tbeard

Greetings, I am flying from RDM to RNO. This should be an easy RDM-SLC-RNO ticket, but it wont price on Delta.com. I called the Diamond line twice and they could only ticket it in a full Y fare of $2711??? So, I booked RDM-SEA-SLC-RNO which was reasonably priced. My question is on the day of travel can I call and try to get same day confirmed to the RDM-SLC-RNO routing? Gets me in 5 hours earlier. Funny that as a Diamond I have never used same day confirmed so I am not sure if you have to keep the original routing. Thanks

LoganFlyer

You can try, but the same fare class has to be available to SDC. For example, if you booked RDM-SEA-SLC-RNO in T class, then RDM-SLC-RNO would have to be available in T class for you to SDC. Given that only Y is available right now, that's unlikely, but you never know. If the same fare class isn't available, then you can do same day standby (SDS), but you cannot change the routing. SDC allows you to change the routing, SDS does not.

MSPeconomist

In practice, probably yes or HUCA. Officially, it depends on the routing rules for your fare, but most agents are likely to just assume that Oregon-SLC-Reno is legal and doesn't require the excursion to SEA. [This assumes that all flights in question are DL operated, including DL Connection, and not some stray AS codeshare or something, and that everything is a legal connection.] It might be useful to try a dummy booking for some other light travel date far in the future and see whether your fare permits the more direct routing. The Y fare you mention looks to me (based on price, but it can be hard to tell without knowing the purchase date and travel dates) like it's really two tickets and a broken fare rather than a through FULL Y, but I'm just guessing here. It's also useful to check fare class availability on EF not only for SDC purposes, but to try to understand why you could only see the options you had.

Note that to do SDC you need fare class availability (not just empty seats) unless you have a FC ticket.

tbeard

Thanks...this is some sort of computer glitch as I can book RDM-SLC in a T fare and separately SLC-RNO but if I try to get them on one ticket it states routing is not available? I will try but not a big deal as I can enjoy a couple hours in Deltas best skyclub in SEA

tbeard

Thanks MSPeconomist....all flights are Delta connection flights....no Alaska.

pvn

In this case, though, you probably COULD change the routing, since the OP would still have a confirmed seat on the last leg if their SDS to the earlier SLC-RNO doesn't clear.

indufan

Did you actually check to see if T was available for just see what is for sale? The T bucket can be open and not available for sale due to other restrictions.

LoganFlyer

This sounds like a married segment issue. DL is willing to sell a ticket from RDM-SLC or from SLC-RNO, but not a single ticket for RDM-SLC-RNO. The usual reason is that DL thinks they'll make more money selling the two tickets separately instead of as a connection.

jrl767

Lehava

Actually that's not fully true. If you buy first (let's say an A) SDC only requires there is a seat in that cabin available. They will put you in an F as a diamond and it is an even exchange. I haven't tried in the back in a year but if you bought up front you'd be able to do it as long as there is a seat.

MSPeconomist

OP mentioned a huge FULL Y fare for the shorter routing, so I'm guessing that this is a cheap coach fare, not a FC ticket. My post #3 above mentioned the fare class availability requirement and the exception for FC tickets.

xliioper

DL has no fare filings for RDM-RNO, so any single ticket is necessarily going to be a broken fare. The issues appear to revolve around fare combinability. Interestingly, I can use multi-city to combine fares and create itin's on RDM-SLC-RNO, but only if the layover is greater than 4 hours (which is the limit for single fare domestic itin's).

MSPeconomist

This could explain why the OP couldn't purchase the more direct routing except with a FULL Y fare.

It also indicates that the OP has a broken fare, which can make a difference for SDC if the agent notices and decides to bother checking the rules.

flyerCO

OP bought the through fare with double connect I thought. The broken fare with single connection only priced in Y.

xliioper

Again, there are no "through fares" for RDM-RNO. They don't exist as DL does not publish any. OP must have bought a broken fare with either RDM-SEA-SLC + SLC-RNO or RDM-SEA + SEA-SLC-RNO. My guess is it was the latter as DL has no SEA-RNO non-stop's and the SEA-SLC-RNO fare was likely cheaper than the SLC-RNO non-stop fare. SLC-RNO prices out at $300+ with less than one-week advance, while SEA-SLC-RNO is available for as low as $158 less than one-week out. It would also be considerably cheaper than RDM-SLC + SLC-RNO as RDM-SLC with less than one-week advance is $400+ while RDM-SEA can be had for around $200.

A one-way or roundtrip fare search on this route will yield nothing, not even broken fare options. You can only force through certain routings on a single ticket by using multi-city search and it will present connecting options which have a layover of greater than 4 hours (technically a stopover) which I believe is required to create a true fare break. OP hasn't said how long his layover's are, but I bet the SEA-SLC layover is greater than 4 hours. The RDM-SLC-RNO routing is not prohibited, it's just that the layovers have to be longer than 4 hours in order to combine the fares on a single ticket (unless perhaps they are full Y fares -- although I couldn't even get those to combine on delta.com with less than a 4 hour layover). Also, the pricing is going to be very high on close-in tickets due to hub hostage pricing on RDM-SLC and SLC-RNO. Both routes where DL has no non-stop competition. In contrast, RDM-SEA and SEA-RNO both have non-stop AS competition.