ethernal

Seatmaps mean nothing. There could be a ticketed passenger without a seat assignment - I see it all the time (e.g., 3+ seats on a 739 at the gate instead of the 2 normally blocked - invariably someone is cleared from the standby list into one of the seats before any upgrades are processed).

If you saw a W fare for sale on delta.com and did not get an upgrade, then that would be different. But I have not seen a confirmed example of this - ever. I would love, love, love it if Delta did capacity controls on W inventory as it may mean that I would actually get a C+ seat every once in a while - but as far as I can tell they do not do it. Maybe they will start doing it soon but as of right now it doesn't appear that they do (at least in any sort of systemic way).

btonkid12345

You know its not over, right?

The 24 hour risk free cancel policy applies to KL tickets too.

If I were you, I would call, ask for a Supervisor, say you didn't know you were booking via KLM or this problem would occur.

Tell them you don't like it and wish they had a more seamless JV. Also tell them you've learned from it, but could they make a 1 time exception for you and change it to a DL flight number? I bet they'll do it as an even exchange "one time"

fpmurphy

I have been in this situationn many times over the years on TPACs and TATLs. The answer I get whenever I talked to the DM desk is that revenue have not released the seats.for upgrades.

flyerCO

They're not changing flight numbers unless the new ones work with the bought fare. 24 hour policy depends on how/where/when it was bought with KLM flights.

AS for seemless, that has nothing to do with it. Even though it's going to be on a DL metal plane, you bought a KLM flight. As i tell people think of a codeshare flight basically as a flight by the marketing airline. However they know they won't be able to fly it. Thus you are protected on a flight at exact same time operated by the operating carrier. Till DoD, everything is handled as if the marketing airline was really going to operate the flight theirself. DoD everything gets done via the operating carrier flight number. Thus it's not possible to do window upgrades, cause till DoD you're not on a DL, but rather KLM flight as far as system.

btonkid12345

It has everything to do with it. Despite how they choose to splice up inventory via different marketing carriers, if it's a single Delta plane and I'm a Delta Medallion and can't get a seat or a silly C+ "upgrade" then it is not seamless. Period.

ethernal

Agreed. There is just no desire to make it happen. They've invested in making seat reservations work on codeshares, there is no reason why upgrades couldn't be handled as well. Obviously it would take a small IT investment so it won't happen.

flyerCO

It would take much more than a small IT investment.

manually

I was able to twitter to delta and get seat assignments in c+ for the domestic leg of my international trip. I used my AMEX for KLM 20K MR points.

If you don't like the answer, wait a bit and try again.

BER Flyer

Unfortunaly you're wrong here. You are not on a DL flight untill DoD, you are on a KLM flight. And you won't get free Y+ seats because of that, same as with Flying Blue elite members. Now, on DoD the two flights are "merged" and now handled by the Company who runs the flight on that specific airport. NOW you're on a DL flight and now you will access to those seats. I know it sucks, happend to me on more then 50 flights.

ethernal

A customer doesn't care how a system considers it (and you're not entirely right - there is integration - for example, seat reservations work). It is entirely possible to make things seamless but the airlines choose not to (because of investment required and lack of incentive to do so).

gypsycsc

But I have two flights on KLM metal on this trip (AMS-EBB and EBB-AMS) and two flights on Delta metal (DTW-AMS and AMS-DTW). As a DL PM I was able to get comfort + on the AMS-EBB flights with no problem. So, if the Delta metal flights are actually KLM flights, then why can't I get comfort+ on them, as well? Not trying to argue. Just trying to understand it.

I did try twitter, and got the same response the Delta agent gave me, i.e., because the ticket was booked through KLM, no access to Comfort+ on the Delta metal. I thought the Delta agent must have been wrong, but now accept that she was correct, and those are the rules. I still think it's a little crazy and counterintuitive, but at least now I know the rules so will be able to work with that in future bookings.

xliioper

Again, Economy Comfort (KLM's C+ product), is not treated as a separate fare class product. It's just considered part of coach on KL. While C+ on DL is a separate fare class and you are put in a different fare product when upgraded to C+ on a DL fare (SU class for comp upgrades). While W is used for purchased C+, and S is used for C+ awards. KL has no equivalent fare classes for C+/Economy Comfort. Even if you find an agent to "force" a C+ seat for you on DL, there's likely no guarantee that seat assignment will "stick" since your KL fare class is still for a main cabin seat on DL, not C+.

MarkP24

I had taken advantage of a similar AMEX promotion (with AirFrance) and booked on Delta metal but AF codeshare. I couldn't get C+ so ended up paying the difference for D1.

3Cforme

I'll come at this from a different direction:

If you want Delta benefits, Delta wants you buying a Delta-coded flight.

That way Delta controls the fare paid.

There are Delta benefits on other-metal flights (like GUCs on AF/KL/VS/AM/KE) but they can be pretty heavily restricted.

BER Flyer

Well, it does work seemless. If you are buying an KLM ticket for an DL operated flight you will be able to select a seat via KLM by beeing redirected to the DL website were you can select your seat. But KLM is telling DL that this pax has an seat in the "main cabin" and therefore you can only select seats within DL's Main cabin section. KLM will also tell DL's system that you are holding some kind of status that enables you to get access to the "preferred seats". So the system works seemless in this regard. It's Delta's fault that they handle their Y+ seats as a seperate cabin. As others pointed out you need to book an real "Premium Economy" ticket ( with AF for instance ) to get these seats on a DL operated flight. I know it sucks, happens to me all the time with lots of KLM tickets for TATL flights but it's excatly working as intended by Delta.
The good news: when buying an "light" fare via KLM or AF you will get a seat ( even the preferred section ) on DL flights right at booking as these are booking into N/V/X class and not into "E" as with Delta's basic economy fares.