Processing of Upgrade Using Miles
 

I booked a MCO-DTW-PEK ticket this weekend; travel is June 2017. I paid for Coach, and upgraded using miles. F and J class seats assigned when I go into the record.

The miles are still in my account. I thought this happens immediately, or at least in a few hours?

I'm not complaining about excess miles in my account, but is something amiss here? Agent is called said be patient...June is a long way off.

Has your ticket been reissued yet? You should eventually get a new email receipt with a new ticket number showing classes as OP/RP rather than your original coach fare class.

I upgraded the outbound leg of a trip using miles about a week ago and the miles were withdrawn immediately. I called the international reissue desk today and the was availability on the return, so I upgraded that as well, but the rep said that he had to send the ticket over to another desk and it could take up to 24 hours. Seats confirmed, miles not yet withdrawn.

As it seems, /shockingly/ YMMV.

Wait 24 hours and then check for the reissued ticket and simultaneous removal of miles from your account.

My experience has been that miles are pulled immediately.

If Delta is busy, as they have been the last few weeks, it may take a while for the tickets to get issued. They go by date order of your departure. Every once in a while, a PNR will fall through the cracks and not get reissued, which results in big problems at the airport as airport personnel are not generally trained to reissue mileage upgrades. I would give it some time and put it on your calendar to check with Delta in late April. If it is not done by then, you should ask for the reissue desk and have them pull the PNR and reissue it while you are waiting. It may take a little time. The flights are rebooked in upgrade class, accordingly to what you indicated, so you are not in any danger of losing the space.

Thank you all, and especially Mr. Tickets. Very helpful. The last sentence of your post gave me much peace of mind.

I've had this happen with both mileage and cert upgrades (and IROP rebookings). So now I always OLCI the day before, and if that errors out (usually with a message to call in), then I call in and have them fix it before heading to the airport.

had this happen a few years ago on a transcon when it was 12.5K miles for domestic upgrades

OP space day before flight; miles never pulled, OP space put into my ticket. Couldn't OLCI. Went to JFK a bit earlier and Red Coat just pushed a few buttons and gave me the BP for a seat up front.

when this goes to the gate....what takes priority? an upgrade w miles or a ruc/guc?

Officially, mileage upgrades don't go to the gate, but there are plenty of experiences posted here (especially JFK-SFO/LAX) that suggest otherwise.

That having been said, I believe that mileage is seen as a form of currency and is slightly prioritized over instruments when request do carry over, but anyone can feel free to correct me on this last point.

certificates are sort of a form of payment too; also:

but even HIBRES is not infallible :-/