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possible to upfare coach after ticketing?

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Old Nov 7, 2013, 8:17 am
  #1  
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possible to upfare coach after ticketing?

sorry for the newbie question, i'm a long time UA FF moving to AS next year. looking at a ticket to EU, employer will pay premium economy but can't buy business. is it possible to buy a PE fare via our corporate OTA and for me then to call DL and ask for this ticket to be upfared to some version of J? this is not a problem on UA but never attempted before on DL...on UA if done within 24hr no change fees apply and just pay the fare basis with appropriate personal CC...
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 8:24 am
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If purchased through a TA - no unless you want to pay $200. The 24 hour rule didn't apply for a TA purchased ticket for my DW. TA could cancel within 24 hours at no cost.
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 9:13 am
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Originally Posted by puddinhead
If purchased through a TA - no unless you want to pay $200. The 24 hour rule didn't apply for a TA purchased ticket for my DW. TA could cancel within 24 hours at no cost.
Many here report success with an upfare request when rebooking into a FC or BE cabin.

Even if OP is successful at evading the $200 change fee, there will be a $50 charge for handling a ticket that was not issued by Delta.

David
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 9:19 am
  #4  
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It's also worth checking with your employer to determine whether your corporate TA can handle two CC's for a purchase. In that event, the TA issues the J ticket, but charges the amount of the PE fare to the corporate card and the balance to you.

It's also important to assure that you aren't trading flexibility for cabin. Some employers are paying for flex tickets for a reason and when you buy the cheapest seat in the J cabin, it's not necessarily flex.
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 11:20 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by DiverDave
Many here report success with an upfare request when rebooking into a FC or BE cabin.

Even if OP is successful at evading the $200 change fee, there will be a $50 charge for handling a ticket that was not issued by Delta.

David
At least for tickets issued by DL, policy seems to be not to charge the change fee when upfaring into a higher CABIN class, although it is often charged when upfaring into a higher fare class in the same cabin such as an upgradeable fare. Again for tickets exUSA issued by DL, you can always cancel for free within 24 hours.

The OP should check corporate travel policy to make sure that what he/she wants to do is allowed. The OP will be flying on a different ticket from the one for which the receipt is submitted for reimbursement.
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 12:40 pm
  #6  
 
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I've paid to upgrade fares many, many times in the past with DL and have NEVER been charged a change fee to move to a more expensive fare class. Though, you may have to ask for a waiver of the fee.
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 2:41 pm
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The issue is it's a TA ticket. OP, if you are paying for the ticket and being reimbursed (rather than having it paid directly by your employer) you might want to purchase the prem economy, have the TA void it for no charge within 24 hours, then have the TA purchase the biz ticket you really want. That will leave a paper trail showing the reimbursable prem econ fare and you can submit only that amount for reimbursement on the biz ticket. Have done stuff like this before in your situation and never had a problem, but you should of course check company policy or ask before doing it the first time.

Originally Posted by jsmith50
I've paid to upgrade fares many, many times in the past with DL and have NEVER been charged a change fee to move to a more expensive fare class. Though, you may have to ask for a waiver of the fee.
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 3:07 pm
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Are you trying to book DL codeshare on AF metal for the TATL flight? DL doesn't offer a true premium economy product. It does offer an Economy Comfort section, but this is not a fare class, and the buy-up is not offered at time of ticketing AFAIK. I suppose you could argue that a Y, B, or M fare is a premium economy ticket because it gives free access to EC seats for non-medallions. Of course the issue there, as Often1 pointed out, is that you'd be trading a flexible for a restricted fare if you upgraded to Z.
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Old Nov 7, 2013, 3:27 pm
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Originally Posted by mattp1987
Are you trying to book DL codeshare on AF metal for the TATL flight? DL doesn't offer a true premium economy product. It does offer an Economy Comfort section, but this is not a fare class, and the buy-up is not offered at time of ticketing AFAIK. I suppose you could argue that a Y, B, or M fare is a premium economy ticket because it gives free access to EC seats for non-medallions. Of course the issue there, as Often1 pointed out, is that you'd be trading a flexible for a restricted fare if you upgraded to Z.
With a TA issued ticket on DL metal the EC upcharged is made at seat selection - but to change to FC or BE is where the change fee can come in.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 7:56 am
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Originally Posted by greathustle
The issue is it's a TA ticket. OP, if you are paying for the ticket and being reimbursed (rather than having it paid directly by your employer) you might want to purchase the prem economy, have the TA void it for no charge within 24 hours, then have the TA purchase the biz ticket you really want. That will leave a paper trail showing the reimbursable prem econ fare and you can submit only that amount for reimbursement on the biz ticket. Have done stuff like this before in your situation and never had a problem, but you should of course check company policy or ask before doing it the first time.
Every ticket I purchase is a TA ticket through our in-house TA. Never had an issue with this. Once the flight is ticketed, I call DL directly, ask to upfare and they've not once charged me for the more expensive flight or the re-ticket.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 8:27 am
  #11  
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Originally Posted by puddinhead
With a TA issued ticket on DL metal the EC upcharged is made at seat selection - but to change to FC or BE is where the change fee can come in.
There shouldn't be a change fee charged by DL if you are up faring to a higher cabin class (not just a higher fare class like T to M in order to be able to upgrade), at least from a published DL fare. (Who knows what happens if the TA issued a consolidator ticket?) However, the TA might charge a fee and DL might charge a fee for making changes to a TA issued ticket.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 10:05 am
  #12  
 
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Even if DL will grant an exception to the change fee for upgrading the class of service, they will still charge a $50 "external ticket handling charge". See http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...t-changes.html.

Originally Posted by jsmith50
Every ticket I purchase is a TA ticket through our in-house TA. Never had an issue with this. Once the flight is ticketed, I call DL directly, ask to upfare and they've not once charged me for the more expensive flight or the re-ticket.
This has not been my experience with tickets booked through Amex Business Travel. I am curious to know what you mean by "in-house" travel agency. Does that simply mean your company's travel department buys the tickets on your behalf? Or are your tickets booked by what Delta considers to be an actual travel agency?
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 12:10 pm
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by lamont2718
This has not been my experience with tickets booked through Amex Business Travel. I am curious to know what you mean by "in-house" travel agency. Does that simply mean your company's travel department buys the tickets on your behalf? Or are your tickets booked by what Delta considers to be an actual travel agency?
We are a small consulting firm and own our own building. We lease space to a travel agent who in addition to paying rent provides TA services for our firm, which adds significant value to what we get from them in our building. We book everything (I even book some of my personal travel through them) through them and I have NEVER had an issue with up-faring a ticket via the DM line.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 12:40 pm
  #14  
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Originally Posted by jsmith50
We are a small consulting firm and own our own building. We lease space to a travel agent who in addition to paying rent provides TA services for our firm, which adds significant value to what we get from them in our building. We book everything (I even book some of my personal travel through them) through them and I have NEVER had an issue with up-faring a ticket via the DM line.
If it's a small travel agent, are they really writing the tickets or do they just purchase tickets from DL for you? It sounds like the arrangement means that your company doesn't pay the usual travel agent ticketing fees.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 3:04 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
If it's a small travel agent, are they really writing the tickets or do they just purchase tickets from DL for you? It sounds like the arrangement means that your company doesn't pay the usual travel agent ticketing fees.
They are a branch of a relatively large travel agency. They are most definitely booking and writing the tickets the same way any TA would. As for ticketing fees, it's a complex contracted relationship that means that for some tickets (i.e. international tickets), yes we pay fees and others (majority of domestic fares) are waived as part of their lease agreement with our firm. Which considering we are giving them their space for next to nothing, I think it's a very nice symbiotic relationship.

But, it shouldn't matter. Even before they occupied space with us, I have used TAs my entire adult life and if I wanted to spend more money with DL, they have never charged me a change fee to sell me a more expensive ticket.
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