Orange County Commuter

I think this is a case of hangup and call back, but I wanted to poll the experts

I have a mileage ticket to Europe in April. On the flight to Europe, I paid for an upgrade to D1. On the return I have used a global upgrade certificate in and I知 currently in PS.

I want to change the return with out losing my paid upgrade on the outbound. I called yesterday and got told it couldn稚 be done because the agent got an error message. My thought was that maybe that is because she needed to remove the GUC? I definitely don稚 want to change this if it痴 going to mess up my outbound with the incredibly cheap upgrade to D1 😀.

when I look at the mileage that was withdrawn from my account, it痴 two separate withdrawals. Because my flights go JFK to Paris, and Paris to Atlanta. It looks to me like Delta has this in there is two one-way tickets, but I could be wrong on that too.

Anyone got any insights or ever tried to do anything like this?

Thank you

sydneyracquelle

It痴 not 2 one-way tickets if it痴 on the same PNR. It is a multi-city trip. What happens when you try to change it online?

flyerCO

Changing the return always requires rebooking the outbound, at then current pricing. You can't simply rebook just the return.

Agent was 100% correct.

Orange County Commuter

I can't change on line. The message is that it can't be changed online due to the upgrade

May just stick to the original plan

Orange County Commuter

Actually the agent was not 100% correct as they never told me that. They couldn't even figure out how to do the "pricing" to change the ticket at all. They just said 'it can't be changed at all because of the upgrade" Which of course is not true. I might lose the upgrade but it could be changed. Based on this it should have repriced when she tried to make the change but what she said was "it can't be changed there's an error message". Her basic statement was "once you apply a GUC you cannot make ANY changes to the ticket" which I think seems inaccurate. She never got as far as figuring out if I was going to lose the upgrade. (she was going to check when she got the error message saying "this can't be changed) I really do think I could change it, but I had forgotten the "reprice" (it's been a while) so I would lose the upgrade. ( I was expecting a price increase)

But... this does open plan B which I have done several times with Delta... Fly the outbound and THEN call to change

Thanks everyone

rylan

Yes - after you fly the outbound, call and change the return. Only issue then will be if the return flight you want still has GUC space available.

AviationFreak

Is it not still the case that international flights have different ticketing rules allowing one to change the return without repricing the outbound?

happydad100

In my experience with a internaitonal reservation with a GUC, I can't change the reservation online. So this maybe the reason you and the agent are getting an error. It might be worth calling back and seeing if other agent(s) can do the change. They may need to get someone in global ticketing? to do the change manually ....

Good luck!

Richard

keitherson

Some legacy fares do have these rules, but they are usually higher bucket fares. These days, the vast majority of wholly unused tickets will require a full reprice of the entire ticket.

This is also a mileage ticket, but also a 'dynamic pricing' one that mirrors the same penalties as cash tickets. (XV XT etc. buckets)

xliioper

DL still allows it on international fares (even cheapest ones), but not domestic/Canada fares (where only option in fare rules is to reprice entire journey). UA/AA domestic and international fares both allow keeping original outbound fare before journey departure when only making changes to the return fare.

flyerCO

However I believe even then DL requires the fare class still be available. Ie you can keep the same price, but it still requires the same fare class as the system rebooks the segment. (At least with DL marketed flights I thought.)

Orange County Commuter

Thanks for all the advice. Basically what I知 reading is this would reprice the ticket and I would lose my paid upgrade and I知 not willing to do that right now. Actually, but I知 kind of hoping for the schedule change so that Delta will have to refund me the upgrade and I can make the change. We値l see.

findark

I want to say there is one direction which doesn't validate inventory (changing the first flight or the last flight), but I always forget this. Inventory revalidation would definitely undo a certificate upgrade if it can't re-clear, and might mess with a paid "sticker" upgrade too.

Regardless of which flight(s) you change, the international fare change rules usually allow you to use historical fares in effect at ticketing and the AP from the original issue date, unless you are completely changing the travel. Domestic fares require a clean-sheet reprice with current fares and current AP.

Orange County Commuter

Thought I would give the "bizarre update" I wound up having to cancel this ticket and book completely new dates. That meant that I could not play "wait the schedule change out" as I had been planning to because I needed to move my GUC to my new flights. I knew that I would lose the paid upgrade but.... I either got a nice or clueless agent but she took my GUC and put me in D1 on my new flight to CDG. (On the return I think she tried to do that because she told me I could only waitlist... deciding not to press my luck I thanked her and hung up. Called back and hour later and got cleared into PS with the GUC) So I "feel" like I didn't lose my paid upgrade

Now assuming Delta doesn't make a change I should be on the initial JFK to CDG daytime flight. (Right now it looks pretty empty so I am prepared for a change)

MSPeconomist

I'm confused. Normally paid upgrades (with money) are nonrefundable if you voluntarily change the flight. Also, before T-24, a GUC either upgrades from coach to PS (with a waitlist for upgrades into D1 at the airport) or from PS to D1, assuming that you're not on an aircraft without PS. If your ticket hasn't been reissued showing the upgrades, you should worry. [Some agents seem to be confused because the first letter of the fare class apparently can be the same for mileage tickets and upgrades.] What cabin class(es) did you purchase on the new ticket?