just looked up all Business fares YYZ-AKL and JFK-AKL for next 330 days on CI on EF and cheapest EF is reporting is D fare for US$4944 RT. Where are you finding these Z fares? I'm intrigued!

Thanks!
It comes and goes, normally alternating between N. America and Europe-SYD/AKL. Looks like currently Europe is the market on sale (at least CDG).
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