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MEL>PVG>LAX MCT - Am I missing something?

MEL>PVG>LAX MCT - Am I missing something?

Old Aug 11, 2017, 9:38 am
  #1  
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MEL>PVG>LAX MCT - Am I missing something?

I just got notified that my itinerary has changed and I don't meet the MCT. But the layover is the same, 1h40m at PVG to go from China Eastern to DL. The only thing was the DL leg changed from flight #8 to 88. They are both in T2. I couldn't find a MCT at PVG but I did see that AA required 4 hours although I read that DL only requires 2 for this routing. Gulp. Am I in trouble? Why would it let me book this award ticket if it was an issue? This was 95K so a reasonable award, IMHO, to get from MEL to US. I'd like to keep it but am guessing they won't let me?

Twitter rep said it won't allow it anymore. Should I try to get MEL>SYD>LAX which is what I really want? Will a failed MCT allow me to change routing? I can't even get a miles MEL>LAX trip to show up now. I've got one chance to optimize this situation so any thoughts appreciated.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 9:44 am
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I can't answer your question about MCT but one option you could look at is if your itinerary really doesn't meet MTC is see if VA has any availability on MEL-SYD (usually the availability on the short segments is no issue) is switch to MEL-SYD-LAX, unless you really want to route via PVG on MU.

BTW, how did you score this? I thought DL dropped award routing to Australia/NZ via Asia well over a year ago (literally right in between me booking an outbound to Australia and waiting two more weeks to be able to book my return from Australia/NZ).
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 9:45 am
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Originally Posted by bergamini
Will a failed MCT allow me to change routing?
Yes. the only thing you have to worry about is availability on partner metal.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 9:51 am
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Originally Posted by ATOBTTR
I can't answer your question about MCT but one option you could look at is if your itinerary really doesn't meet MTC is see if VA has any availability on MEL-SYD (usually the availability on the short segments is no issue) is switch to MEL-SYD-LAX, unless you really want to route via PVG on MU.

BTW, how did you score this? I thought DL dropped award routing to Australia/NZ via Asia well over a year ago (literally right in between me booking an outbound to Australia and waiting two more weeks to be able to book my return from Australia/NZ).
I'd kill for the VA MEL>LAX direct but quite sure that's not going to happen.

I manually constructed this routing on web to find lowest mileage flights for a MEL/SYD to US routing and this was the fastest/lowest. I checked through ICN, NRT, HKG -- all of them --- and this was best. I then called Plat line and they booked it in like 3 minutes no questions asked or issues.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 9:55 am
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Originally Posted by pvn
Yes. the only thing you have to worry about is availability on partner metal.
Good point because the only other options besides a 25h40m layover with DL are on MU and I'm fine with one leg being MU, but if I'm cashing in 95K miles, I'd prefer DL for the longest leg because it appears from the reviews to be a superior product.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 9:56 am
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I don't think this definitively means the flights violates the MCT. It doesn't say that anywhere in the message and I suspect you are reading a bit too much into this warning. When I price this route with Google Flights, it is offering up these flights as a valid connection.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 10:00 am
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Originally Posted by bergamini
I'd kill for the VA MEL>LAX direct but quite sure that's not going to happen.
VA is great if you can get it for sure! I got lucky and got LAX-BNE on VA (booked last year, flew this past February).

But you should be able to get DL to book you on their SYD-LAX leg if there's no space on VA on any of their MEL/SYD/BNE-LAX flights. All you'd need is space on MEL-SYD which which is usually available.

Originally Posted by bergamini
I manually constructed this routing on web to find lowest mileage flights for a MEL/SYD to US routing and this was the fastest/lowest. I checked through ICN, NRT, HKG -- all of them --- and this was best. I then called Plat line and they booked it in like 3 minutes no questions asked or issues.
Nicely done! Maybe a complicated work around but a work-around nonetheless. My "work around", since DL wanted 350-400K per for the return flights was i instead looked for built in stopovers in Asia and booked AKL-TYO and then TYO-SEA for 145K total (65K for AKL-TYO and 80K for TYO-SEA). I ended up canceling AKL-TYO when I found a great J fare on NZ/SQ for AKL-SIN-TYO and got to experience both NZ and SQ J.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 10:06 am
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Originally Posted by LBJ
I don't think this definitively means the flights violates the MCT. It doesn't say that anywhere in the message and I suspect you are reading a bit too much into this warning. When I price this route with Google Flights, it is offering up these flights as a valid connection.
Twitter exchange with DL says I do violate MCT. I'm just not sure if I ignore it what would happen.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 10:12 am
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Originally Posted by ATOBTTR


Nicely done! Maybe a complicated work around but a work-around nonetheless. My "work around", since DL wanted 350-400K per for the return flights was i instead looked for built in stopovers in Asia and booked AKL-TYO and then TYO-SEA for 145K total (65K for AKL-TYO and 80K for TYO-SEA). I ended up canceling AKL-TYO when I found a great J fare on NZ/SQ for AKL-SIN-TYO and got to experience both NZ and SQ J.
I was open to buying a PE ticket on VA but their 1-way fares are horrible. I'd kill to find an affordable NZ/SQ J fare but I didn't have much luck, although I'm probably booking too far out and for high season.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 10:13 am
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Anyone had experience with this? I'm exactly at the 100 minute mark the article references. Delta Helping Customers Connect in Shanghai
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 10:15 am
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If you ignore it, OLCI almost certainly won't work, and they might refuse to check you in at MEL because you're under MCT, or they might refuse to check a bag for you. Not something I'd want to risk. And according to EF, the minimum MU-DL international to international connection time is 2 hours or more depending on which terminals the flights operate from. If it were a domestic to international connection, then MCT would be 1 hour, 40 minutes, but it's not.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 11:27 am
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In practice, IF your flight arrives reasonably on time you will make it fairly easily. Connecting is not all that bad, usually only 20 minutes or so.

But the MCT is 2 hrs per Expert Flyer.

Disagree with the previous poster about them not checking you in because of such a violation. MCT is about selling the ticket, they do not check on the travel date.

The real issue is reliability of the MEL->PVG flight.

From my experience on MU, TPAC flights are fairly reliably on schedule. Domestic and regional flights are bad. I have no clue where MEL fits in.

Last edited by exwannabe; Aug 11, 2017 at 11:58 am
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 2:09 pm
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Originally Posted by exwannabe

From my experience on MU, TPAC flights are fairly reliably on schedule. Domestic and regional flights are bad. I have no clue where MEL fits in.
Last 5 days it was over 1 hour late for 4 of them with one diversion but prior to that it looked better.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 2:28 pm
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Have you called yet? It should be easy to get moved onto your desired MEL-SYD-LAX for $0 and zero additional miles if you call. They may even offer it without you having to say anything. Don't point out the non-schedule-change schedule change, just say "I noticed my itinerary might not meet the minimum connecting time any more."

If the agent doesn't suggest it, prompt them with "Could you put me on the Delta flight out of Sydney and then maybe there is space on the Virgin Australia flight MEL-SYD?" Even better if you've found the MEL-SYD flight you want with space on it before you do this...

It is possible the MCT for PVG changed since you booked which made a legal itinerary into an illegal one.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 3:39 pm
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Originally Posted by bergamini
Twitter rep said it won't allow it anymore. Should I try to get MEL>SYD>LAX which is what I really want? Will a failed MCT allow me to change routing? I can't even get a miles MEL>LAX trip to show up now. I've got one chance to optimize this situation so any thoughts appreciated.
Originally Posted by bgriff
Have you called yet? It should be easy to get moved onto your desired MEL-SYD-LAX for $0 and zero additional miles if you call. They may even offer it without you having to say anything. Don't point out the non-schedule-change schedule change, just say "I noticed my itinerary might not meet the minimum connecting time any more."

If the agent doesn't suggest it, prompt them with "Could you put me on the Delta flight out of Sydney and then maybe there is space on the Virgin Australia flight MEL-SYD?" Even better if you've found the MEL-SYD flight you want with space on it before you do this....
Slightly different, but I was booked on MEL-PVG-DTW last year and MU changed my MEL-PVG by 11 hours. However, when I called, the agent didn't blink at moving me to SYD-LAX-DTW all on DL metal. (Yes, she allowed me to change my origin). If OP is indeed under MCT, I would be surprised if DL didn't allow him to just move to another reasonable flight, especially on DL metal.

If there is no VA availability out of MEL, it may also make sense to just buy a VA ticket and tell DL to pick you up in SYD. Leave plenty of connecting time on the separate tickets of course, but MEL-SYD is a very short flight and usually only $100 or so in coach.
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