You can now use RUC/GUC on Delta Vacation flights
 

DM/PMs can now use Certificates to upgrade on a Delta Vacation flight (that before was quite rare to get it booked in a fare class that allowed it.)

The news is quite recent and it took me a few tries to the Medallion line to get an agent that didn't question the policy change (one had me sent the Delta URL where I was seeing that, as "I've been here a long time and we never allowed that").
Once reaching one with knowledge of the change, the process was the same as applying it to any other flight.

delta.com/us/en/skymiles/program-resources/news-and-updates (scroll to Recent Medallion Upgrades).


After a quick search, I didn't find it posted around here yet - so enjoy!

Yes you can. I just did earlier this week (RUC)
no issue at all, did it through twitter

Excellent. Thanks for posting. I'm on with Delta now and they're applying my certs.

I been using GUCs on international Delta Vacation packages for three or four years now. Always did it with Diamond line and not delta vacations staff

Yes - that was possible only when your ticket was not an exception fare - and often you could only tell if it was going to be a regular or exception fare by booking over the phone and asking.
Now, with the change announced on 10/22, it seems that all fares are eligible! I actually had an upcoming trip that was an exception fare and couldn't get the certificates applied before (tried 3x DM line, agents even tried to do it but the system would block it) but with this change I was able to.

Using a GUC with a DL Vacation booking
 

DL Skymiles agents will NOT "deal with" itns booked as part of a DL Vacation. When I tried to upgrade to D1 on a DL Vacation booking in progress, the agent noted: "we don't deal with GUC...you have to call DL Skymiles". "Hidden" away in the GUC rules: to use a GUC with a DL Vacation booking call 1-800-800-1504 (DL Vac. phone number;)); it took nearly 1/2 an hour to sort things out.:td: (for the delay), :tu: (that even worked....)

Interesting, I assumed since its a DL ticket you would use the normal process by calling the normal cust service line and hopefully getting a DM agent. At least the agent at the DL Vac number could do it.

I've done this before Covid with wait-listing GUC's to SYD on DL Vacations package (unfortunately, they never cleared). I did read the fine print first so I knew I needed to go through DL Vacations people and not regular line (I believe it's also already been mentioned here when they opened up DL Vacation packages for GUC's). Here's an existing thread -- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...n-flights.html

The referenced thread is Oct. 2019, I must have tried using a GUC about 6 months later, not realizing it was a new perk. Once I called DL Skymiles to apply a GUC to a DL Vacation, the agent noted: "these are BULK fares, GUCs can't be applied", I found the note that their use must be initiated by DL Vacations.

On a more serious note, what's Delta Vacations? Are the packaged vacation trips ever worthwhile vs. just booking a flight + hotel?

They can be. Once in a while a deal gets posted in the Premium Fares forum where the vacation package can be cheaper than the airfare by itself. Also, although Delta Vacations has the word "Delta" my understanding it is is legally/business-wise unrelated to DL (it's just a branding partnership) and is basically like any other third party agency booking, with all of the hassle that that entails if there are schedule changes, etc. And during COVID the wait times for DV were even worse than DL without the benefit of being able to receive a callback.

The other potential plus is that DV books as a bulk/exception fare, so they earn MQDs based on a percentage of distance similar to partner-marketed flights (although the deep discount economy buckets don't earn very well, so it depends on the trip parameters)

It's not just for hotels, you can do flight + car rental without the hotel, which is what I've been doing the last year or so in order to spend down a voucher that I ended up with after I booked a Delta Vacation during the 2cpm promo pre-COVID, for an international trip in May 2020 that obv ended up not happening. There were cases where this was marginally better than doing a separate flight + rental.

The other downside is that for many hotel chains, 3rd party bookings don't count for elite status, if that is a consideration.

Good points. They are all valid considerations, and I've always tried to book directly with the sources over the years for flexibility and benefit reasons, and traditionally, upgrade eligibility. However burning a dl.com giftcard sounds like a good reason to me.

Delta Vacations, LLC is a wholesale subsidiary of Delta that is based in Minneapolis (it originated from the former NW side of the house). It functions somewhat like a separate travel agency, but it's still very much a part of Delta with quite a bit of integration (from the website to the various Skymiles earning/redemption options).