Spiff

Interesting... According to Delta and their mole (LJM1430), those ATL-NRT flights are operating at "full capacity" in BizE, thus frustrating many people wanting to buy full-fare J tickets. I guess "full capacity" is 20%, 3 months out at the moment... Good thing the SWUs will be eliminated, thus freeing up those J BizE seats!



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Time..... is on my side.

whynotniwot

This appears tricky so I thought I would ask for the experts advice. Situation: My 17 year old daughter is in NYC attending a summer school program. She is using a buddy pass for the travel. She was the last person on her ATL-LGA flight going up last weekend. This was no big deal because we could wait at Hartsfield for her. I am planning on going to NYC and traveling back with her on the 28th. Here is my problem. How can I assure that she is on my flight or one before mine? We have flexibility on the time we come back. Here are my options as I see it.

1. Waitlist her on the earliest flight possible from LGA. Book my flight later in the day. Check at the gate as to her chances and if good, add my name to the standby list. Keep doing this until she gets on.

2. Attempt to come back late Friday night rather than Saturday. More seats open hopefully?

Any other ideas? If I upgrade to FC for myself, will this impact her getting on? 10kster - given the changes coming up the 19th, are my options more limited or improved?

Would EWR or JFK be a better option?

Thanks for any help y'all can give me.

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sm,atl

10kster

Your first option is the best, but showing up for the very first flight of the day doesn't necessary improve your chances. Call SMS or Res and solicit advise for yourself as standby.....they will give you a basic glimpse at your chances. Also your daughter has a special 800 number with her tickets that will tell her digitally if the flight looks, ...excellant/good/moderate/poor/not recommended.........

Fri nights are sometimes known to be much worse than Sat....

Also stick with LGA.....EWR has the express flights to FL. and if something happens to a EWR FLL direct....guess where they will send all the passengers through to?

Also on a Sat. your daughter sometimes has a better shot at clearing the standby in a First Class seat rather than coach. A very small amount of elites travel on weekends compared to weekdays, therefore less upgrades.

Standby is standby and anything can happen, no sure bets.

Right now the loads are very light and wide open for Sat travel...but remember that DL is giving the store away to enitce leisure travlers.

good luck


[This message has been edited by 10kster (edited 07-17-2001).]

whynotniwot

Thanks for the great advice 10kster.

This is just the sort of information that flyertalk is wonderful for.

B747-437B

I have non-revved the LGA-ATL run more times than I care to remember, and my experience is that Saturday afternoons are far and away the easiest time to get on, unless the weather goes to hell. Fridays and Sundays are usually suicide for an S4 (which is your daughter's pass priority on a buddy pass).

Also, the 800 travel line DOES NOT work from the Atlanta area. You will need to call 404-715-4989 instead.

The best strategy is to pick an early afternoon flight, preferably on a widebody, and both try for that one. You can ask the agent to consider both of you at S4 priority when clearing the standby list, so you can be assured of flying together.

JFK is really bad for non-revs on weekend afternoons. You sometimes get a whole bunch of senior S3s who come in off a Europe flight and make life hell for the S4s.

EWR has less capacity than LGA, so the market is tighter. I usually pick EWR for weekday nonrevving though, and LGA for weekends.

squinn

Is posting the local Delta Travel Line number on a public forum really the best thing to do?

B747-437B

Its an automated system that requires you to login before you can access anything. And since its not a toll-free number, no one pays for the call except the person who dials it!

akhullar

Weekdays, first flight out of LGA tends to be very full. My last trip I noticed many airline folks commuting to work ;-).

As everyone else has mentioned - Mid-day is the best option.

whynotniwot

I wanted to report that all worked out well. After continuing to check flights, I decided to go with the Newark option. I booked my return flight on the 1:30pm return.
After much waiting, I was cleared the waitlist and flew to EWR in 1st on a MD8. Breakfast was a nice mushroom omelet with potatoes. Checked in early at the airport Marriott. Took the shuttle bus in to the city. At 1:30 Friday, I called and upgraded my Saturday flight ot 1st. My daughter and I returned to the Marriott around 8 on Friday night. I went throught the lengthy process of waitlisting her on the 0530 flight to Atlanta. Had a nice dinner at the hotel. Went to bed fairly early because of 0400 wakeup call.

We got to the Delta counter around 0430. There was quite a line for the 0530 flight. Walked right to the medallion line and got us both on the standby for the flight. Now time to wait at the gate. Right after the 1st class boarding started, I was called for my seat in 3D. I waited to board until after my daughter got her pass -10C. No one sat in 4C so I asked if my daugther an S4 could come up. The head FA said fine. It was her first time in FC.

All in all things couldn't have worked out much better. All trips should work out this well.

BTW, including my daughter, their were 5 kids in FC. They all mostly slept, so it was pretty easy for the FAs.

rcs85551

Good to know that things like that still work out on DL. Hope you enjoyed your time in NYC...

LexPassenger

I've often stayed at EWR Marriott. Just wondered if it bothered you to pay so much more for the hotel than the plane?

Or did you get a really good deal on the hotel, too? Priceline, maybe?

Lately, we've been driven to the Hampton Inn by Marriott's amazing prices. If they can get it, more power to them, but....

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"Service" should be a noun, not a verb.
Beginners' Guide to the Delta Forum

whynotniwot

The rate was $89.00. Some special weekend rate. The Hilton was the same. I could have gotten better if I had shopped around, but I was looking for someplace really close to the terminal. We walked from the hotel to the terminal in 5 minutes.

LexPassenger

whynotniwot: congrats! Last time I checked for a weekend (last Oct., a while) EWR Marriott wanted $159 for the weekend nights.(!)

I've got to admit they're very convenient, but.... $89 is much more my idea of a weekend hotel rate....

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"Service" should be a noun, not a verb.
Beginners' Guide to the Delta Forum

whynotniwot

Lex,

Several Marriotts are running the weekend special rate. Check on the Marriott web page.

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sm,atl

hackensacknj

In one of the current threads, there is mention that DL is making changes to the S-4 Buddy Pass/Non Rev program.

Can anyone summarize what the changes are and when they take effect?