levik

A month or so ago I booked a November flight from JFK to Hong Kong via Seattle. SEA-HKG was Delta's last route to Hong Kong, but sometime mid-June they announced that they would be cancelling it (I was never notified, just saw this mentioned the other day).

Logged in to see my ticket was changed to JFK-SEA-ICN-HKG - a much crappier route. Delta basically changed just the SEA-HKG leg of my trip by adding a connection in Seoul, and booking me onto a Korean flight to HK. The upside was that SEA-ICN and ICN-HKG were now coded Y.

There is a much more convenient routing for me to take: a direct flight from JFK to Seoul on Korean, and then on to HKG. However, apparently, if I call to make that change, they need to reissue the ticket in a lower fare class again.

Does anyone know if it's possible to somehow keep these in Y, given that this was Delta's own operational change? I was looking forward to using a Global Upgrade Cert on Delta-operated flights, and to do so on Korean requires a much higher fare class.

Any tips would be greatly welcome.

Often1

Why do you care about what fare class the ticket is issued in?

If you are looking at this from a FFP perspective, you will be credited based on fare basis paid not ticketed. I presume from the way you wrote your post that you did not pay for Y, but DL simply rebooked you into Y.

pvn

I'm guessing he wants the bonus MQMs. However, the loophole that caused MQMs to be based on booked fare bucket instead of ticketed fare bucket has been (sort of) closed. I get rebooked into Y pretty frequently in IRROPS but hardly ever get the bonus MQMs anymore.

wxman22

umm,

Why post a response, if you don't brother to read the question?

OP explains it right here, "Does anyone know if it's possible to somehow keep these in Y, given that this was Delta's own operational change? I was looking forward to using a Global Upgrade Cert on Delta-operated flights, and to do so on Korean requires a much higher fare class."

I too, am interested inthe answer, if anyone has one.

levik

Correct, I didn't pay for Y.

When I booked with Delta, it was on Delta metal, and the flights could be upgraded with a GUC in any paid fare class. Now flying to HK with Delta is no longer an option. For flights on Korean to be upgradable via GUC, they need to be in Y/B/M class, so this does make a difference.

It just seems like when the system automatically changes my flight I automatically get Y, but if I ask them to move me to a more convenient route, then that side effect is gone.

levik

MQM is not what I'm after. Y would be upgrade-eligible, whereas the lowest available fare class would not be. I was looking to use a GUC on this flight.

Lux Flyer

When calling to rebook, explain that you either had applied a GUC or intended to apply a GUC to your original routing. Since that is no longer possible given the schedule change, ask for them to make an exception and rebook you in a GUC eligible fare class to ensure an equivalent itinerary to what you had originally purchased. Alternatively, you can offer to take your ticket refund and then choose to book business with a different carrier, but be prepared for them to call that bluff.

btonkid12345

The folks who process the reissues using a GUC are pretty knowledgeable. They'll easily see the fare basis you purchased - not a full Y fare basis - and be able to tell you it isn't eligible on Korean metal in the class of service you originally paid for (they're not gonna just see the Y class you're in now, not ask any questions or look at the history, and process it - the agents at this desk any some of the most knowledgeable)

Why don't you fly DL metal to ICN (I'm sure they would rebook you on any DL metal combination to get there) and just accept you won't be able to use it on ICN-HKG (and if this matters to you, just refund the ticket)

AntonS

Are there Korean uprades come from O class (same a business award = 1 seat per flight)? In this case forget about it unless you verified that your flight already has availability. Booking DL metal to ICN as others suggested and not relying on ICN-HKG upgrade seems like a way to go.