canuck_traveler

I book my MU flights through Expedia. From time to time, a flight leg or two are not credited to my Delta account. Just submitting a request to Delta with the MU boarding passes gets it cleared up pretty fast.

Just make sure that the fare class is one that gets miles.

FSUnole03

I would absolutely call justfly.com and specifically ask if those are consolidator fares. I, too, was getting an amazing deal on JFK-SIN on cheapoair.com, as well as justfly.com that was hundreds less than Orbitz and Expedia. When I called Cheapoair.com they confirmed that those fares were consolidator fares, which will receive a fraction of the normal miles. So I went with Orbitz which confirmed they were not consolidator fares.

knit-in

The fare is available both at cheapoair as well as justfly. Cheapoair has detailed fare rules and this particular fare is "I", which should usually earn 175% base miles. Justfly doesn't show any fare designation at all. Expedia is 400$ more.

Bradhattan

if you schmooze the FA's can you join the pilots for a smoke or at least grab a puff in forward galley while the pilots are enjoying?

RealHJ

Probably. If they really like you, they may also let you collect some of the loot from the galley (all the booze bottles, etc.: the FAs and their friends go into the flight with empty bags, leave with full - that's the clinking sound you hear as the plane starts to descend).

FSUnole03

If you buy it and fly, please report back on your earnings.

knit-in

I certainly will, although at the present time I am quite dissuaded primarily by the long layover, in addition to the possibility of earning zero miles.

flyerUSA

I just flew China Eastern from Beijing PEK to Shanghai PVG, paid economy $195, and it happened to be one of their high end longhaul planes (seems only the 5:15p uses this aircraft and the others use a lesser shorthaul plane.)

SeatGuru says this was an Airbus A330-300 - maybe it was? - but their seat map is very wrong for this flight.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I bought a last minute ticket and all of the good seats in Economy were gone. It was a 2-4-2 configuration without a single aisle free except in Row 71, which by my picky needy obnoxious standards, was unbearable.

At the SkyPriority desk at the PEK airport (interesting experience unto itself...they have large hotel lobby-style chairs for you to sit on while someone behind a proper low-height desk works with you), I asked them if there was any way to upgrade on this flight (the original price for flying in first was sky high and not worth it for 2hrs imho, this was personal not biz travel). So they sent me over to another counter...

And this person behind the counter tells me, I can upgrade for 300 yuan, "no receipt". I'm pretty sure this was an under-the-table bribe. I paid it GLADLY. That's like $45. Well worth it!

Well, long story short...it was lie-flat seating with impeccable long haul style service. The front cabin was not 2-2-2 as SeatGuru believes, but rather 1-2-1. I had a window, it was very similar to Delta One....even nicer/newer in some ways. The food was...eh, but I'm picky. But very Chinese. If you want something western, bring your own meal.

But overall, I was very very surprised and pleasantly so.

(I am wondering if I will get miles for this flight because of the shady switch in fare classes. I'd be happy just for normal Y miles but so far those haven't shown up and my ticket stub said "O" class which doesn't even appear on Delta's MQM partner chart for MU. Hmmm....)

RealHJ

O is award business class. They changed you from revenue to award flight.
(X = econ award, O = bus award: it's the same for MU as for most other SkyTeam airlines, and DL itself)

So, you will not get any miles. It'll show that your fare class (award) is not eligible for mileage earning. (As for how they did it, well probably they have some way to book a mileage ticket without debiting any miles...or they can "award" themselves the miles and then book it from their own account or something like that I suspect.)

BTW, MU has at least 3 different A330 configurations. Make sure you look at the right seatmap. The 33E is IMO the best, proper rectangular and not sideways angled seats 1-2-1 in business class. Equivalent to other airlines first class in many ways almost. The newer A330 is angled sideways 1-2-1.

flyerUSA

Hmm.... so far, the flight did just show up on Delta.com... as reason code "Q" - "Still processing - should complete within 24 hours". Interestingly though the ticket number shown is the original ticket number that I booked on Expedia. (I thought maybe she had reticketed me.) So I'm cautiously optimistic on miles but let's see what happens.

flyerCO

In that case they simply put you in J like would happen during an OPUP. Ticket stays the same but reservation shows you in J now.

MU dors offer DoD upgrades at discount. I'm not sure what their actual price is to upgrade DoD for this flight. However PVG-SIN I paid 1000RMB to upgrade from J (award ticket) to F. Actual properly processed upgrade. I got miles on DL since the ticket was reissued onto MU stock during the upgrade and now reflect a paid fare class.

flyerUSA

OH - btw - China Eastern's website is from hell. HELL. Most of the reason I was so pleasantly surprised with the aircraft and service was the weird North Korean style nightmare website experience...which is also why I eventually booked on Expedia instead of direct.

jacksonSFO

My corporate travel agent issued a DL 006 ticket on MU's LAX-PVG flight in biz. When I call MU, they say my ticket is cancelled. Delta says it's confirmed, but I can't select a seat (request only) or select a meal.

Is this normal with a codeshare - or will I have trouble?

RealHJ

When you load up the ticket receipt on Delta (the receipt/ticket actual view, not the page you see at first), what is the status? Is it ARPT (airport control) or OPEN? If so, it's fine. If it's another status, there may be an issue (depending on the status).

I've had MU have no record of me being on a flight ticketed by DL, though the ticket and all was fine. As DL handles MU US ground operations such as check-in (well, at least here at HNL), they couldn't refuse me to check-in/board, as while in MU systems they had no record of it, in the DL systems they could clearly see it. Thankfully the flight wasn't full so I could get on in the end after nearly 1 hour of escalating to multiple levels "in Atlanta" to fix the "broken" DL ticket, but then there weren't enough meals for all the passengers in the J cabin, so that caused a bit of drama and delay.

It seems to me that your ticket may be fine, but the MU PNR may not be created, or if the MU PNR is created, the ticket # is not attached to it. I suggest you conference call in both MU and DL at the same time and have them figure it out, or else they'll just point the fingers to each other.

jacksonSFO

Yeah - status says ARPT. So I guess based on your experience that should be ok... really wish I could pick a seat, but looks like no easy way to get this done without spending a lot of time on the phone.