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Cost of SKyMiles Upgrade from US to Europe

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Old Jul 17, 2018, 10:42 pm
  #1  
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Cost of SKyMiles Upgrade from US to Europe
If I buy a Y class ticket on Delta between the US and Europe, how many miles can I expect an upgrade to business to cost?
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Old Jul 17, 2018, 10:57 pm
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I suspect you mean a coach fare (rather than a true "Y" fare). It varies with fare class. There's an FT Wiki that maintains the levels reported by flyers -- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...ing-miles.html. Note that it's possible these have changed with latest increases in award redemption amounts.

US-Europe levels from the wiki --
Y/B/M 30,000 miles
H/Q/K 60,000 miles

Fare classes lower than K cannot be upgraded with miles for long-haul international. C+ fares can only be upgraded if the underlying fare class is a K or higher (I believe for the same mileage amounts).

Premium Economy fares to Europe (P/A/G) are also mileage upgradeable, but no one has posted the amounts in the wiki yet. DL website only mentions VS operated/DL coded PE fares, but I suspect it should include DL operated flights now that DL operates a Premium Select equipped flight on one of the DTW-AMS dailies and sells P/A/G fares on it.

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...nd-more.html#b
Last edited by xliioper; Jul 17, 2018 at 11:12 pm
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Old Jul 17, 2018, 11:17 pm
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Not to Europe but to Asia, PS fare (G) to Delta One Suites cost me 45k miles one way. Sucessfully done this twice (in April when load is light).
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Old Jul 18, 2018, 11:00 pm
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Originally Posted by LBJ
I suspect you mean a coach fare (rather than a true "Y" fare). It varies with fare class. There's an FT Wiki that maintains the levels reported by flyers -- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...ing-miles.html. Note that it's possible these have changed with latest increases in award redemption amounts.

US-Europe levels from the wiki --
Y/B/M 30,000 miles
H/Q/K 60,000 miles

Fare classes lower than K cannot be upgraded with miles for long-haul international. C+ fares can only be upgraded if the underlying fare class is a K or higher (I believe for the same mileage amounts).

Premium Economy fares to Europe (P/A/G) are also mileage upgradeable, but no one has posted the amounts in the wiki yet. DL website only mentions VS operated/DL coded PE fares, but I suspect it should include DL operated flights now that DL operates a Premium Select equipped flight on one of the DTW-AMS dailies and sells P/A/G fares on it.

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...nd-more.html#b
No, I actually did mean a full coach Y class fare. Is there any co-pay with that 30,000 mile cost? Its maddening that Delta doesn't list this stuff.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 4:43 am
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Originally Posted by EQDsSUCK
No, I actually did mean a full coach Y class fare. Is there any co-pay with that 30,000 mile cost? Its maddening that Delta doesn't list this stuff.
No co-pays. Keep in mind you need upgrade inventory to do this, and if no inventory opens by the time the flight goes to airport control you don't get gate upgrades even if seats are available at that point (unless you get a really good gate agent).
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 8:58 am
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Full Y can be more than discounted J...I would feel cheated using miles to upgrade!
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 9:05 am
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Originally Posted by dilbertsdaddy
Full Y can be more than discounted J...I would feel cheated using miles to upgrade!
Strangely, there never seem to be any of these discounted Z or G fares whenever I have to pony up for a full Y fare.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 9:41 pm
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Originally Posted by bennos
No co-pays. Keep in mind you need upgrade inventory to do this, and if no inventory opens by the time the flight goes to airport control you don't get gate upgrades even if seats are available at that point (unless you get a really good gate agent).
How do I find out if a flight has inventory? (On the United website, it is so easy to do!)

What?!?! Delta is so dumb that they would rather fly with an empty biz class seat than let me pay for it in miles???
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 10:03 pm
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Originally Posted by EQDsSUCK
How do I find out if a flight has inventory? (On the United website, it is so easy to do!)

What?!?! Delta is so dumb that they would rather fly with an empty biz class seat than let me pay for it in miles???
The problem was that the agent didn't always pull the miles.

You have to call. DL doesn't even let EF see if there's inventory, except for R and O. You need RY or OY, thus no way to see.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 10:04 pm
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Originally Posted by EQDsSUCK
How do I find out if a flight has inventory? (On the United website, it is so easy to do!)

What?!?! Delta is so dumb that they would rather fly with an empty biz class seat than let me pay for it in miles???
The answer to your first question is that Expert Flyer has most DL fare classes but has not been able to access the "U" bucket to help judge upgrade possibilities or probabilities.

The answer to your second question is "who knows?" They frequently do not.
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 5:29 am
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Originally Posted by monitor
The answer to your first question is that Expert Flyer has most DL fare classes but has not been able to access the "U" bucket to help judge upgrade possibilities or probabilities.

The answer to your second question is "who knows?" They frequently do not.
Wrong bucket. U is on AA.
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 6:16 am
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Originally Posted by flyerCO
Wrong bucket. U is on AA.
Whatever. I have not bothered with upgrades in a few years so that may have changed. RU and OU were formerly the upgrade bucket designations on Delta from paid fares and awards respectively. For my information and that of the OP, what are they now?
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 6:38 am
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RU/OU are both complimentary upgrade classes for First/Business class upgrades.
RP/OP are the mileage upgrade classes, and I believe other instruments (RUCs/GUCs/certs) now use RY/OY classes

OY instead of OP ?
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 6:39 am
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Originally Posted by monitor
Whatever. I have not bothered with upgrades in a few years so that may have changed. RU and OU were formerly the upgrade bucket designations on Delta from paid fares and awards respectively. For my information and that of the OP, what are they now?


RU and OU are medallion upgrades. U is a paid fare class.
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 6:45 am
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Originally Posted by LBJ
RU/OU are both complimentary upgrade classes for First/Business class upgrades.
RP/OP are the mileage upgrade classes, and I believe other instruments (RUCs/GUCs/certs) now use RY/OY classes

OY instead of OP ?
Thought OP simply became OY. Didn't think OP still was used.
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