xliioper

I don't think there's much an agent can do if rev management does not release any seats for FCM upgrades other than offer a ticket change to the higher cabin for the fare difference. It's not that unusual for there to be no FCM offers (even if the cabin is relatively empty) if there is only inventory availability in the highest fare buckets. I'm on a PHX-JFK flight next month where only 3 out of 20 FC seats are occupied and there is no FCM offer (all open seats are X'ed out) and when I check on EF there is only J bucket open for FC which is likely why there is no FCM being offered.

SuperG1955

I believe that they don't do Twitter any longer. They'll just tell you to use the text function.

mahasamatman

I'm confused about award cancellations on Delta. When I go through the booking process, it shows the ticket as non-refundable, but when I look at the award fee page, it states that there's no fee for mileage redeposit. So will I be able to cancel and get my miles and fees back if our plans change or not?

xliioper

Yes, you can cancel them up to departure and get miles and taxes back at no charge for awards originating in North America as long they are not BE awards (where there is now a fee). This only applies before travel has begun. If you book a roundtrip and decide not to take the return trip after commencing travel, the remainder of the award is non-refundable --

"Once travel has commenced on an Award ticket, the Award is considered used. Mileage will not be credited back to the account for the unused portion of the ticket."

xliioper

Seems like a waste. If they are DL flights, you could use 300K with Pay with Miles for the $3K fare and still earn MQD for flights this year and have 300K miles left for another trip.

GrahamWL63

I guess I'm a genuine 'newbie' because I'm looking forward to my debut Delta flight next month, LHR-DTW. When I booked the flight via Virgin last Autumn, it was going to be on the 767-400, but it altered to an A330-300 from January 5 - not sure why, but I'm just as happy. My question is to do with the Delta status match programme. I've applied to match to my BA silver status and received a courteous and prompt reply. However, they're unable to process my request. The response from Delta reads: "Please resubmit your request with a current statement that reflects your earned elite status. The statement must both reflect that your status is valid for 2022 and must include your first and last name.". I originally submitted my BA silver membership card along with an email from BA welcoming me and confirming my silver status. I'm not sure what Delta means by a 'statement' in this context. The only 'statement' as such that I can find in my BA account is the one showing my Avios transactions, but I can't believe that's what Delta requires. I'd be grateful for any thoughts about what specific thing Delta is requesting. Thank you!

EkekoBWI

Is it possible to use both a Companion Certificate and the AMEX Gold spend-generated $100 certificate on a single trip for 2 people?

xliioper

As T&C's on website indicate, a screenshot or other file format showing your qualifying activity is also acceptable as an alternative to a "statement".

jth14

Hi,

I've tried searching the forum for this answer as I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't seem to find the right choice of search terms.

If my wife is Silver Medallion status and I have no medallion status, which person's status is recognized if we book a flight together on her account?

Also, if I get Silver Medallion and she gets Gold Medallion, I have the same question? If we book a flight together on her account, would we have Gold or Silver benefits (e.g. boarding priority)

xliioper

You each need to enter your own Skymiles account for yourself when booked on the same reservation together. The higher status level will apply for upgrade and boarding priority, as well as access to preferred seating and luggage benefits. Things get more complicated if there is a third person on reservation as Medallions can only be upgraded with a single non-status companion (you generally want split the reservation in such cases).

SuperG1955

What seems like waste to you is based on your needs. Doing a second trip where one would accomplish what I need would be a waste to me.

Everyone's goals are different. Mine, in this case, is to maximize the MQD's with the least cost and least amount of time spent doing it. I'll also try to maximize MQM if I have a choice of destinations. Another requirement is to accomplish this trip in under 24 hours. I fly enough during the year to satisfy any cravings for time on an airplane or in an airport. RDM's are relatively unimportant to me.

xliioper

There are some other ways to potentially maximize MQDs (flying on partners). I suppose it comes down to how much you value DM status (for people who can't put $250K spend on an Amex card). I could see spending an extra $2K of dollars/miles than one would normally spend on DL for it, but personally wouldn't put much more value on it with GUC deval.

SuperG1955

Again, your views vs. mine. I'm a multi-year DM and have earned DM every one of those years, including 2020 and 2021. In addition, for personal travel, I have nonrev privileges which I use when they're beneficial to me and appropriate.

My determination of whether or not I maintain DM is based on a financial analysis that I do every year where I match the dollar value of the additional benefits I receive from being a DM against the additional costs related to achieving DM. I benefit to a large extent every year and therefore maintain DM.

I'm well aware of how to maximize MQD's by flying on partners. I've done that and will have no problem doing it again when appropriate and beneficial for me. GUC devaluation has no effect on my travel patterns. I can and will still use them cost effectively, as I do with RUC's and AMEX Companion Certificates. I read the FT posts by those who are unable to do so and believe that the reason I can use them easily is that I have almost unlimited flexibility in my air travel arrangements.

It's interesting that you commented about GUC devaluation but had nothing to say about even more detrimental RDM devaluation. I mentioned 600K miles for a single D1 ticket that I could have had 2 years ago for less than half that.

Also, it seems from tracking the widebody Cabin/Mod Tracking Threads that some aircraft, especially 763's are coming out of Mods with 3 Class cabins, not 4 Class and that GUC's will still be usable for D1 upgrades at booking on these aircraft. While many FT'ers will disparage them, I'll take them over PS. And GUC's are still usable on many partners and probably will be for a long time.

xliioper

Yes, I'm aware of RDM devalue -- mostly on long haul premium cabin and not so much domestically (where 1.2 - 1.3 CPM is still pretty typical). I'd still say that Pay with Miles pretty much places a 1 CPM floor on value. As I stated, it depends on your value for DM status and I'm fully aware that others may value it more than I do and that is absolutely fine.

Oakshadow

Not a newbie but I guess this is a newbie question.

Booked LAX-BOS round-trip, nonstops both ways.

On the "Manage My Trips" page for the itinerary, I noticed the LAX-BOS "Miles Flown" reads 2,611 while the BOS-LAX "Miles Flown" reads 2,604. We all know the westbound flight typically take longer due to headwinds, but what accounts for this "miles flown" to be seven miles shorter on the inbound?