captiveguru

Thanks for the trip report. I am a bit confused... Are you using "EXST" as the "Companion's" first name? And your last name as the Companion's last name?

Also, how does this effect your UG status?

Mr. Tickets

Amex companion tickets don't qualify for complimentary upgrades, although people have, on occasion, reported success.

Renes Points

I did a post on this a while back. I was told you have to CALL but there is no fee for anyone for this and the extra seat has your last name and then EXTRA for the first name.

In the "old days" you could split a BOGOF cert and upgrade one of them. Officially you can no longer split. If you can get it done, you may give up your two coach for one 1st class seat.

captiveguru

I remember that now... I have the Reserve Card now, which has a FC Companion Certificate. Not sure I would want to incur the wrath by using it to bag an extra seat in FC.

Of course one could use it and then "sell" the seat to the highest bidder...

Probably best to just use it to have an open seat on the 2-side in an MD80.

What happens if DL wants to put someone in that seat due to an oversell situation? Does EXTRA get the compensation?

schmidlapp

Sounds like a great plan especially if you run risk of not using the companion
certificate. It really does cost more than the $28 since the Amex Platinum Delta card does have a pretty high $195.00 annual fee that needs to be figured into the cost.
Does this allow you to book into an exit row and keep the middle seat open?

If so, I would do that in row 27 of a 757 and then spend some of my
Skybonus drink tickets. This would really be like F lite!
It sounds like the ideal strategy for an FO like me.

NWA777

I have the AMEX Delta Reserve Credit Card. I received a Companion Certificate that'll expire at the end of July 2015.

It says its for Fare Classes DL-A,I,L,U,T,X,V

This is my first time getting an Companion Certificate. How does this work?

I notice when I try to book without using the Certificate the fares are much lower, than when I put in for "Using the Certificate".

How can I use this for my advantage for my wife and I who want to go to GEG soon.

houserulz77

That's strange. Generally it's the lowest fares which are eligible. So while they can sometimes be difficult to book (especially close in), the fares are generally reasonable.

MSPeconomist

IIRC some people have reported that only certain L U T X V fares can be used with the companion certificate (or it requires a subset inventory class). The lowest fares you find without the certificate aren't the same as the lowest ones that can be used with the certificate.

A legitimate source of the problem is that the cert requires TWO seats in the desired inventory class. If only one V is available, then you must do the booking in X or higher.

travelhive

This has been my experience in the few times I have remembered to use the Certificate before it expires (seems like I only remember to try use it when I'm within the magic 30 day window and it can't be used then) - search without the certificate and I can always find lower fares.

jrl767

this generally seems to be true, although when I was booking SEA<-->MSY a couple days ago (for travel in early May) the inventory on the flights that came up on the "Redeem Certificates" search corresponded exactly to the inventory that came up when searching for revenue tickets

same scenario: one flight that displayed a "1 seat remaining at this fare" message on the revenue search didn't appear on the search results when doing "Redeem Certificates" ... so doing a revenue ticket search first can serve to narrow the field of flights to expect on the certificate search

exwannabe

May sometimes/often be the case, but not always.

I had actually booked my flight (w/o using the companion cert) earlier in the day than OPs post. When I saw his post it reminded me that I wanted to try this. So I immediately looked to see if I could rebook with the companion, and did so for $28 more [and used the 24-hour cancellation on the original booking].

This was about 2 months out in X.

OK, I realize that in theory inventory could have opened up in those few hours. But it seams very unlikely given the dates and the fact that I bought the 2 seats w/o yet having cancelled the original seat.

DJCobol

I'm looking at a DTW-AMS trip this fall, but being a bigger guy I'm considering buying 2 tickets to make sure not only me but whoever is next to me is comfortable for 8 hours. My question is if I pay for 2 tickets, do I get MQMs and MQSs for both seats? Or just one? I've sent Delta a few emails, but keep getting boilerplate responses that tell me nothing.

davetravels

Welcome to FlyerTalk Delta forum!!

The simple answer is no. I've seen it posted here a number of times, although I'm not exactly sure where it's documented - surely someone here will find it and post it.

To elaborate a little . . . .

People have tried this when traveling with their large musical instruments, cellos, etc, and have gotten in trouble trying to claim mileage for both seats. Also, just consider people who find ridiculously cheap fares and do Mileage Runs. It would be a cinch to buy 10 round-trip tickets from the USA to Europe for $400 - all on the same flight - and get 100,000+ MQMs.

Believe me - - We ALL wish it was possible!

Esltroy

I wonder MQD could be earned though under the new program?

chiefkays

Thanks to this thread, I recently used my soon-to-expire companion certificate to book an extra first class seat on my last trip, LAX-SLC-IND-ATL-LAX. It worked pretty much as described by exwannabe.

The only hiccup was on the first leg, LAX-SLC. The GA had apparently forgotten that he scanned my BP and they tried to put someone in 3B (my extra seat) at the end of boarding. After I somewhat sheepishly informed the FA that it was also my seat, the poor guy moved back to 14C.

The really funny part came when boarding ATL-LAX. It was the internationally configured 767. I'd picked 1D and 2D so I wouldn't have anyone in the seat behind me kicking my seat or grabbing the back of it when standing up. The two GA's were confused until I explained my seat selection. It was even funnier when the purser came by my seat and explained that while he was required by Delta to follow FEBO for meal choices, meaning he was supposed to start in the back, his personal rule was that anyone who buys 2 first class seats get first choice of meals.