Upgrade flight including Delta connection

I am planning a trip from MAN to SLC. It will be via ATL outbound and LAS inbound.

I wanted to pay economy for the VS legs and upgrade to upper (G's available on both). Then pay for business/first on the DL flight.

I am only going Sun - Thurs (i.e. high price as no Sat night stay). Economy on the VS website prices out at about £1300 for the above itinerary.

I check on Google Flights and the different between economy and business/first on a multi city booking for the DL flights (i.e. ATL -> SLC -> LAS) was about £200.

So I was assuming I could call VS and ask them to book a flight with the VS legs in economy ready for upgrading and the DL legs in business/first. And I was assuming this should be about £200 more (i.e. about £1500).

VS advise this isn't possible. Only thing they could offer was 2 seperate flights that were linked in some way to try and avoid being penalised if I missed a connection. But the price was the same as booking 2 completely separate itineraries at about £1950!

Has anyone had a better experience trying to book a destination that includes a DL connection, travelling in upper/business all the way and somehow using miles to purchase or upgrade the VS leg?

I've always been curious about this too. Even though I never asked VS to do it before, I assumed it would not be possible (not sure why). So previously I've had separate flights on Delta F (which worked for my itinerary) and upgraded at the airport, per segment.

I guess the reason it can't be done, is that it requires a reprice of the whole ticket.

I've had the same issues when trying to upgrade a DL connection to Comfort+ as part of an all-Economy ticket. I believe the phrasing I've heard in the past is "Married sectors", and that they cannot be in different cabins if they are to be part of the same ticket.

I would concur that attempting to upgrade cabins on the DL flights on the day is the best way to go.

I've given up, booked economy all the way and just upgraded the VS segments with miles.

I have since rung up to see if it was possible to upgrade the DL legs post booking and was told it would be over £3k
Something about having to reticket the whole thing which forces the VS ticket into I class. Crazy. Airline ticketing does annoy me at times!

It's not big deal I suppose, they're not particularly long flights and I've secured decent seats in the back. What I really wanted was the extra TP to requalify for Au.

Has anyone ever upgraded at the airport on the day with DL? Are the costs outrageous? And if you're successful with a cash upgrade at the airport, I assume you will get the DL business/first TP amount?

Last year I used miles to pay for VS Upper Class (G bucket) flights to ATL and cash paid onward in DL first class to New Orleans, all on a single booking reference/e-ticket.

This year I'm doing similar, this time miles paid G's to ATL and onward in DL first (cash paid ) to Key West.

Not sure why you were told you can't do this?

To be clear, they didn't say it couldn't be done. Just that the VS and DL flights would have to be on different PNRs and then "linked".

This meant that I was priced a Y ticket MAN - ATL & LAS - MAN on VS and then a J ticket ATL - SLC - LAS on DL and the fares added together. The price difference over a Y booking MAN - SLC was about £650.

I guess that price difference just seemed crazy to me just to upgrade the DL legs. I can go on Google Flights and price a multi city ATL- SLC-LAS on my dates on the same DL flights and get £436 in Y or £616 in J. Hence I expected the fare difference to be more along those lines.

To be clear, they didn't say it couldn't be done. Just that the VS and DL flights would have to be on different PNRs and then "linked".

This meant that I was priced a Y ticket MAN - ATL & LAS - MAN on VS and then a J ticket ATL - SLC - LAS on DL and the fares added together. The price difference over a Y booking MAN - SLC was about £650.

I guess that price difference just seemed crazy to me just to upgrade the DL legs. I can go on Google Flights and price a multi city ATL- SLC-LAS on my dates on the same DL flights and get £436 in Y or £616 in J. Hence I expected the fare difference to be more along those lines.

My flights (VS UC G and DL revenue F) are all on a single booking reference & same eticket . Really don't understand why you've been told you can't have it all on a single ticket / PNR.

My flights (VS UC G and DL revenue F) are all on a single booking reference & same eticket . Really don't understand why you've been told you can't have it all on a single ticket / PNR.

When did you book, was it pre-Nov VS IT system upgrade? Because that got mentioned to me as well, can't remember the specifics, but it was blamed in some way or other.

For what it's worth, I'm Au, have been on 3 delta round trips within the USA in the past 6 months (just like you, as part of a bigger trip, but on separate itineraries to VS), and on every single flight was upgraded to business due to my Au status. Don't want to get your hopes up, but they seem to this quite regularly as long as a seat is available.

For what it's worth, I'm Au, have been on 3 delta round trips within the USA in the past 6 months (just like you, as part of a bigger trip, but on separate itineraries to VS), and on every single flight was upgraded to business due to my Au status. Don't want to get your hopes up, but they seem to this quite regularly as long as a seat is available.

You're lucky! I have been on 8 DL flights in the last year or so, all of them packed to the rafters. I'd say 2 or 3 have been asking for volunteers to take later flights at check-in and the gate. I'd be willing to do it for the right price but it's always been on my way back home and I don't want delaying in that direction

I did get moved to an exit seat once at the gate, but never had a sniff at an upgrade to business/first.

My flights (VS UC G and DL revenue F) are all on a single booking reference & same eticket . Really don't understand why you've been told you can't have it all on a single ticket / PNR.

When did you book, was it pre-Nov VS IT system upgrade? Because that got mentioned to me as well, can't remember the specifics, but it was blamed in some way or other.

Ah yes, I booked last summer so before the website shambles/downgrade, that may well explain it!

Oh that's disappointing. I was going to call flying club about an itinerary including some X class Economy flights upgraded to Gs to/from Delhi with some domestic connections on 9W. I guess that's not happening then!