mnredfox

Hmm, so now it's KVS or rely on DL's system which NEVER seems to find availability on MU right?

What about FM? Any recent experiences?

RealHJ

Nothing recent on FM. Until not long ago FM flights would only earn SM, even though FM was ST member, DL wouldn't allow you to redeem on FM (only on FM flights if MU coded). Now I think DL is finally allowing to redeem on FM...but not sure, as haven't seen any success report of anyone booking an award seat on an FM coded flight using DL SM.

mnredfox

Well in my case it's MU coded FM operated. But then again I can't even get DL to find award inventory there. Will keep you all posted if this miracle occurs.

mnredfox

Just booked a medium-haul on MU in A class. Calling DL produced no results. Long sell in I class (Y) very fast NK response. Long sell in A class (F) took nearly 5 minutes for outbound, 1 minute for return. Both gave confirmed seats.

Anyway, just wanted to report that long sells are still required a a very good idea to instruct DL agents. Especially since the DL search engine agents use almost always show no seats available AND that EF cannot show MU awards correctly AND that you cannot really see award availability on ceair.com anymore.

llamagatekeeper

You used DL miles for an A class (F) award?

I thought that MU had switched to O/X awards away from D/I...did that not happen?

The_Wrath_of_Khan

Yeah I'm pretty sure they switched which makes me very confused. I actually had an agent put a d-class itin together for me just before the switch and when I got the email it was a revenue ticket.

RealHJ

I've been trying to book some MU flights. In the past, if DL didn't see availability, they would submit a long sell, and most likely it would come back as HK (confirmed).

However, I have been told, repeatedly, that DL has removed the functionality for agents to long-sell award flights (I am not sure is it just for MU, or all award flights). I have been told, many times over, that while long-sell is still allowed for revenue fare classes, so is disallowed and blocked for award classes (O & X, in this case).

Can anyone chime in with their recent experience? Is it true that DL has really removed the ability for its res. agents to do long-sell for award flights? And so for MU only, or for all other airlines (incl. the likes of AZ which has always required long-sell + a few days to weeks of waiting)?

Any way to get through to an agent who has access to the command-line reservations system where presumably it is not blocked and can be still so done (and who knows how to do so and is willing to do it)?

And any recent success - or lack of success after trying repeatedly - in booking MU flights? I've called multiple times, had agents check my dates, other dates, other months, and I am always told that they do not ever see a single MU flight available, ever.... this sure looks like DL, in reality, blocking access to book MU award flights (remove long sell functionality, while put in a broken system that never shows MU availability - in sync with the GDSes, where MU O/0 and X/0 is a given for any/all MU flights, at least on the random dates and flights that I've checked).

RealHJ

How did you convince the DL agents to do the long-sell (if what they are telling me is true that the access to do so is now blocked and that they can no longer do it for award flights)? How many calls did it take and how did you get through to someone who was able to do it?

And shouldn't it be O and X, not D and I now?

jjglaze77

I just completed a RTW booking using 4 MU flights and it took no time at all. I just gave the agent the flight numbers/dates and she confirmed each leg within seconds. No long sell needed. 3 of the flights showed 2 seats on EF and 1 of the flights showed 3 seats. After the booking was completed, all 4 flights decreased by 2 seats on EF. Why should we not trust what EF is displaying?

Richard1148

I am trying to book a business class award with PVG as a stopover on the way to Xian, but the agent could not find any flights in O on MU or CZ for the PVG-XIY segment. I had her try other days just to see if the day I wanted was sold out, but all she could find was economy. I did not ask about a long sell as she did readily see the economy awards. Can intra-China awards be booked in business or just economy?

Edited to add: I tried searching for intra-China flights on AF's website and the cabin selection at the bottom reverts to only economy when two Chinese cities are entered, so maybe SkyTeam intra-China awards on MU and CZ are economy only.

moondog

This issue has been reported before here in the past, but I have pulled off successful biz bookings on domestic flights (in conjunction with Japan). BTW, if Guilin is still on your list, you should fly there instead of Xi'an.

Richard1148

The business class award flight that I am looking at for travel into PVG is via NRT on DL. Do you think that the stopover is what is causing the issue? Also. Guilin is still on my list. I was thinking about using KE miles to do an open jaw XIY-KWL then KWL-PEK. KE's award desk is closed on the weekend, so I will find out on Monday if KE can get me awards in business or FC.

Edited to add: KE could not find anything but economy awards either.

mnredfox

Intra-China business/FC tickets are a great redemption IMO, better than Y from CPM basis.

moondog

I disagree because, no matter what, you're on the hook for Y100-Y170 in surcharges, and if a cash ticket on your flight is 8哲 or less, you're unlikely to find any award seats. As much as I think that paying $200 for SHA-NNG is stupid, there aren't any smart ways around this.

On the other hand, trips like NNG-SHA-HIJ-SHA-HKG are a pretty good deal in both biz and economy (the Japan routes tend to be very expensive).

roknroll

I'm trying to help a friend get to SYD from DTW later this year. Nothing available on CZ, VA, or DL and it's duing KE's blackout dates. Found 2 business seats on MU going YYZ-PVG-SYD but DL doesn't seem to be able to do it. He's called twice and I called in once to check.

They are seeing the YYZ-PVG legs, but then they only see an earlier PVG-SYD with seats in Y. EF is showing 2 seats available for all legs, and I also can confirm it on the Air France site. I've read EF can sometimes be innacurate with MU availability, but if I can see it through Flying Blue then shouldn't DL be able to see and book it?

Also I just want to make sure that this would be valid/legal routing. MU does publish a fare on this route and I can see it with the exact flights he's trying to book. The routing ends up over the MPM by about 3%, but that shouldn't be an issue if there's a MU published fare right?