How does it work?
 

For give my ignorance

I need to fly on partner airlines and book travel through corporate software (concur) as Delta themselves cannot accommodate my travel needs in this unusual circumstance.

I will receive miles but not MQM correct?
How does Delta even know in flying?
Is it possible to obtain upgrades with my Delta status? (Im currently plat with a reserve card but will be diamond by then)


Travel Nov 1st last flight out of Hilo Hawaii 8:15pm on Hawaiian Airlines, connects in HNL but then it gets tricky, ultimately arriving in Ft Lauderdale around 4-6pm November 2nd- it would be an airlines change and there are options of using Virgin and I think something else.

ANY advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Have sky lounge access.
Work pays for tickets and doesn't balk too much over prices.

How does it work?
 

You have a number of questions so let's take them one-at-a-time.

Booking through Contour is fine - you will still get skymiles and MQMs unless you company has negotiated special rates. Special rates can lower the mileage awarded - but most companies use Concur to manage travel expense information without specially negotiated rates - you should be fine. If you want to confirm see if the prices shown on Concur match the prices available on Delta.

As to how much credit you will get - that depends on the class and the operating airline. If you are flying on Delta metal you will get normal mileage credit even though you booked on Concur unless you book an "E" class ticket.

If you fly on another Skyteam airline and want to credit the flight to Delta - add your Skymiles number to Concur (which will then insert your number into your record). How many miles you get depends on the airline and the class you fly. The Delta website lists each partner airline and the credit you get for each fare class on each partner airline.

As for upgrades, if you are flying Delta metal, the flight will show up on the Delta website along with any other flights you have pending. You have the same upgrade opportunities you would have if you had bought directly from Delta (remember to avoid E class if you want upgraees).. If you are flying partner airlines check the partner as to how they treat Delta flyers. If you are Diamond you will likely be classified as Elite Plus which means a shot at upgrades but on some partners (Alaska for example) the chances are not great.

It says on Delta.com that effective Jan 1 2015 you don't receive MQM for Hawaiian Airlines just miles.

When searching Delta.com only some of the Hawaiian Airlines flights show up and not all of them and certainly not the odd connections. When I ultimately have to book through concur, it will be on Hawaiian airlines NOT Delta and my connection will be Virgin NOT Delta. I don't understand how Delta will even know I'm flying and how my status on Delta will translate to it's partners.

Im currently in Hawaii now and this trip I was able to book everything through concur all flights were labeled "Delta" (even technically one was HA) This seems to have gone away.

If you booked flights with Delta flight numbers, ie DLxxxx, then Delta is the marketing carrier (regardless who actually operates the flight) and you'll get MQM and RDM just like if it was a Delta-operated flight.

If your booking shows Hawaiian or Virgin flight numbers, then it gets more complicated, see here: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_.../airlines.html

For Hawaiian, you're right, no MQMs at all.

Are we talking about Virgin America here? Then you get nothing from DL, they are not partners.

If you fly with a DL partner, and you give the partner your SkyMiles number, the partner airline will inform DL.

Since Delta does not fly its own metal out of ITO, then will need to fly HA to either OGG/HNL and connect from there on DL metal. Since you mentioned Virgin, this is where I get confused, because there is no way that I know of to get to the mainland from the islands on Virgin (and the other poster is correct, they are not a partner). Did you book a Virgin Atlantic codeshare on DL metal??

As someone who travels quite frequently to the islands, I find it cheaper, and easier to just pay out my own pocket for ITO-OGG/HNL on HA and then fly DL metal, or rent the car and drive the 2 hours to KOA and fly DL metal from there.

I do believe Alaska Airlines flies to SEA from ITO so that may be an options as well.

There is a flight November 1st out of Hilo ITO-HNL-LAX-FLL and one of the legs is Virgin- under booking it said "multiple airlines" since I'm booking through concur it can switch airlines.
I didn't know Virgin wasn't an partner because flying home from London in 2 weeks Delta has me on Virgin so that confuses me.
Sunday Sept 20th LHR-JFK-BUF 9:15am- thats a Virgin Atlantic flight

How do you keep up with all of this?

LOL, there are 3 completely separate Virgin airlines.

Virgin America (not partner)
Virgin Australia (partner)
Virgin Atlantic (joint venture, very close partner)

Virgin Atlantic will get you full MQM. Virgin America will get you nothing.

Flyertalk!

Could there be some Virgin Australia codeshares for DL operated flights that touch Hawaii? VA seems to have more Racific region "activity" than VS.

IIRC both VS and VA have JVs with DL. IMO they appear to be equally close partners, but I'm not an expert on these issues. Of course, neither VA nor VS belongs to SkyTeam.

OMG 3? how am I supposed to keep that straight?

Do partners honor other partners status?

Generally. If it's a SkyTeam partner, then the rules are pretty standard and you get the SkyTeam elite benefits, although FO is SkyTeam Elite rather than ElitePlus, where the benefits become significant (such as partner lounge access on award tickets and SkyPriority lines). You get a bit more with SkyTeam JV partners AF/KLM.

For partners that aren't in SkyTeam, the benefits are more idiosyncratic, but again JV partners tend to give you more.

If it matters, you need to be very clear about who markets and who operates your flights and then do some research on the details.

Life was a lot easier just flying up and down the east coast worrying about where I was going to put my bag, now there's partnered airlines, three different Virgins, no high speed internet and a small snail that hides in the vegetables that gives you parasites.

If you stick with flights that have DL flight numbers (easy to do for the city pairs you mentioned) then things are very easy.

If you try to book a strange itinerary involving DL, Hawaiian and Virgin America, as you did, then life gets much more complicated.

Unfortunately, I need that exact flight time 8:15pm, which renders me at the mercy of a strange itinerary in a strange (but cool) city.
I'll just man up and deal with whatever happens because I need to be in FLL for a 6:00pm meeting the next day. and there seems to be no other way to get there on Delta metal as you all call it.

I cannot get the 814PM ITO-HNL to price out with the DL codeshare, but was able to get the 7:17 PM flight on 11/1 to and not at a bad 1 way price either of $482. This would earn full MQM, full MQD, and full RDM. You would be eligible for upgrades on all legs except the short HA ITO-HNL flight. You need to this as multi city. Leg 1: ITO-HNL, Leg 2: HNL-FLL


7:17 PM
Hilo (Big Island of Hawaii), HI , United States
Hilo International Airport (ITO)
Arrive
8:07 PM
Honolulu, HI , United States
Honolulu Intl Airport (HNL) Terminal Z
Flight 6862 Operated by Hawaiian Airlines

Delta Air Lines 6862
Economy
Boeing 717
0hr 50min
Seat map
Sun, Nov 1
Select this flight Delta Air Lines 2246 / 1598 / 1615
Total time: 13hr 30min
Depart
10:25 PM
Honolulu, HI , United States
Honolulu Intl Airport (HNL) Terminal M
Stop 1
6:10 AM
Seattle, WA , United States
SeaTac Airport (SEA)
Change of planes. Time between flights: 0hr 35min

Delta Air Lines 2246
Economy
Boeing 757
5hr 45min
Seat map
Depart
6:45 AM
Seattle, WA , United States
SeaTac Airport (SEA)
Stop 2
2:18 PM
Atlanta, GA , United States
Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL) Terminal S
Change of planes. Time between flights: 0hr 42min

Delta Air Lines 1598
Economy
Boeing 737
4hr 33min
Seat map
Depart
3:00 PM
Atlanta, GA , United States
Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL) Terminal S
Arrive
4:55 PM
Fort Lauderdale, FL , United States
Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL) Terminal 2

Delta Air Lines 1615
Economy
Boeing 757
1hr 55min
Seat map
Arrives Mon, Nov 2 (1 day later).

This is tight for a 6pm meeting. Is there no other way?

Read the DL 82 thread that's been active here the last few days for a tale of woe about scheduling flights and meetings too tightly.