BuckeyeinCali

Hi, new member. I hope this is the right forum for this question.

I'm Diamond on Delta and wondering if I should stick with them next year. I travel about 80-90% International. Of that, maybe 40% Europe and 60% Asia. Based in Los Angeles. I use AmEx.

I have been flying Air France directly into Paris and Korean Air several times to Seoul.

Domestic upgrades are easy, but who really cares that much about that. Delta gives you system wide upgrades with certain fare levels. But you only get an upgrade to Premium Economy with AF and KLM.

What's it like with United on Star Alliance. Is it easier to get upgraded on United's partners?

Any other suggestions? I like Delta overall. Very easy to get through security in LA and good routes to everywhere, generally.

Alex_I

- Not sure whether any of the Legacy carriers will handle you free international upgrades on their partners.
AA allows you to upgrade any fare (with exception of O to South America) using SWU. 1 SWU is valid for up to 3 segments in one direction but it is also restricted to AA metal. AA EXP gets 8 SWU per year upon re-qualification and, sometimes, more if you fly more than 125K EQP per year. SWUs are, perhaps, the most valuable part of the AA EXP program.

cesco.g

UA gets you 6 SWUs per year after reaching 100K equity miles. They're good on all (W and higher) but the lowest fares for business upgrades, all but Z for first class upgrades. Addl benefit: you may upgrade on LH day of departure to business or first.

BuckeyeinCali

Upgrades are only on UA? Or does that include partners?

What is LH (fare classes?).

GRALISTAIR

I have had quite a few (and most) of my OpUps on Continental - now United on CO20/21 EWR-MAN and MAN-EWR, If you are Diamond on Delta that should give you a really good chance of OpUps

philemer

Not miles or points related so moving to TB! Thanks.

IAHRyan

LH is the IATA code for Lufthansa.

FrogProf

If you are Diamond on Delta that should give you a really good chance of OpUps

For international flights?? That surprises me.

Passmethesickbag

Well with UA there is also the option of the Star Alliance upgrades. Don't know if Skyteam or Oneworld has anything similar. But, being valid only from Y/B to Business and C/D to First, they are of limited utility, although there is no co-pay involved.

GRALISTAIR

On my lat trip to MAN from ATL to Diamonds got OpUps as the cabin was oversold. I didnt because I was lowly Gold.

Corganbr

I'm on the same boat.
Long time Skyteam member, currently a gold medallion.
Skyteam made more sense when I lived in ATL since I could fly Delta non-stop pretty much anywhere. I now live in DC and I am considering changing to Star Alliance for 2 reasons:

1- International upgrades: Skyteam is a joke when it comes to international upgrades. You have to buy very expensive coach fares and then use ridiculous amounts of miles to upgrade. I have been saving for years to be able to get a biz ticket to SYD, which costs 240k miles (if you are lucky). A friend of mine just booked a trip to Thailand with AA, he paid $1,100 for a coach fare and only needed 25k miles to upgrade.
2- More non-stops flights with United from IAD and US Air from DCA.

Do you guys think I should switch alliance? I get several bonus miles with Skymiles Amex, what is the best CC deal with Star Alliance?

Alpha

In the short term, you could redeem DL on Virgin Australia for substantially fewer miles.

The Biz class fare code is Z and the coach fare code is T (if you can believe it).

MSPeconomist

People here seem to be focusing on the fares needed to use elite upgrade certs, but I am also concerned about being able to confirm the upgrade before I am locked into a ticket purchase with change fees. Here I have done well with DL. By having just a bit of flexibility, I have upgraded every flight where I did not purchase a cheap business class ticket and I have never been on a wait list at all. The down side is that I can never upgrade into IFC or get an IFC award ticket.

I hear stories of UA and AA top elites being in wait list purgatory for upgrades which clear late if at all. This is a risk I do not want to take.

tonywestsider

Corganbr:

Welcome to Flyertalk!

Now that you live in DC, I would still think of utilizing your Skyteam status on AF flights out of IAD, on the days where they utilize their A380 service from IAD to CDG. Also, you can use your current status to get one of the best A380 nonstop flights on KE from JFK to ICN. KE's A380s have the least number of seats because they have maximized their premium seating on these aircraft.

You are at a huge advantage utilizing *A in/out of IAD because IAD is a UA hub. You have access to a plethora of *A carriers. As mentioned before, you can get an upgrade using Y or B or C/D booking class fares on UA to *A carriers but it also varies with airlines such as SQ. A previous post mentioned that *A upgrades have limited utility but if you obtain an upgrade using UA status miles to SQ, for example, the service quality you will get on SQ is dramatic compared to any other US domestic carrier.

Wait list purgatory for these upgrades also vary from airline to airline. Customers are surprised, including me, to find out that "no availability" one day can all of a sudden change to an upgrade going through the very next day.

1kBill

UA System-wide upgrade certificates (SWU's) are valid only on UA metal (presume CO metal also, but that opens up another can of worms. And don't even ask about mixed UA & CO metal.) in electronic form and LH day of flight use in paper form. Upgrades on other partners require miles from expensive fares with greatly reduced availability (at lease IME.)

UA upgrades for international itins require a W fare (mid range eco fare) or higher for Y->C upgrades and J/C/D (NOT Z!) fares for upgrades from C->F. Upgrades are on a space available basis, but can be confirmed in advance IF space is available. Tools exist to check if upgrade space is exists prior to booking. However, UA has tightened up the availability of advance upgrade space in the last year of so, hoping to capture more business class purchases. In the past, I have made great use of SWU's both from Y->C and very often C->F. In the present, not so much as I make much more use of Z fares since the prices upgradeable business fares have become so high. As always, YMMV.

SWU use on LH requires a paper cert that you present to the check-in agent and is on a space available basis. I don't know what the economy fare restrictions are. In the recent past, LH allowed upgrades from C to their wonderful F from any C fare, including Z; I have taken advantage of this several times. Recent reports indicate that Z fares are no longer eligible for upgrade into First.

PMUA (pre-merger) awarded 6 SWU's to their 1K flyers once they reach 100,000 EQM's in a calendar year. An additional 2 SWU's are awarded for every 50,000 EQM's after that. AFAIK, UA does not status match at the 1K level. I am not sure what the merger with CO brought to the mix.

As an international flyer based in LA, I suspect that you are in the same boat I am, usually relying on connections to get where you need to go. UA serves my destinations far better than any other single carrier, so that is why I stick with them; the *A network usually fills in the voids quite easily. But again, YMMV.

You might peruse the UA forums for more details if you are leaning in that direction.