Drama with Using a GUC
 

We encountered something recently that has us somewhat perplexed and I figure some of you will be able to help us understand what occurred and how it could have been avoided. Let me begin.
We have an upcoming trip to Oberammergau, Germany for the every-decade Passion Play that the village presents. Following that we are joining a Viking River Cruise to Budapest, Hungary. All of the air accommodations were handled by Viking and the tickets were released to us about two months ago with the understanding that we (and Delta) would be responsible for any schedule adjustments, etc.

My husband is Diamond Medallion with Delta and once we had control of the tickets, the following occurred:

• Called the Diamond Line to request the use of two GUC for the outbound portion which is MGM-ATL-MUC on Delta. We were waitlisted for an upgrade to C+ on the MGM-ATL portion as 2 of the 4 seats were already assigned on Row 1 of the CRJ2 and the other two seats were marked with an ‘X’ as unavailable.

• My husband was able to assign us C+ seats on the ATL-MUC leg and he was told as soon as we were confirmed to C+ on MGM-ATL that the GUC would process and we would move to Premium Select (PS) and be on a final waitlist for D1.

• My husband subsequently spoke to numerous agents in different locations (Endeavor Air agents in MGM, Delta employees at various SkyClubs, etc.) in trying to get the C+ seats out of MGM assigned but to no avail at all.

• Yesterday morning, when he checked the Delta App, the app showed us in PS, but without assigned seats and he could not select any seats. He then called the Diamond Line to handle things as it appeared we were making progress. The agent began asking lots of questions concerning the Viking Air tickets and requested information from the receipt we received from Viking, such as total airfare, etc. The agent took everything down and told him she would look further into this and call him back.

• She did call about an hour later only to inform us that the fare class Viking purchased for us was a bulk fare and not usable with a GUC. We were surprised as it appears on the Delta App as a ‘X’ fare and that does appear to be usable for a GUC upgrade. She did not budge and my husband told her he would follow-up a little later.

• He did call back later after seeing that the PS information for our ATL-MUC leg had been removed and we were once again back in Economy and now no C+ seats are available. They are on the seat map, but have those mysterious ‘X’s’ that indicate they are unavailable. He was escalated to a supervisor that was very polite and apologetic, but firm that the GUC process should never have been started two months ago. He did give us each a $200 e-credit for future use but said there was nothing further Delta could do to assist us.

So, I am here to run this past all of you and hear any thoughts/feedback you might have. We asked multiple times how we were to know that the ‘X’ fare that we see on the Delta App was not a fare that was usable, but basically were told that was something that only Delta could see and, as I indicated above, our GUC upgrade process should never have been initiated.
Yes we are upset, but cool with the e-credits we were issued as a form of apology, but as we have never attempted using our GUCs, we just feel rather slighted by all of this and are upset that there is no way we could (should?) have known the initial fare class was not usable.

Thanks for listening… we look forward to the feedback.

I think I read here before that you couldn't use the GUCs with consolidator tickets, but I'll be interested to see what the Flyertalk experts say.

Unfortunately, the agent is correct. GUCs are not valid for use on bulk or opaque fares. These tickets will book into a revenue booking class (such as X), so you can't always easily tell what you have (although Viking will have read you some CYA script which includes "these tickets are nonrefundable, non-upgradeable, etc." when you booked the travel; they do this regardless of whether it's true though).

This is a general issue with tickets booked by tour groups and other consolidating agencies; no ticket you book directly from Delta will have this issue.

Including Delta Vacations?

So sorry to hear this happened and you were led astray for the past two months when the GUC process was initiated. The agent that started it should have caught the issue then. Generally an "X" fare would not be an issue had it been purchased directly with Delta. Since it was booked with Viking it was a bulk fare and the system mapped it to X, which is one of the lower economy fare buckets, but still carried the underlying terms/conditions with it being a bulk fare.

Best advice I can give is to never buy an airline ticket except directly with the airline. Things can get very messy, very fast.

Only possible idea I have is to buy two economy tickets directly with Delta and then reapply the GUCs in the hopes they clear. I realize that probably isn't practical if the trip is close in. Fares are likely to be high and no seats may be available. And I doubt your tickets through Viking are refundable, so probably not an option.

The fact that the Munich leg was ineligible was unfortunate, but missing out on so-called Comfort+ on a CRJ200 is a mercy. They are the worst seats on the worst plane in the fleet IMO.

Delta Vacations is the one case where GUCs can be used on opaque fares. Otherwise, they are only supposed to be applied to published fares. In order to apply a GUC on a DL Vacations package, you need to call DL Vacations directly at 1-800-800-1504, and not the regular Delta phone number.

I apologize this happened to you. The original agent who submitted the upgrades, should have checked KM(Knowledge Management) topic Global Upgrades and subtopic Bulk Fares. If they would have done as stated.....they would have seen this info:

FARES NOT PERMITTED: GLOBAL AND REGIONAL UPGRADES

Modified on: 10/29/2021

Fares Not Permitted

The following fares are not permitted to upgrade:

•  
  •  
    • Award Travel tickets on partner-operated flights
    • SkyBonus redemption tickets​
    • Basic Economy Fare / Economy Light Fares
    • Bulk Fares
      • EXCEPTION: Delta Vacation Bulk Fares are allowed to upgrade (New as of 03/2021)
    • Pricing Programs with ticket designators beginning with B, J and K

This all caps, is not me yelling, its just the way Delta has it posted in KM.

Special carve-out and process for Delta Vacations bulk fares: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...n-flights.html

Stupid question
 

Why would you book air travel through Viking?

I’ve taken several Viking cruises and always booked air directly through Delta. Viking provided ground transportation to airport at end of tour with the rest of the group. I typically arrive a couple days early so I arrange my own transportation to the ship.

I’ve had problems with travel agent bookings in the past so I always do it myself, IROP’s is much easier and faster to resolve if done directly with airline.

In premium cabins, many cruise companies have NET/CRUISE bulk fares that are cheaper than published. It allows them to offer a full package to their clients. Its not like booking through some crap OTA like Expedia or Orbitz.

Same reason you'd book travel WITH Viking. To eliminate the headaches associated with trip planning, and possibly to get a discount.

I’m right there with you, John, but actually 1B and 1C aren’t bad at all… but the entire aircraft is a s#it-show, no doubt!
Looking forward to the day when that aircraft is no longer a part of the Delta fleet.

I don’t guess it’s a stupid question since only the unasked questions are the stupid ones… and you’ve received a few good replies to your post, so now you know a little more. In this situation the airfare was ‘free’ and it didn’t cost us anything (except the current headache).

This was our first time messing with a GUC and I now know, I believe, that when booking we should have asked Viking about the fare class and upgradeability of the ‘free’ airfare. I’ve read lots of comments on the forums at CruiseCritic where folks post about upgrading their Viking airfare to D1, PS, etc., so it didn’t seem as though we’d be the first to attempt something of that nature.

Unfortunately, consolidators like Viking won't always give you a bulk fare. They'd like to - but sometimes you'll end up with a normal (upgradeable) revenue fare instead. This leads to the inconsistency you might see.