AF Codeshare woes, SFO-CDG
 

Something strange is going on with the SFO-CDG codeshare. I've had nothing but luck in getting upgraded on this flight in the past.

If you check for Z class availibity, there is none ON ANY DATE. (Other AF codeshares seem to have Z seats, but not SFO. LAX also looks bad).

My wife was on the upgrade list, she never cleared. When she checked in, the AF agent told her she should have cleared, since Business was half empty. They blamed Delta.

She trotted over to the CRC. They blamed AF. They implied that the AF-DL thing wasn't working too well (not to get anyone in trouble, that was my wife's inference of what they said.)

What is going on here? Anyone know? My wife is thinking of switching over to the AF program.

As far as I know, you can only upgrade full fare tickets on AF with AF miles - so I am not sure whether switching FF programs would be of any use.

With regards to the upgrades, it does not matter how full AF biz is - what matters is how many seats Delta has left in their codeshare block on that particular flight. If Delta sold all their biz seats on the flight, and Air France none of theirs, you still won't get the upgrade because Delta cannot upgrade you due to no seats avaiable.

And of course, capacity controls do apply - but I do know for a fact that Delta does make upgrade seats avaiable on this route. Usually, it's 3 Z seats per flight in advance - and then usually a couple more during the last few days prior to departure if they have many of their biz seats left. But supply on those codeshare flights is indeed somewhat limited.

And Delta's supply of O class (business award seats) on AF rarely changes even as departure date approaches. This holds especially true on AF flights from Europe to non-US destinations.

Opus, i've used all my PMU's last year on the LAX/SFO-CDG nonstops. 50% waitlisted, always cleared. It seems LAX is much easier to get! Just checked "Z" class for march 8th out of LAX, and DL has upgrades available for each of the three daily flights:7 for DL8257, 7 for DL8255 and 3 DL8263. So there's hope!

There is no "Delta's supply" for award seats on AF. This used to be this way a long time ago, more than a year.
Award inventory on all SkyTeam carriers does come from the operating carrier, e.g. AF is booked as AF with AF inventory being used.

AF award inventory is very limited for Delta Skyteam members and Delta's supply of AF inventory in the X and O class (their "supply") are fixed and not generally released on AF-operated non-US origin/destination routings. So standby, even on business (O) awards in half-empty cabins are often impossible without a "friendly" AF agent.

That's a joke, right? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Bruce

Greetings Bruce. It was my lame attempt at sarcasm. The friendliest AF agent I can get is a non-French national working for AF in Copenhagen. ;-)

Again, my point is that there is no such thing like "Delta's supply of AF inventory". It simply is AF inventory, no Delta inventory. How many FF seats AF releases is at their discretion - likewise for any other airline. The issue is AF not generally making more award inventory avaiable - this has nothing to do with Delta.

Rcs85551, just out of curiosity, are you saying that AF Frequence Plus fliers have the exact same -- no more or less than -- award availability as Delta SkyMiles flyers on any given flight?

[This message has been edited by GUWonder (edited 03-06-2003).]

For awards based on the mini-miles scheme - as far as I know, yes.

Wow, in that case this stinks and I now feel sorry for both Delta Skymiles members and AF Frequence Plus members.

True.