Pricing out MCO-SVO rt in less than two weeks. Cheaptickets.com is pricing $300 cheaper in Y than DL or AF. Do these websites pay MQM? The flight would route MCO-JFK-SVO, SVO-CDG-BOS-MCO, so nothing out of the ordinary.

I would think with that price difference it's a consolidator fare. I've found fares on expedia or amex travel that have been within $15 or $20 but at $300 off i'm thinking it's an unpublished fare we're talking about

you can check the list of published fares to see where's it selling. is showing you which fare bucket it prices into?

Yes they give MQM, but most likely at 25% of normal for a consolidator/unpublished fare.

Are you comparing prices for the same fare class(es) and itinerary?

I recently received full MQMs on a ticket I bought from cheaptickets.com, but the price on delta.com was the same so I was confident it was not a consolidator fare. I also called DL immediately after booking to confirm that I would receive 100%. If you ultimately do book on cheaptickets.com, I would recommend doing the same and cancelling if the answer is no (assuming the reservation is not subject to cancellation or service fees by CheapTickets -- you may want to call to confirm before booking on CheapTickets if you choose this route).

The dates are August 6-13. Cheaptickets does not give me any fare information, or at least any I can find.

The outbound flights are exactly the same, but the inbound is just SVO-JFK-MCO.

The ticket is for my wife and so she said the $300 isn't worth the 100% MQM. I disagreed, but she insisted.

The itinerary showed up on her dl.com log in right away, and I couldn't be happier, as it's booked in V and L class, which according to DL.com earns 100%.

Date and Flight Status Class Meals/Others Seat/Cabin
MCO ► JFK Tue 06Aug2013 DL 2058
OPEN V
JFK ► SVO Tue 06Aug2013 DL 30
OPEN V
SVO ► CDG Tue 13Aug2013 AF 1845
ARPT L
CDG ► BOS Tue 13Aug2013 DL 242
OPEN V
BOS ► MCO Tue 13Aug2013 DL 1699
OPEN V

It is not about class, but the fare basis code. Can you publish that?

I just checked on cheaptickets.com. On the payment confirmation page, you have to find the small text at the bottom that says "You agree to the fare rules and restrictions applicable for this fare" and click on the link to see the fare basis. The fare code is VHP4US.

It looks like delta.com is having trouble finding the SVO-CDG leg (which is marketed by AF). I would call Delta to see if they can book this specific itinerary using the VHP4US fare basis.

EDITED: Didn't see that you've already booked the flights. I would call Delta to confirm that you'll get full MQM credit. The fare class is not enough to guarantee -- all consolidator fares show up as normal fare classes; they are distinguished only by their fare basis codes (and prices of course).

As mentioned, what matters is the fare basis code, and more specifically the designator that follows the basis. That will likely be thetravel agent/booking agent or external booking site code and will let DL know if it is a unpublished or consolidator fare. That is when you would get the 25%. Going by the fare bucket (V, L etc) doesn't mean anything for this particular question.

That's a bummer, for her. Since she isn't too worried about it, I will just wait and see what happens.

That is close to useless. One would probably get a dozen answers from a dozen agents. And if later the full MQM credit didn't appear, one would have no proof that an agent gave any particular answer. I have no idea the answer to the OP's question, but that large of a fare difference is a red flag to me.

These flights also show up on Orbitz, google.com/flights, etc. I'm guessing they are published fares and will earn full miles. While delta.com includes KL coded flights in it's searches, it doesn't seem to allow AF coded ones (hence the need to book on alternate sites, or call DL).

I've got a similar itin coming up this week to TXL that I booked on Orbitz. It also includes an AF coded L fare flight (TXL-CDG) and was cheaper than using an all DL coded itin. Orbitz issued it as an 006 DL ticket. I'll let you know if I get full miles.

By the way, I think people often forget to think about RDMs in this calculation. A 75% difference in miles on this routing could work out to 8.8k-20.5k RDMs, depending on her status (or even higher if she is DM) and whether the specific ticket is eligible for the Medallion mileage bonus.

Using a conservative valuation of 1.2 CPM, the difference in RDMs earned could be worth $105-$250. Whatever value you attribute to the additional 8.8k MQMs could easily bring the total difference in value to $500+.

Numbers aside, I think it is likely that your wife will earn full RDM and MQM credit on her flights. Good luck and please report back to us!

She had a change in schedule and left this past Thursday. Change fee was around $400, since cheaptickets has their own change fee as well. Fare difference, included in total, was only $50 on cheaptickets.

1. She was upgraded, as an FO, on MCO-JFK.
2. With her luck, it was a BE equipped 752.
3. She received full RDM and MQM on her outbound flights.