Medallion Status and Skysaver Awards
 

I know that using your medallion status gives greater award seat availability, but I have a couple questions.

1) Does greater award seat availability mean that there are more award seats in general, or does that mean more Skysaver awards for medallion members?

2) Does award seat availability and Skysaver award availability increase with medallion status (Silver, Gold, Platinum)? i.e. is it the case that two medallion members searching for seats at the same time may show different availabilities depending upon their medallion status?

3) If the answer to both questions above is yes, then how do they determine how many award seats to make available for platinums vs. silvers?

I've done some searching but I can't find these specific topics being discussed. I too have noticed less skysaver award availability as of late...

1) More Skysaver seats are available for Medallion members.
2) It does increase with Medallion status, yes.
3) That's up to Delta Revenue Management.They analyze all flights on a constant basis and determine how many seats they make available in which booking classes, and to which extent any given flight is authorized to be overbooked.

There are additional seats for medallions; and higher tier medallions do get some additional seats compared to lower tier medallions

However, as a PM I've not once knowingly benefitted from the so-called "extra" award space for Medallions at any point in the past three years.

Everytime I've needed it for my key routes, I've found no difference from a "General Member" of SkyMiles. And for other routes, I've barely noticed the difference.

I notice the difference all the time booking domestic award tickets.

Unfortunatley they aren't increased for Biz/First reward tickets. That's all I book pretty much.

I've noticed it a few times...I'll forget to check the box that says "I'm travelling on this itinerary" and get nothing; realizing my mistake, I fix it and get a few options. All my miles have been for domestic Y.

I notice it very frequently when travelling to the Caribbean...it makes a huge difference as a Platinum.

Nice to see it work still.

.... if only it worked so well for BOM and EZE.

The biggest benefit is priority waitlist!
SR

How often does priority waitlist clear?

I'm on it for direct ATL-CDG and MUC-ATL flights for an award ticket I booked 3 months out that I'm currently routed ATL-CPH-CDG-MUC <break> DUS-ATL. I'm hoping it clears and I end up with ATL-CDG-MUC-ATL. Should I call at any point before the flight if I see a large number of J seats open and can anyone manually push it through? :)

Munich is very tough for BusinessElite upgrades, let alone BusinessElite award seats as this route is performing very well in the front cabin.

While it might clear, it does not always happen as BusinessElite does sell out very frequently. I've seen that flight leave with only 2 or 3 pax in Z class, the remainder in J/D/I....

The flight has been upgraded to a 767-400ER from March 13th onwards, which will add seats as compared to the 767-300ER.

Whether revenue management will give away more seats in O class remains to be seen - I highly doubt it because as I said earlier, odds are not too shabby that they can actually sell them.

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Are we sure about this? If so, what is the source?

The reason I went looking for this thread is because I've read conflicting reports on this issue - whether or not there is additional skysaver availability for medallions in F and J. Didn't Jeff raise this in one of his latest posts?

Where could we find a definitive answer?

I am finding that to be very true. Started trying to book Dec BE award SS 331 days out. After being waitlisted cleared last week for outbound ATL-MUC. Have FRA-ATL coming back 2 days later than I want to stay. NO seats sold on the 2 days I want to come back. EP desk says I am at the top of the list and cannot be bumped. Looked at doing a PMU, no seats available for upgrade. Am in a dilemna about whether or not to just go ahead and purchase BE leisure fare which is available right now at $400 over upgradeable fare (if upgrade were available) as BE leisure fare may not last long.
BTW was oroiginally flexible about dates from 1st of Dec to a few days before Christmas, but once I was able to get outbound made the return a little less flexible, but there is nothing available SS back until the end of January.
I really hate to burn 500,000 miles for 2 tickets. :eek:

More anecdotal evidence: I was looking at some dates for JFK-SVO last week and was showing SkySaver availability when logged in as myself (with the "I'm traveling" box ticked), but the same flights showed as SkyChoice when logged in through my wife's account (she's FO).

My question is: how does the system keep track of the varied availability? Surely there is not a discrete fare bucket for each level of elite status? It would be nice to know how I could get an accurate check of availability through expertflyer.com (though the new award search system makes this less important, I admit).

Can anyone confirm that Medallions are not given greater access to BE SkySavers?