355F1

Just booked a single one-way MSY-ATL-SFO ticket for someone with no Skymiles account. Ticket was a "Q Fare."

If there IS availability can I use 15k of my Skymiles to UG her to FC?

baccarat_king

Yes! Should be no issues.

FWIW. If the other way around (using someone else's miles) the Delta (Diamond) agent will have to have you "password verify" sign-in to the other account. (which can be done while on the phone, via touch-tone entry)

Edit to add : You can also use your miles (or someone else's) at the KLM Lounge in Amsterdam for upgrades.

henwood

I did this for a friend a while back. ATL-SLC. Friend had no Skymiles account also. Had never flown DL at all. They said they needed friend to create account so he would have a Skymiles #.
Ok, so I did that also. No issues after that. Just gave them account # and done. It was done over the phone.
He had just come off of JNB-ATL in Y. Got onto 767 with lie flat seats.
Also he told me later that they had directed him to the lounge in ATL for the layover. Boy, did he ever love that change.

MSPeconomist

I know that a DL FF account number is required for free elite companion upgrades, but I didn't realize that the same is true when you upgrade someone else with miles or other instruments. Logically, the same should then be required if you book an award ticket for someone else, but I've never heard of such a rule. Probably just a way for DL to get more email addresses from people and also to start tracking their travel patterns. Once a FF account is opened and has some data, I suspect it would be hard for the person to later travel incognito on a ticket they purchase.

355F1

Thank you for the answers.

I just called the DM line. They confirmed that I can use my miles to UG her. And it only costs 12,500 miles.

Today they only have space available MSY-ATL.

The awesome DM line gal I spoke with waitlisted her for the ATL-SFO flight. She told me that over half the FC cabin is empty (normally a HEAVY elite+paid FC route...but not so much during the last week of Dec.) so there's a good chance she will get the UG.

So...not bad for a 5hr flight.

If she clears I will call the DM line and add the MSY-ATL leg UG without charge.

The DM line didn't say that the passenger also had to have a SM account...

Pretty stoked for New Years Eve in SF!!

jrl767

I bought K fares for my mom and sister PDX-ATL-BWI a few years ago and got them UGs on my miles with no problem ... I think they both had DL accounts but was never asked for the info

355F1

I have a question.

They Waitlisted her and her itinerary states "Upgrade Requested" for the as-requested ATL-SFO flight.

If the available fare bucket doesn't open...will she be on the upgrade airport standby list? She DOES have a SM account (which we added to her reservation) but no status.

If she is added to the list where will she be?

I figure Delta would rather give an empty FC seat to someone willing to pay miles than a medallion member who would get it complimentary...?

baccarat_king

355F1, your pre-Christmas version of "let's see how crazy I can get everyone on the Delta-FlyerTalk board?"

I always thought that Medallion mileage upgrades or instrument upgrades (RUC, SWU, GUC) got priority over "regular" Medallion complimentary upgrades.

No idea where a "non-status" person falls in the equation.

355F1

Haha....idk dude....Delta is a publicly-traded company. It is their job to maximize revenue. I choose to fly KLM often long-haul because there is always a chance they are going to let me pay money to UG to WBC. I wish Delta did the same on all of its long-hauls.

I support FCM.

I am curious though about this "wait listing" because I have never done it domestically for myself or anyone else with miles.

Is she going to be placed on the airport UG list? Or will they clear all medallions before even attempting to take my miles to UG a non-status passenger? I don't know if "mileage" is the same as "RUC/GUC/SWU"

suvayanr

Mileage upgrades DO NOT go to the gate. Some exceptions have been made for JFK-LAX/SFO and international routes but never a regular domestic flight. If the mileage upgrade doesn't clear by the check in, it won't clear normally this route doesn't have upgrade availability released till the gate.

355F1

Yikes...well that sucks.

I guess I will wait until the day before departure and see about paying; FC is only $196 more for MSY-ATL-SFO.

355F1

Interesting outcome here.

Her flight is tomorrow. She still hadn't cleared.

I went to check her in this morning at T-24 and they offered a paid upgrade to FC for only $149. Considering they wanted over $110 for EC I figured I'd snatch this up as that is a bargain for MSY-ATL-SFO. And purchasing a FC ticket was going to cost $196 more at booking for the fare.

I tried to purchase it from the DL app. It said "Error processing card" three times even though I used my normal DL AMEX Reserve. The fourth time it said "FC not available any longer."

So I just tried to check her in and it said I couldn't due to duplicate flights or something.

Ugh...so I called the DM line and told them I wanted to purchase the FC UG for the $149. She told me that she would be able to honor the price quoted on the DL app. I then explained what I had done with Waitlisting her. The DM Line told me that she had cleared the MSY-ATL leg but would be waitlisted for ATL-SFO. I told them that I had talked to them 3 previous times over the past week to verify that we ONLY had her waitlisted for the ATL-SFO leg as I was not going to waste 12,500 miles for an hour-long UG to FC.

So I was planning on paying the $149 and the DM line told me that she may "be able to release proper inventory" so she could clear her entire way if I wanted to use miles instead of paying the $149.

She put me on hold and came back telling me that she cleared the UG for the entire leg.

So...MSY-ATL shows OP and ATL-SFO shows RP.

Either way, I am VERY HAPPY I was able to burn 12,500 miles instead of paying $149....but I would have gladly paid the $149 as that is probably the cheapest UG to FC I have ever heard of on a flight time of 7 hours! ^^

Original ticket one-way was $400 purchased 11 days prior to departure.

suvayanr

and this is why being DM is awesome but yeah, $149 for ATL-SFO is a steal.