bbriscoe34

I have been flying DL this year after years on TWA/AA. I don't have status yet but I'm getting close to silver.

I'm shopping several RT TUL to SLC, with some thru ATL to get the extra MQMs. Often when I select a RT, it offers me to upgrade to 1st for about 9800 miles each way. Usually this is for H class. For an L and an H I can upgrade for 12,000 miles each way. For L + T, I don't get the offer at all.

Is that because I don't have enough miles in my account to afford the upgrade from T, or because they don't offer the miles upgrade on T?

2nd question - if my travel agent books the flight (company policy that we use Spears travel), can I still get the option to upgrade with miles only on the DL website or otherwise? I've never seen that on TA booked flights after booking.

javabytes

Probably because you don't have enough miles. The "use miles to upgrade" feature is simply offering you the opportunity to buy up to a first class fare using miles instead of cash at a rate of $0.01 each. I bet you see a cash offer alongside it of $98.00/$120.00/whatever each way. No restrictions that I know of as far as upgrading... obviously if you have a cheaper fare, the cost is going to be higher. If you're not seeing the option to upgrade, chances are it's because you don't have enough miles. You can figure out how many miles it would be by comparing the price difference between coach and first for your selected flights. If it's a $200 difference, it should be 20,000 miles total, etc..

You will not see the upgrade with miles option after purchasing, DL only offers that during the booking process. The website gives you the option to upgrade using cash after booking, though I'm not sure if this is possible when booking through a TA.