Pocatello

As MSPeconomist stated above, some of the partner travel "earns little or nothing." Check the Delta table for details on the sweet spots for partner business class earning.

https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...rline-partners

planes&trains

Thank you so much. This is very helpful. Doing the challenge and have an AF flight. Looks like I will make it.

planes&trains

Having a hard time finding the fare class on my AF flight. Just hoping it is not that 20% fare class. Forgot what it was and can't seem to locate now.

xliioper

I don't think O class is used for TATL routes (if you have a TATL biz fare). A search on EF shows lowest available AF biz fares between US and EU are Z class. I believe it's only used for biz on certain discounted routes like EU to India.

planes&trains

Thank you. I am flying IAD-CDG-AMS-CDG-IAD. So I am relived it is not the lowest.

Pocatello

Someone here at Flyertalk posted once about something that I did not understand. In the context of booking Delta partner flights, such as KLM, the poster showed an example of how to book KLM through the Delta Airlines website and still get the benefits of a partner trip such as 40% of distance as MQDs on a business-class fare.

I stumbled on this today when I was playing with ITA Matrix for a KLM roundtrip from JFK to South Africa. The link from ITA Matrix Powertools was not successful to KLM, but when I clicked through on Delta the flight showed up with KLM partner earnings. By this I mean that the MQDs were at 40% of the distance flown. Again... this was on the Delta Airlines website.

The poster explained a big benefit of this method was that if you cancel your flight you end up with a Delta voucher instead of a KLM voucher.

** ** ** **

What I don't understand is the mechanics of how to do this. Do I book this travel without ever logging in to my Delta account? At what point do I provide my Delta Airlines FFN?

How about if I want to book using the AMEX MR travel portal or the Chase UR travel portal? If I "spend" points on this booking I would guess that the travel portal is booking through KLM? I can get 1.5 cents per point with Chase, and with AMEX there is the 35% rebate on points. I am new to this game. Thanks!

CycloneSteve

This is how I do it. I'll never get the Diamond waiver but I get the waiver and 15k or 30k MQM to boot.

I just try to get the most MQM per dollar. It's changed over the years, but I try to get 20 MQM per dollar spent. Tough to do in today's airfare price market!

findark

You would need an 006 ticket with the segments as AF/KL marketed. This should only be possible by directly booking with Delta, and it can be an unintended feature of something like book with Matrix since the flights are often sold as DL codeshares if searched natively.

A third-party TA like Expedia dba Amex will generally plate on the marketing carrier of the most significant segment.

green_tie

Hello - thank you for the existence of this thread! We live in the UK but have our first Delta flights coming up in the fall, flying from BOS-MCO and then back again in First.

We both have American Express Platinum cards which, if I’ve understood correctly, combined with our Delta boarding passes should give us access to the Sky Club lounges. My question therefore is: how likely are we to be refused entry due to the lounge being too busy? I’ve seen a lot of people turned away from other (non-Delta) lounges previously. If it makes a difference we’re on a 7am on a Friday flight from Boston and a 4:15pm on a Friday flight from Orlando.

SightseeMC

Hi, I'm new to DL/SkyTeam as I have been Asiana (*A) Diamond Plus for ~3 years. I want to do the DL status challenge for Platinum, but the only perks that matter to me are C+ and upgrades/RUC (I have lounge access through AMEX Plat).

1. My understanding is that I can guarantee "upgrades" to C+ at check-in. However, would that remove me from the list for comp upgrades to First?
2. If I choose RUCs as a perk, I can apply them for domestic First. Does 1 RUC work for a 2-segment flight?
3. Anybody have DPs on comp First upgrade odds for flights into/out of Phoenix from the west coast?

xliioper

Other than around Thanksgiving, travel demand is quite a bit less in the fall compared to the summer. I would expect that the chances of Sky Clubs being full and turning away guests will be fairly low. BOS has two Sky Clubs in DL's terminal A (one in Main and one in Satellite), so there would likely be at least one with space (although it might not be the one closest to your gate).

Zorak

Once you click through the Powertools link to the Delta web site, it's as if you did any other flight search on the DL web site -- you can login and complete the purchase and your SkyMiles number would be attached. Make sure it's still showing KL flight numbers though, since the 40%-of-distance MQDs are the reason you're doing this.

1a. Platinum members _may_ get upgraded to C+ as soon as the ticket is issued (which is usually, but not always, after you complete the purchase, but in some circumstances may take longer), however it is not guaranteed. If the C+ cabin isn't full, the upgrade is frequently available, but FYI that even C+ "upgrades" are inventory-managed the same as first class upgrades, and at least pre-COVID some FTers who routinely book last-minute for work etc. have reported not getting automatically upgraded to C+ when purchasing, say, 0-3 days in advance.

1b. C+ upgrades have no bearing on F upgrade eligibility or priority.

2. In most cases you can use one RUC for all flights in a single direction of travel. (There are some subtleties here about broken fares and fare components but those are probably out of scope for the newbie thread.)

3. Shortish regional flights do tend to have better odds of success, but it will also be influenced by day/time of travel; you can also search through the 2022 upgrade success thread for "PHX" to get an idea: 2022 Upgrade Success (or lack thereof) Thread
however the thread only lists data points that people choose to post, so there is going to be reporting/selection bias.

Other reference threads that might be useful:

Complimentary Upgrades on Delta, the Definitive Thread

Using Regional Upgrades on Delta (RUC) post 2/1/2022

MSP_Monopoly

Are nested tickets allowed on Delta? I want to use up a few companion certificates so I am looking to do something like this…

Ticket 1
August 1st BNA-FLL

Ticket 2
August 2nd FLL-MSP

Ticket 2
August 5th MSP-FLL

Ticket 1
August 12th FLL-BNA

Would these be allowed or would Delta cancel one or both if the system detected these?

xliioper

No, there's no prohibition against nesting of tickets. You are perhaps thinking of back-to-back ticketing which involves a very specific pattern of booking roundtrip tickets within each other to defeat fares with Saturday night stay requirements -- you are not doing that here (and even if you did, you'd have to do many, many times before it might catch an airlines attention). DL might only potentially flag something if you are booked on two flights that are in the air at the same time or are otherwise impossible to make (which is not the case here). Even then, I'm not sure how much DL actually polices such cases (about the only stories I see of impossible bookings being auto-cancelled are with Southwest flights).

GoBob

I think I know the answer to this one, but thought I'd toss it out if others have experience or success before I waste time making a request with Delta. Briefly, I usually pay for an upgrade to either Comfort+ or FC after purchasing a main cabin ticket. On an upcoming trip, I paid for an exit row and a preferred seat on my outbound flights, and then ended up upgrading the seats again to Comfort+ and FC. As an aside, I don't have status yet, but will at the end of the first leg of this trip, hence the payment for a preferred seat and an exit row seat.

The question is: given that I upgraded my seats twice, am I entitled to a refund on the payment that I made for the first upgrades to preferred/exit now that I have paid for the second upgrades to C+/FC? Not a big deal either way as it's only about $20 total, but thought I'd toss it out here for future awareness. Thanks!