Gwilly

Hey everyone,

So I have SWUs left over that expire next month. Planning 2 TATL in the fall, and wonder if the SWU can be used if O is available before expiry date.
So let's say I do JFK-CDG in Sep, but the SWU expires in July. If O is available before exp date, can I use it even if travel is after exp date?

Thanks.

matthew64832

I believe the story is that if the availability is there, and the ticket is reissued into the int'l biz class prior to expiration, you should be able to use it. Just make sure the ticket is reissued and they don't just say "oh, we'll get to it".

Phil2016

Matthew64832 is correct, the key point being make 100% certain the ticket is reissued before SWU expiration. Also, in my experience, so long as one of the legs has space available, upgrade clears, and ticket is reissued, your priority standing on upgrade list for all other legs using that SWU will stick even though the SWU will have expired by then (if that makes sense).

roknroll

I received email confirmation from DL that the SWU only needs to be requested before expiration. I would write in and ask the same to get concrete confirmation you can keep as evidence. I can definitely confirm they can clear after expiration if they are applied before expiration and one leg clears. I had this happen for me on BOS-JFK-SFO in May. SWU expired in Feb, and the BOS-JFK cleared and was re- ticketed prior to expiration. I had to call in to force them to reissue the ticket though. They were holding out (and hadn't even requested BOS-JFK) in case JFK-SFO did not clear. The agent said they didn't want me to burn the SWU on the short leg if the long leg wouldn't clear. But once they realized I lost the SWU due to expiration anyway they forced the reticketing.

Edit: if one of you legs does in fact have UG inventory available, better be safe and get it applied, confirmed, and ticket reissued. Note that having the UG confirmed does NOT mean the SWU was consumed. They have to reissue the ticket which triggers an email from Delta similar to when you first book or make a flight change.

MSPeconomist

I had always been of the school of having the ticket reissued ASAP after the upgrade cleared and certainly watching it with hawklike tendencies until reissue, commencing to beg that this be done about two weeks before departure or before expiration of the SWU, whichever would come first.

More recently, I've had multiple DM agents tell me that the actual ticket reissue date doesn't matter. OTOH, once SWUs expire, they (and their numbers) can disappear from your account very quickly so I still wouldn't want to wait very long before insisting on the ticket reissue.

matthew64832

Oh yeah, another tip is to always save/write down the number just in case it disappears from the website, etc.

rylan

I've previously had them reissued before exp date, however I do have one flight coming up where the SWUs are expired and some segments cleared, but they said they would wait to reissue until everything cleared. I also made sure the SWU info was documented in the ticket record (and I wrote them down as well), and noted that the SWUs could be used after exp date since the original ticket and request was put in before.

MSPeconomist

How do you see the SWU numbers or verify that any remarks have been entered into your record?

rylan

I can't from this end, besides taking a screen shot/pdf of the SWUs with number and redemption code in my wallet before exp date.

At a SC last month I inquired and the agent pulled up the flight and saw the notation with cert numbers entered. Thats probably the only way to know for sure its documented.