Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > Delta Air Lines | SkyMiles
Reload this Page >

The Official - GLOBAL UPGRADE CERT success thread - Yay! I got it!

Old Sep 14, 2016, 7:42 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: flyerCO
Click below to display this full wiki and read if you have general questions about using GUCs -- they may be answered here!

Using Delta Global Upgrades


DL page: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/medallion-program/medallion-upgrades
(click or scroll to "Upgrade Certificates Overview" and expand the "Show Additional Details & Terms" sections to see T&C, especially for the specific conditions governing use on partner airlines)

"Global Upgrade Certificates, available exclusively for Diamond Medallion Members, offer upgrades on both international and domestic flights with Delta, and select flights with KLM, Air France, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, Korean Air and Aeromexico."

Delta offers Diamond Medallion members the benefit of up to 4 Global Upgrade Certificates (GUCs) per year, which each allow a one-way upgrade to business class/Delta One for one person on any route in the Delta network, as well as a limited number of partner flights under specific restricted circumstances described below. 4 GUCs is enough to upgrade the Diamond Medallion member on 2 round trips or 4 one-way trips, or the Diamond Medallion member plus one companion on 1 round trip or 2 one-way trips.

Choosing upgrades as a choice benefit
  • Upgrades are valid one year from the date of issue, usually the day of or day after they are selected in Choice Benefits -- so best to wait as long as possible to select them unless you have a specific use planned for them
  • All Diamond Medallions also receive a Platinum Medallion choice benefit, even if just renewing existing Diamond status in a year, so DMs could for example select 4 RUCs as their Platinum choice benefit and 4 GUCs as one of their Diamond choice benefit, or 4 RUCs as their Platinum choice benefit and 8 more RUCs as one of their Diamond choice benefits
  • However, it is not possible to select 8 RUCs as one Diamond choice benefit and 4 GUCs as another, nor select 4 GUCs more than once for a single year's Diamond choice benefits -- so the most GUCs anyone can currently earn in a single year is 4
  • You may select your DM benefits at different times, so it is best to select fixed-expiration-date benefits (like gifting status or SkyClub memberships) as soon as possible, but wait until you have a specific use in mind to select upgrades, so that the expiration date is as far into the future as possible. This is especially important if you are waitlisting upgrades for a particular trip, since if the waitlist doesn't clear, a later expiration date will maximize the amount of time you have to try again to use them on a different trip.
  • For status earned based on flying in 2017, upgrades can be selected until the last day that status is valid, January 31, 2019, so they could possibly expire as late as January ~30, 2020 if they are selected as late as possible.
  • Upgrades can be used after you are no longer a Diamond Medallion as long as the upgrades are still valid, though non-DM-line phone agents will be less familiar with them, so they may be harder to use or run a higher risk of being processed incorrectly, so it may be worth booking your GUC flights before your DM status expires if possible.
  • All flights to be upgraded must be flown, not just requested, by the expiration date of the upgrade certificates, though there have been some examples of short extensions offered by phone agents (for example, to the end of the month of the expiration date) as long as the upgrade is able to be confirmed before the certificates expire. In this case it is important to push the agent to make sure the ticket is reissued right away, since it will not be possible to reissue the ticket after the GUC expires. You can tell if the ticket has been reissued because the ticket number on the booking will change from what it was when you originally booked in coach, and the GUC will be marked as "closed" in your wallet on Delta.com.

Finding upgrade space
  • Delta phone agents and the @Delta Twitter account can check for available upgrade space
  • There is no general way to check for available upgrade space online
  • However there is one exception where some flights appear to be able to be checked online: for Delta flights carrying a KLM code -- for example, most flights between the US and Europe -- ExpertFlyer.com (paid membership required) shows KLM upgrade space, and will show upgrade space for those KL-coded, DL-operated flights, which based on anecdotal evidence seems to often (but not always) correspond to upgrade space made available by Delta. This can be a way to check many dates and flights easily, but confirm with Delta that the upgrade space does in fact exist before making firm plans.
  • Upgrade space is not necessarily correlated with award space
  • If upgrade space is not available on your desired flight, you can waitlist, and it is possible the upgrade may clear before departure. If not your name should appear on the upgrade list at the gate. See next section for details.
  • Upgrade space is rarely seen in advance on busy, high-upgrade-demand routes like ATL-JNB and LAX-SYD.

Requesting an upgrade
  • You must call or Tweet at Delta to request an upgrade, they cannot be requested on the website
  • If upgrade space is available, the agent will process the upgrade immediately and you will be able to select business class seats
  • If the upgrade is confirmed in advance, your ticket will be reissued in business class at some point before the flight and you will receive a new itinerary email when this happens; occasionally the ticket does not get reissued and you will not be able to check in, but a quick call to Delta usually fixes this easily
  • Occasionally an email is sent to alert you if a waitlisted upgrade has cleared, but often the best indication is if a segment of your itinerary disappears entirely from Delta.com, which usually means the upgrade has cleared on that segment. Call Delta to have them process it so that it reappears in your itinerary, and you will be able to select business class seats.
  • There have been reports of upgrades coded incorrectly by agents -- unfortunately there is no way to know for sure if your upgrade is coded correctly, and requested upgrades seem to show up a few different ways on Delta.com, sometimes with an "upgrade requested" designation on the flight, and/or with a "phantom" duplicate flight in the seat maps which will not let you select seats
  • If an upgrade has not cleared by check-in time and you do not appear on the upgrade list on the Delta app or Delta.com, call to have an agent correct the upgrade
  • In certain airports where other airlines handle Delta's flights (particularly AMS), it is not officially possible to clear at the gate; KLM does process upgrades at the gate in AMS for certificates waitlisted 24 hours in advance of departure, but this is not an officially guaranteed benefit. To be safe make sure you have your GUC certificate numbers and redemption codes written down in case the KLM agents need this information.
  • If you are connecting, for example flying MCO-ATL-LHR, and upgrade space is not available on ATL-LHR, best practice is to waitlist on the ATL-LHR leg only, so as not to waste a global upgrade on the short MCO-ATL flight, and then add the upgrade request to MCO-ATL when/if ATL-LHR clears; most agents will understand this approach and may even proactively suggest it
  • If you have selected your choice benefits very recently (within the last 24-48 hours), the phone agent may not yet be able to see your upgrade codes, but you can read the codes to the agent from the My Wallet page on Delta.com
  • The priority order of GUCs, RUCs, mileage upgrades, and complimentary upgrades is not 100% clear, but it is known that GUCs and RUCs have higher priority than complimentary upgrades, and that GUCs and RUCs appear to have equal priority. It is listed on Delta.com that GUCs and RUCs clear first by medallion level and then by time of request, which is different from the upgrade priority used for complimentary upgrades (which is also listed on the website)

Other upgrade rules
  • Upgrades are valid on Delta flights on all economy fares except Basic Economy (E)
  • It is possible to request upgrades in one direction of a roundtrip only, for example if you had 4 US-Europe trips planned and only 4 GUCs, you might decide to upgrade the eastbound flights only as they are overnight flights and remain in economy for the westbound flights.
  • On flights operated with a Premium Select cabin, Delta has indicated that it will still be possible to use a GUC to upgrade directly from economy to Premium Select or to Delta One using the same number of GUCs. However, if an upgrade is cleared from economy to Premium Select, the GUC will be considered used, and another GUC would be required to upgrade again to Delta One. The best strategy is probably to waitlist only for Delta One upgrades, and perhaps if the GUC is close to expiring or you don't expect to have another use for it, to add a request for a Premium Select upgrade close to departure if the Delta One upgrade hasn't yet cleared and/or the Delta One seat map looks very full.
  • Upgrades may be used for the SkyMiles member and up to one companion; The companion need not be in the same PNR, but must be traveling on the exact same flight as the GUC holder.
  • Unlike AA and UA upgrades, DL upgrades cannot be gifted to someone whom the SkyMiles member is not traveling with
  • As of January 22, 2018, it is now officially possible to use a certificate for a companion but not for yourself, as long as you are traveling on the same flight as the companion -- for example if you are eligible to buy a business class ticket for business travel and want to bring your spouse by buying an economy ticket and upgrading them. It is not clear if you could upgrade your companion but not yourself. In the past the question has been raised of waiting for a complimentary medallion upgrade for the main member and then using a certificate for the companion, but now that companions for complimentary medallion upgrades are processed at the same priority as the main member, this is no longer a likely concern.

Using upgrades on KLM

Dedicated thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...grade-klm.html
  • "For travel on KLM-operated, Delta-marketed flights this certificate may be used to upgrade on published fares booked in Y, B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T, X or V class and all fare classes upgrade into Z class. For travel on KLM-operated flights marketed by KLM, fares booked in Y, B, M, K, H, L, Q, T, N, R, or V class are eligible to upgrade into Z class. For travel on KLM-operated flights marketed by AF, this certificate may be used to upgrade on published fares booked in Y, B, M, K, H, L, Q, T, N, R, or V class into Z class. "
  • NOTE: some of the combinations above are only (relatively) recently eligible for GUCs. Phone agents may not be familiar with the new rules, and may need to be gently pointed in the direction of the DL T&C on their own website.
  • In the course of processing the upgrade of a Delta-marketed, KLM-operated flight, Delta reissues the KLM flights on KLM flight numbers when they issue the upgrade, but the flights must be bought on DL flight numbers initially (unless buying expensive Y, B, or M fares with KLM)
  • It is not possible to waitlist for upgrade on KLM flights, nor to go to the airport upgrade list, so space must be available in advance in order for the upgrade to clear. Many agents will offer to put you on the waitlist, but putting you on the upgrade waitlist for a KLM flight will simply never clear so you're better off monitoring it yourself (see next bullets).
  • KLM upgrade space can be checked on ExpertFlyer.com (requires a paid membership). ExpertFlyer also allows users to set alerts for particular fare classes becoming available, which could be useful in lieu of being able to waitlist -- you can set an ExpertFlyer alert for "Z" availability and then call Delta to grab the upgrade if you receive an ExpertFlyer alert that it becomes available.
  • KLM upgrade space on a single segment is different if you search that segment alone vs. if you search a connecting itinerary involving that segment. So if you are looking for KLM upgrades ORD-AMS-JNB, you need to search ORD-JNB in ExpertFlyer to see the true availability; even if there is space on ORD-AMS and AMS-JNB, if it Z space doesn't show up for ORD-JNB you won't be able to upgrade. Unfortunately this means that ExpertFlyer availability alerts, which can only be set on a segment-by-segment basis, are not useful for monitoring KLM upgrade availability on connecting flights.
  • In some cases, adding a DL domestic connecting flight can change KLM upgrade availability. For example ATL-AMS on KLM may show availability but MCO-ATL-AMS may not. Example. Unfortunately some more complex routings, such as forcing an extra connection to find KLM upgrade space (flying JFK-ORD-AMS-CPT instead of JFK-AMS-CPT), do not show up on ExpertFlyer so you are at the mercy of hopefully finding Delta agents who know what they're doing.
  • Bookings with KLM ticket numbers (starting in 074) can be upgraded using the same rules as bookings with Delta ticket numbers (starting in 006). Delta-operated, KLM-coded flights can be upgraded under the same rules as any other KLM-coded flight. Delta-coded, Delta-operated flights booked on a KLM ticket number can be upgraded the same as if they were booked on a Delta ticket number, so in any fare class other than E.
  • There have been numerous challenges with KLM upgrades, so be careful, be persistent, and make sure you request the upgrade within the no-risk cancellation window of the ticket so you can cancel if it doesn't work as expected.
  • More KLM upgrade reading: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Using upgrades on Virgin Atlantic

3-year-old thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/1779666-guc-now-able-used-virgin-atlantic-vs.html
related, upgrading VS with SkyMiles (also requires G class, so the info may be useful too?): https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/1857464-definitive-thread-use-sky-miles-upgrade-vs.html
  • "Valid on Delta-marketed (DL flight number), Virgin Atlantic-operated flights for use globally on published fares booked in W, Y, B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T, X or V class to G class (Upper Class). " Upgrading on Virgin-marketed (VS flight number) flights using GUCs is not possible.
  • Global Upgrades on Virgin Atlantic flights must be confirmed 24 hours prior to departure.
  • Global Upgrade Certificates may not be used to waitlist for a Virgin Atlantic-operated flight. Many agents will offer to put you on the waitlist, but putting you on the upgrade waitlist for a Virgin Atlantic flight will simply never clear so you're better off monitoring it yourself (see next bullets).
  • DL flight numbers are not available for most Virgin Atlantic flights to regions other than the US (for example LHR-JNB), so it is not possible to use GUCs on those flights.
  • Virgin Atlantic upgrade space appears to use the same availability as awards, so if a business class award is available for a Virgin Atlantic flight on Delta.com, it should be available for an upgrade (as long as that flight is booked on a DL flight number). If an award is not available, an upgrade is probably not available -- but if you notice any exceptions to this rule please share in the thread. You can also monitor G space using ExpertFlyer (see KLM section above).
  • Because G is the same code as Virgin Atlantic uses for award tickets, after you fly the tickets will register with Delta as having been awards and will not earn any miles. Watch your mileage earning carefully and you will likely have to call Delta and explain that it wasn't an award ticket but an upgrade from a paid coach ticket, and they will correct the mileage earning to be equivalent to what you would have earned on your original coach ticket.

Using upgrades on Virgin Australia

Valid on Delta-marketed, Virgin Australia-operated flights on published fares booked in Y, B, M, H, Q, K, L, U class to Virgin Australias Business Class.

Using upgrades on Air France

Dedicated thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...20-onward.html

"For travel on Air France-operated flights marketed by Air France and booked in Y, B, M, K, H, L, Q, T, N, R, or V class, customers can upgrade into A class (Premium Economy) or Z class (Business Class). For Air France-operated flights marketed by KLM, customers with a published fare booked in Y, B, M, K, H, L, Q, T, N, R, or V class can upgrade into Z class (Business Class). For Air France-operated flights marketed by Delta, customers with a published fare booked in Y, B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T, X or V class can upgrade into A class (Premium Economy) or Z class (Business Class). In addition, customers traveling on an Air France-marketed and operated flight and booked in W, S or A class as well as customers traveling on an Air France-operated, Delta-marketed flight and booked in P, A, or G class can upgrade to Z class (Business Class)"

NOTE: GUC usage on AF used to be restricted to high fare classes only. Phone agents may not be familiar with the new rules, and may need to be gently pointed in the direction of the DL T&C on their own website.

Using upgrades on Korean (restricted to certain fare classes only)

Dedicated thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...ed-thread.html

"Valid on Delta-marketed, Korean Air-operated flights for use globally on Delta's published fares booked in Y or B class to Korean Air's Z class, or booked in M class to Korean Air's O class."

GUC usage on Korean requires the purchase of high fare classes, which may mean that it is cheaper to buy a discounted business class ticket than to buy an eligible coach fare and try to upgrade. Uniquely, it is possible to use GUCs to upgrade from business to first on Korean, but only if you buy the most expensive business class fares.

Using upgrades on Aeromexico

"For travel on Aeromexico operated, Delta marketed flights this certificate may be used to upgrade on Delta`s published fares booked in W, Y, B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T, X or V class and all fare classes upgrade into Aeromexico`s O class."




Print Wikipost

The Official - GLOBAL UPGRADE CERT success thread - Yay! I got it!

Old Mar 2, 2017, 6:07 pm
  #2086  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Delta DM
Posts: 15
Originally Posted by pgh234
I have found that they needed married segment Z availability for the KLM flights...obviously different than OP availability by segment on DL flights. SO YMMV.
This is the itinerary I booked for 6/4/17, all showing plenty of Z. Is this not married (if not what does married mean exactly)?
Attached Images  
Cary Berdy is offline  
Old Mar 2, 2017, 6:23 pm
  #2087  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: PIT, BWI, or IPT
Programs: Dividend Miles, WorldPerks
Posts: 1,302
Yes...those are married segments that you published. For example, if you just searched AMS-JFK, you will find Z = 0 on your flight, that would just be a single segment. DL upgrades by segment for the moment on DL operated flights and OP space must be available on a singular flight.

For KL operated flights...no one really knows what the "real" rules are. I had the same situation as you when I upgraded. Z was available on the married segments and not available on the single segment.
pgh234 is offline  
Old Mar 2, 2017, 6:37 pm
  #2088  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Delta DM
Posts: 15
Originally Posted by pgh234
Yes...those are married segments that you published. For example, if you just searched AMS-JFK, you will find Z = 0 on your flight, that would just be a single segment. DL upgrades by segment for the moment on DL operated flights and OP space must be available on a singular flight.

For KL operated flights...no one really knows what the "real" rules are. I had the same situation as you when I upgraded. Z was available on the married segments and not available on the single segment.
So what's the best strategy.....Keep hassling via Twitter? Call in?
Cary Berdy is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2017, 9:41 am
  #2089  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Delta DM
Posts: 15
Originally Posted by Cary Berdy
So what's the best strategy.....Keep hassling via Twitter? Call in?
Well I guess I will answer my question. Tried twitter again this morning, which the agent just suggested calling the DM line. Called DM line. Agent checked and said didn't look like there was availability, even though she could see Z available. I explained to her the agent for my outbound had to rebook the DL codeshare as a KL ticket to claim Z, and then make a new locator. She said great idea and would check w/supervisor. After about 10 minutes, boom, everything processed! (FWIW, this time they did not create a completely new locator, they kept the same one. Whatever)

Persistence prevails! It shouldn't be this hard, it's sad we have to fight this hard and keep trying to find a competent agent, but glad it worked out. I hope my experience helps others. Much thanks to those who gave helpful suggestions so far!
Cary Berdy is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2017, 10:11 am
  #2090  
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Washington, DC, Chapel Hill, NC (RDU)
Programs: DL Plat (won't hit DM again) 2MM (2.5), HH Gold, PC Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 5,624
Originally Posted by Cary Berdy
keep trying to find a competent agent, but glad it worked out. I hope my experience helps others. Much thanks to those who gave helpful suggestions so far!
to be a little "gentler" maybe -- I'm not sure if it is so much about competent as experienced and persistent. I think that navigating the various rules and policies (which change regularly) is probably pretty challenging. For those of us with access to FT, we can figure some things out, like this. I'm happy that I usually encounter agents who are willing to listen to me when I explain and then check it out -- as did this agent for you.
tom
mot29 is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2017, 10:19 am
  #2091  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Programs: Delta Skymiles
Posts: 7
GUC Waitlist Tips

Anyone have any tips for GUC waitlists? I hear that I should get the to airport early and ask the Sky Club agent to clear me as they have access before the gate agent. Is there any validity to that? My route is ATL-LAX-SYD and we are waitlisted on a W fare. So I am thinking that if I wake up the day of my flight and have not been upgraded, I will get to the airport like 3 or 4 hours before my flight and get to the Skyclub. The problem with that is that my wife will not be able to get there that early. Does anyone know if that will matter? We are on the same reso.

Any other tips would be much appreciated. For instance, does anyone know if the seat maps are accurate in terms of seats available? It is showing 20+ still available and I am about a month out. Does that seem like good news?

Thanks!
the_godfather is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2017, 10:47 am
  #2092  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: DL DM 2MM, Marriott LT Titanium, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 15,141
If you get to the airport and haven't cleared then the skyclub isn't going to be able to do anything... its going to the gate upgrade list.
rylan is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2017, 12:10 pm
  #2093  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Delta DM
Posts: 15
Originally Posted by mot29
to be a little "gentler" maybe -- I'm not sure if it is so much about competent as experienced and persistent. I think that navigating the various rules and policies (which change regularly) is probably pretty challenging. For those of us with access to FT, we can figure some things out, like this. I'm happy that I usually encounter agents who are willing to listen to me when I explain and then check it out -- as did this agent for you.
tom
fair enough. I'm sure it is hard for the agents to keep up with rules changes, however I'm not so sure it should take all the work we as consumers have to do in order to "make our case" for something DL advertises and pushes as a benefit. I'm certainly not complaining as I had great success in this case, but I find it unfortunate that if I had not taken the time to do this research and try for several days to prove my case, I suspect, like many others, may have given up after the first failed attempt when I was told several times it was not possible unless booking with a crazy expensive full Y,B, or M fare on KLM.

Last edited by Cary Berdy; Mar 3, 2017 at 8:06 pm
Cary Berdy is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2017, 7:41 pm
  #2094  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Near ATL AVL GSP
Programs: DLDime & MM - Marriott LifePlat - Hertz Prez - Hyatt Dissapointedist
Posts: 224
Originally Posted by rylan
If you get to the airport and haven't cleared then the skyclub isn't going to be able to do anything... its going to the gate upgrade list.
That being said, I've had the SC agent call down to the gate and do magic.
calrick is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2017, 7:50 am
  #2095  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: SEA once more (previously CDG and NRT)
Programs: Former DL DM and UA 1k, now a J class free agent (UA Gold, AS MVP Gold)
Posts: 2,450
Got CDG-SEA at time of booking. Had to waitlist SEA-AMS. Cleared waitlist at 60 days before departure.
SEA-Flyer is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2017, 12:10 pm
  #2096  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Hilton Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 26,956
Originally Posted by the_godfather
Anyone have any tips for GUC waitlists? I hear that I should get the to airport early and ask the Sky Club agent to clear me as they have access before the gate agent. Is there any validity to that? My route is ATL-LAX-SYD and we are waitlisted on a W fare. So I am thinking that if I wake up the day of my flight and have not been upgraded, I will get to the airport like 3 or 4 hours before my flight and get to the Skyclub. The problem with that is that my wife will not be able to get there that early. Does anyone know if that will matter? We are on the same reso.

Any other tips would be much appreciated. For instance, does anyone know if the seat maps are accurate in terms of seats available? It is showing 20+ still available and I am about a month out. Does that seem like good news?

Thanks!
FYI

There's no such thing as a W fare. There's coach fare that book into W. However you still have a YBMK type coach fare as the underlying basis for booking into W.
window.post_1488654511926_2 = function(win,msg){
win.postMessage(msg,"*");
}window.post_1488654514440_11 = function(win,msg){
win.postMessage(msg,"*");
}
flyerCO is offline  
Old Mar 6, 2017, 5:07 am
  #2097  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Programs: Delta Skymiles
Posts: 7
W vs WU

Originally Posted by flyerCO
FYI

There's no such thing as a W fare. There's coach fare that book into W. However you still have a YBMK type coach fare as the underlying basis for booking into W.
window.post_1488654511926_2 = function(win,msg){
win.postMessage(msg,"*");
}window.post_1488654514440_11 = function(win,msg){
win.postMessage(msg,"*");
}
I just mentioned it because I am making the distinction between WU (upgraded to W) vs. W. I complained when I bought the ticket because it was after they announced the change to the upgrade policy (to upgrade based on the higher person's status), but before they had implemented it. So they actually issued me a new ticket with the W fare. I don't know much about the architecture of the fare classes. But if fare class comes into account for upgrade priority, I would think that the W is a higher class. So are you saying that it is not a fare class at all, rather on top of a regular fare (whatever was the fare class when I bought my ticket)? And therefore there is no class difference between WU vs. W?
the_godfather is offline  
Old Mar 6, 2017, 7:51 am
  #2098  
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: OKC
Programs: DL DM/2.768MM, Global Entry, Titanium_Marriott, GHertz
Posts: 6,748
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23374947-post1009.html

I reported in the above thread that searches for DL B fares often ended up with YWW fares (upgraded with SM) involving co-chair flights with either KLM or AF. I used to buy at least one such ticket a year but my last one was likely in 2015.
Xeno is offline  
Old Mar 6, 2017, 9:53 am
  #2099  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: Marriott Titanium, DL DM
Posts: 298
Originally Posted by the_godfather
Anyone have any tips for GUC waitlists? I hear that I should get the to airport early and ask the Sky Club agent to clear me as they have access before the gate agent. Is there any validity to that? My route is ATL-LAX-SYD and we are waitlisted on a W fare. So I am thinking that if I wake up the day of my flight and have not been upgraded, I will get to the airport like 3 or 4 hours before my flight and get to the Skyclub. The problem with that is that my wife will not be able to get there that early. Does anyone know if that will matter? We are on the same reso.

Any other tips would be much appreciated. For instance, does anyone know if the seat maps are accurate in terms of seats available? It is showing 20+ still available and I am about a month out. Does that seem like good news?

Thanks!
Are you already wait-listed? The app will tell you how many seats are available if you pull up the waitlist.
KingBraden is offline  
Old Mar 6, 2017, 11:26 am
  #2100  
Marriott 5+ Badge
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,043
Originally Posted by the_godfather
I just mentioned it because I am making the distinction between WU (upgraded to W) vs. W. I complained when I bought the ticket because it was after they announced the change to the upgrade policy (to upgrade based on the higher person's status), but before they had implemented it. So they actually issued me a new ticket with the W fare. I don't know much about the architecture of the fare classes. But if fare class comes into account for upgrade priority, I would think that the W is a higher class. So are you saying that it is not a fare class at all, rather on top of a regular fare (whatever was the fare class when I bought my ticket)? And therefore there is no class difference between WU vs. W?
The answer is we don't know. Before the introduction of Comfort+ as a separate fare class, it was pretty clear that upgrade priority in order of fare class started as Y, then B, and so on.

It has gotten less clear since W was introduced, but clearly many W fares (those that are are mark-ups from low coach fares) are much cheaper than the Y fare on any given route, so it wouldn't seem totally fiar to give even the cheapest W fares priority over all regular coach fares.

It is possible it was too hard to program their computers in a way that addressed that discrepancy, or too hard to come up with a more fair methodology (since the relative value of fare classes can get very complicated, for example once you account for the various fares that might be paid by various connecting passengers), and so maybe W does take priority. But if that were the case, I suspect Delta would note that prominently somewhere, so to encourage people to spend extra on W fares. Since they haven't, I suspect W isn't a trump card, but I could be wrong.
bgriff is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.