JPCAG

No problems using up all of my GUC's

All TPAC mind you

davetravels

Of course not, but I knew that there'd be lots of chatter about revenue management, selling of J seats - yada yada.

It's also funny to me because I just posted today in my Global UG success thread - here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23552054-post371.html

. . . that I just booked last nite SLC/CDG in V class and immediately used a GUC for it - PLUS the DM agent told me that there seems to be TONS of availability on that route!

My return, AMS/ATL is waitlisted.

emg2919

No luck for me either, jfk-nrt, nrt-sin, sin-nrt, nrt-jfk.

JORBUST

Reduced BE capacity because of the 747 going away is going to just make the worse unfortunately.

Grouchy

JulienMSP, feel your pain but then again Delta is quit stingy with open up any upgrade availability. From my experience trying to upgrade with miles/GUC/SWU's on the TATL-AMS and AMS-TATL; doable when flying tuesday, wednesday, thursday and December or January when traffic dies down it's also a doable. Other periods are bleh bleh..

Saturday's, sunday's and mondays, being busy travel days and when you're looking for an upgrade 21 days out...only book a flight when they are avalaible at the time of booking. Most of the time it's not going to happen with Delta.

This one had all seats accounted, if you decide to stick with Delta...you might start prepare yourself mentally for the worse. Find out at T-2h that there are still 8 seats unsold on AMS-ATL, iirc 12, 9 and 6 seats on AMS-MSP and 7 seats on MSP-AMS and wondering why they didn't or still don't release any seats.

The irony; my last four SWU's....i used them on KL flights.

TheMadBrewer

I'm 1-1 on my GUCs -- got them last month and applied one to my LHR-LAX flight in November.

But the talk here brings up a dilemma -- I usually do 6-7 TATL flights a year so not nearly enough GUCs for even the overnight outbounds. I have no TPAC flights in mind, but you never know when something might come up so I was planning on holding back two "just in case." But if they really end up that hard to use I'd hate to find myself with unused GUCs come next August.

It would be really nice if we could compile some statistics of routes where GUCs where successful and those that weren't. Something like XXX-AMS is 25% but YYY-FRA is 75% would help in decisions....

JulienMSP

21 days is actually a record for me and the company; we honestly almost always book t-14d unfortunately--just the nature of the biz.

As i said earlier; this is the last int'l flight indefinitely for me..so this is all moot.

ifette

For what it's worth, the Sunday flights are actually pretty booked. It wouldn't surprise me if they close out upgrade availability due to the pilot strike on AF in case they need to re-accommodate people.

TTT

Have you checked in for the flight yet? If so, where are you on the UG list?

JulienMSP

I have, I'm number one for three seats left; but if you try to buy those seats on DL (since i no longer have ExpertFlyer); it won't let you so i think they are just unassigned

flyerCO

Can that be done when it's a "direct" flight number as the poster has? I've always been told if I book a direct that it needs both segments to clear, you can't just ask for the TPAC portion of the flight.

dd1612

Yes, it can be done.
Just ask, if refused HUACA!
It will be done, has been done.

safigan

I use the same strategy with GUCs as I do with finding intl low awards in BE and I've been successful with both. I've been able to book multiple low awards and 2 GUCs to Europe, Asia, and South America so far this year. How?

1. Book well in advance.
2. Be flexible with dates.
3. Always work with a DL agent to find options such as coach-domestic/BE-international combinations and availability on partner flights that don't show up in the award engine.
4. Break it down by segments. First find availability from anywhere in the U.S. to your destination; or find availability from your origin to anywhere near your destination. Fill in the missing segment with coach connections or domestic carriers.

For instance, my last booking was from Atlanta into Stockholm and back to Atlanta out of Copenhagen. Since I would have to transfer somewhere, I chose an available low award to London, non-stop both ways. There was also a Paris NS RT available. The European domestic flights cost only a few hundred dollars, saving me a few hundred thousand Skymiles by using low availability instead of mid-level for the 2 tickets.

Yes, you may be on the line with a DL agent for a while exploring all the possibilities. They're usually very patient. So long as you're not too close to your departure, you should be able to find something. Stay creative and flexible.

bubbashow

... have you seen EU loads with the AF strike? DL knew exactly what it was doing with revenue management for this week. Sorry you took it so personally, but there are a LOT of paid J pax to accommodate.

JulienMSP

i'm supposed to be returning via AF, bubba--i'm wondering how that will end up working out...


And to safigan--its the "way in advance" problem that we have with our work trips--they just can't be done that way due to too many factors that have lead it to difficult to predict when we are actually going to go..i imagine that was some of it too.