MSPeconomist

LAX-SYD.

nichojo

ERRRR. It would actually be ATL-JNB, which took the title after ATL-BOM was discontinued.

MSPeconomist

I gdidn't mean to suggest that LAX-SYD was the longest route in the DL system, just that it should be added to the list in the post above mine of routes that are longer than SEA-HKG. Also, we seem to be implicitly talking about nonstop segments, so a JFK-NRT-SIN direct flight would only count the JFK-NRT distance for this purpose.

bj27

Correct ... was just a thought that crossed my head that perhaps SEA-HKG ranks in the top 10 longest routes in the DL system.

An additional thought that a $699 charge to go on this route in J is not a bad deal at all.

Zorak

I don't believe anyone has pointed out the other salient detail:

i.e. it's not a one-way upgrade, it's only for one segment.

I saw a similar offer on JFK-NRT back in 2015, albeit for $999 (if memory serves)

tentseller

I paid less than $3000 Canadian for two PNR for two to HKG this summer in D1.

Low business travel season in the summer to HK.
High tourist travel season HK-US.

nichojo

Sorry, didn't know what to infer by the context-less post.

CommentatusMaximus

IMO, that's worth it, a moderate price cut on discounted biz. My wife and I were lucky to get offers of $420 each to upgrade a long haul 12 hour segment in KLM economy+ (3-4-3, tightest seats I have ever sat!) to their "World Business Class." So this offer is a bit more expensive but I'd still do it to avoid cattle class.

Dennis88

Does anybody know if the phone number leads to a special department? I haven't tried it yet as I'm not within the 10-day window for the return flight, but it does not seem to be a regular DL phone number.

rylan

I wonder if this is a trial at D1 monetization... and I also wonder if pax will be cleared from the GUC waitlist before they sell seats, or if they are going to sell them for relatively cheap while DMs trying to use a GUC get stuck in the back?

Xeno

What part of the summer and how flexible where you on dates?

bj27

My assumption is that DL being a for-profit business, will always try to prioritize monetization over instrument-supported upgrades.

That being said, the terms do state "subject to availability" so not sure what fare class an upgraded ticket would be booked into.

We know GUCs clear from OY (which is the fare class for miles and instrument-supported UGs), but not sure what bucket these D1 monetization offers draw from.

Additionally, the terms state the offer is valid within 10 days pre-departure, if GUCs clear before this timeframe then obviously those will go first.

TheMadBrewer

A few years ago when I purchased an upgrade on DTW-LHR at OLCI it cleared into an upgrade class (forget now which one, suffer from CRS ) Which meant no bonus miles/mqm

tentseller

July and August. Most weekdays.
Pricing lowered last summer as well but not as much.

jdrtravel

I think the number is interesting, and I'm curious how they arrived at the price. Let's assume you had already spent $1200 on the coach ticket. If you consider that it would cost $1400 to r/t upgrade at this special rate, you are getting a J ticket for $2200 round trip. This is certainly a very good price, and one that you'd be hard pressed to find in advance in the current market. Previously it seemed like their approach was not to do this to not cause people to buy coach and wait for these special buy ups. I wonder how they intend to protect J class prices if they roll this out?

On the other hand, let's say they sell 2k of these upgrades in a year. I just made that number up, but even that small amount of seats is $1.5 million in extra revenue.