AF paid upgrades: do you get the MQD/MQM of the paid upgraded seat?
Jan 14, 2019, 11:59 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2004
Location: formerly Gold now Diamond, formerly MSY, now LAX, formerly NW, now DL
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Posts: 4,635
AF paid upgrades: do you get the MQD/MQM of the paid upgraded seat?
So I took advantage of offers for upgrades at mobile check-in from pain W (Premium Economy) to business, for the TATL portions of both AF ticketed/marketed/operated segments. I only got my original booking class MQM/MQDs. Shouldn't I have gotten the business fare earnings? I sent in the receipts/reservations/BPs and the agent said no go. Paid partner upgrades are contractually only given credit for the originally booked fare.
Jan 15, 2019, 2:25 am
#3
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 162
happened to me twice. i read somewhere that if you did the upgrade a day prior you would get the new MQMs. however, it is not the case. i called delta twice and they both said unless you call AF/KL/DL to change your class of service (meaning paying the fare difference), upgrading that online would only earn you the original booking class. i have learned from that and will never not pay for upgrade for that one hour intra-europe flight.
Jan 15, 2019, 12:31 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 277
This is explicitly discussed on delta.com, probably on the partner airline skymiles page? You do not get the bonuses for day-of-departure upgrades on other airlines, although I think you do if they offer you a buy-up earlier.
lightnig edit: hmm, actually it may only refer explicitly to the MQD for those sales.
lightnig edit: hmm, actually it may only refer explicitly to the MQD for those sales.
Jan 15, 2019, 1:15 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: DL DM
Posts: 262
Per the partner charts, the MQM earning rate for both W fares (W,S,A) and discounted business (C,D,I,Z) is 150%, so there should be no difference in MQM earning. There is a difference in redeemable miles class bonus 50% for W and 100% for Discounted Business, and a difference in MQD percentage calculation, 30% for W vs 40% for (C,D,I,Z). One caveat, on the premium fare deals page there was recently an O fare LHR-Asia on Air France, a business class fare that isn't included on the Partner charts and earns no MQM and MQD on Delta. I don't know if there is ever a situation where a buy-up would be into O, but that would be a situation where you'd want to retain earnings at the originally booked fare.
May 5, 2019, 12:21 pm
#8
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NCE, MCM
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 167
i just wanted to update related to this post that last week i upgraded a few segments at check-in for some intra-europe KLM return flights and happened to receive 150% MQMs for them -- not sure if they'll stick and/or if this is the new norm but wanted to relay the info...
Aug 7, 2019, 3:40 am
#10
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 2
Just went through this debacle with Delta. Short story is, if its marketed by Delta with a DL flight number, all paid upgrades should get a MQM bonus based on class flow, not paid. However, MQDs are only provided for upgrades if purchased through a Delta channel (Delta.com, Delta App, etc).
I flew from BCN to SEA, with a connecting flight in CDG. My flight was both ticketed (006) and marketed by Delta (DL), but I used the Air France website to check-in and purchase a business class upgrade from CDG to SEA, putting me in a J class. Per Delta's guidelines for Delta marketed flights: Purchased upgrades are eligible for bonus MQMs based on the class of service flown. After the Skymiles credits were processed, they only issued me a 100% MQM accrual, based on my paid class (Q), which was not correct per their program guidelines.
I called and talked to a Skymiles rep, who confirmed that it showed my class flown was J and issued me the 200% MQM accrual as it should have been. However, I did have to send in my Air France purchase confirmation to show that I actually paid for the upgrade vs getting a complimentary upgrade. I was only 4,000 MQMs away from qualifying for diamond, so I might have pushed a bit more than usual to make this happen.
I flew from BCN to SEA, with a connecting flight in CDG. My flight was both ticketed (006) and marketed by Delta (DL), but I used the Air France website to check-in and purchase a business class upgrade from CDG to SEA, putting me in a J class. Per Delta's guidelines for Delta marketed flights: Purchased upgrades are eligible for bonus MQMs based on the class of service flown. After the Skymiles credits were processed, they only issued me a 100% MQM accrual, based on my paid class (Q), which was not correct per their program guidelines.
I called and talked to a Skymiles rep, who confirmed that it showed my class flown was J and issued me the 200% MQM accrual as it should have been. However, I did have to send in my Air France purchase confirmation to show that I actually paid for the upgrade vs getting a complimentary upgrade. I was only 4,000 MQMs away from qualifying for diamond, so I might have pushed a bit more than usual to make this happen.
Aug 7, 2019, 8:58 am
#11
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Join Date: Sep 2009
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Just went through this debacle with Delta. Short story is, if its marketed by Delta with a DL flight number, all paid upgrades should get a MQM bonus based on class flow, not paid. However, MQDs are only provided for upgrades if purchased through a Delta channel (Delta.com, Delta App, etc).
I flew from BCN to SEA, with a connecting flight in CDG. My flight was both ticketed (006) and marketed by Delta (DL), but I used the Air France website to check-in and purchase a business class upgrade from CDG to SEA, putting me in a J class. Per Delta's guidelines for Delta marketed flights: Purchased upgrades are eligible for bonus MQMs based on the class of service flown. After the Skymiles credits were processed, they only issued me a 100% MQM accrual, based on my paid class (Q), which was not correct per their program guidelines.
I called and talked to a Skymiles rep, who confirmed that it showed my class flown was J and issued me the 200% MQM accrual as it should have been. However, I did have to send in my Air France purchase confirmation to show that I actually paid for the upgrade vs getting a complimentary upgrade. I was only 4,000 MQMs away from qualifying for diamond, so I might have pushed a bit more than usual to make this happen.
I flew from BCN to SEA, with a connecting flight in CDG. My flight was both ticketed (006) and marketed by Delta (DL), but I used the Air France website to check-in and purchase a business class upgrade from CDG to SEA, putting me in a J class. Per Delta's guidelines for Delta marketed flights: Purchased upgrades are eligible for bonus MQMs based on the class of service flown. After the Skymiles credits were processed, they only issued me a 100% MQM accrual, based on my paid class (Q), which was not correct per their program guidelines.
I called and talked to a Skymiles rep, who confirmed that it showed my class flown was J and issued me the 200% MQM accrual as it should have been. However, I did have to send in my Air France purchase confirmation to show that I actually paid for the upgrade vs getting a complimentary upgrade. I was only 4,000 MQMs away from qualifying for diamond, so I might have pushed a bit more than usual to make this happen.
Did your paid upgrade book into (FULL) J or some discounted business class inventory bucket? If it was the latter (which I would expect for all but an extraordinarily expensive upgrade), IIRC you should have earned only 150% MQMs (as you would for a DL Z or I fare).