V-Flyer

Am hoping a wonderful V-flyer can help me with a new conundrum following my non existent UC reward booking for next May!

So I phoned FC today to try and book a reward flight with Delta from EWR to either LAS or LAX for next May.... ?|

FC were telling me no availability for next May on the dates I want to travel, however, the delta website was showing full availability. I politely asked why this might be the case, to a very limited response. n( v(

Am I to assume therefore that the Delta alliance is more beneficial to their cardmembers and the bags of miles I have with VA are soon to become pointless? ?|

Would welcome any tips/advice that the expert V-Flyer panel offer so openly. Thanks again!

Delta will give priority to the own cardmembers who have been flying them and earning miles long before VS came along.

But I don't think it's an agenda against VS in anyway.

The codeshares were launched last week, there are still gremlins to sort out and bookings for May 2014 have only been on sale for about a month.

Have you tried calling Delta?

Thanks Sealink - well tried again today and got some fantastic service by FC

- unfortunately there appears there is a bug in the system so whilst they can look at live availability they cant book it or even hold it . So fingers crossed its up and working a little later!!

Tried the delta route as well, unfortunately computer says no, it doesn't recognise VA flying club points at all. n(

Dare I say it, me thinks there are gremlins in the system that should have been tested before the partnership went live ?|

I called VS about 2 minutes after the Dl availability went live, VS had no reward seats on DL to sell.

As the agent explained, "we have sold them all"...Yep in two minutes flat they managed to clear their DL inventory, which means either VS has a lot more staff manning the phones now days or, they had one seat to sell...

Pretty sad actually, but par for the course with VS and their partner airlines.

With the exception of BMI when they were around I have found it impossible to book reward flights on partner airlines.

Just called VA again, and still a bug with the DL system, and on hold for 30 mins whilst he tried to find a solution - lots of assurances that the seats are there, just that we can't get at them!! And thats for May next year!! Now pondering my options!!

So dear V-Flyers it looks as if after sixteen phone calls to Flying Club I now have several answers....

Yes there continue to be gremlins in the VS/DL ticketing systems - live availability is not working and hasn't been for the past five days now. This is still trying to be sorted by VS and DL IT teams...

What this means is what looks like an open flight isn't, and whilst the FC team are trying to get your booking sorted, you are on hold for anything up to 45 minutes. The result of which is that your ticket can't be booked.

It would appear that Delta has a better deal with VS than VS has wit Delta. Let me explain...

Delta has three tiers of reward flights so technically there are no blackout dates, you pay more miles dependent on the route and availability.

For example on the flights I was trying to book business JFK-LAS-JFK in May (also tried LAX, SAN, SFO, PHX,and SLC) there were seats at 62,500 delta miles and 80,000 delta miles per pax. So using this information I called FC to see if they could book seats. There were no seats on any of the routes at the Virgin negotiated rates (45,000) and the flights are closed to Virgin Atlantic FC rewards. Note this was not during Memorial Day holidays. We widened the search i.e. dates/non-stop/indirects and still nothing.

The last contact at the FC call centre contacted the Delta help desk whilst I was on the call and confirmed that FC members only have access to the lowest tier of reward flight as a VS customer, but if you are a Delta Skymiles customer you have equal access to all the VS reward flights. The guy I spoke to was really helpful, and said it had been a nightmare week with the new DL alliance and that from his calls and his colleagues around him no VS FC member has managed to book a reward flight with DL this week across intercontinental US. Equally VS FC members cannot call Delta directly to book a reward flight it has to be done through VS FC team (I've tried!).

So that's the VS/DL alliance on reward flights to date. Now I wonder whether Skymiles is the way forward?

What a palaver. Presumably though the DL more miles, more chance rule won't apply to VS rewards so the DL flyer with a gazillion miles to burn will tend to use DL.

Chalk it up to another eye catching alliance headline of 'benefits for all' masking a detail of winners and losers. The EK and QF tie up is much the same.

Their primary interest though will be in capturing fare paying passengers through routing and ticketing arrangements. Loyalty schemes will be low down the list of priorities.

robbiechops wrote:So dear V-Flyers it looks as if after sixteen phone calls to Flying Club I now have several answers....

Yes there continue to be gremlins in the VS/DL ticketing systems - live availability is not working and hasn't been for the past five days now. This is still trying to be sorted by VS and DL IT teams...

What this means is what looks like an open flight isn't, and whilst the FC team are trying to get your booking sorted, you are on hold for anything up to 45 minutes. The result of which is that your ticket can't be booked.

It would appear that Delta has a better deal with VS than VS has wit Delta. Let me explain...

Delta has three tiers of reward flights so technically there are no blackout dates, you pay more miles dependent on the route and availability.

For example on the flights I was trying to book business JFK-LAS-JFK in May (also tried LAX, SAN, SFO, PHX,and SLC) there were seats at 62,500 delta miles and 80,000 delta miles per pax. So using this information I called FC to see if they could book seats. There were no seats on any of the routes at the Virgin negotiated rates (45,000) and the flights are closed to Virgin Atlantic FC rewards. Note this was not during Memorial Day holidays. We widened the search i.e. dates/non-stop/indirects and still nothing.

The last contact at the FC call centre contacted the Delta help desk whilst I was on the call and confirmed that FC members only have access to the lowest tier of reward flight as a VS customer, but if you are a Delta Skymiles customer you have equal access to all the VS reward flights. The guy I spoke to was really helpful, and said it had been a nightmare week with the new DL alliance and that from his calls and his colleagues around him no VS FC member has managed to book a reward flight with DL this week across intercontinental US. Equally VS FC members cannot call Delta directly to book a reward flight it has to be done through VS FC team (I've tried!).

So that's the VS/DL alliance on reward flights to date. Now I wonder whether Skymiles is the way forward?

If you think skymiles is the answer, you might be interested to know that they're nicknamed "skypesos" in the US and for good reason, their availability is pretty lousy compared to other US carriers.

If DL have three redemption levels that could mean three booking classes (vs. VS's sole UC G) and I can imagine that's where the issue lies.

How much is a Flying Club mile worth to DL?

On a slightly different track I am looking at flights from MAN to MCO next April 8th out returning May 20th approx, Kayak is offering Delta £675 or £715, Virgin £740 or £775. Same flights same times, same day. WHY I ask??!!. Even says on Delta info, operated by Virgin Atlantic. Puzzled that Delta can offer these flights in Economy at such a lower price!

geben wrote:On a slightly different track I am looking at flights from MAN to MCO next April 8th out returning May 20th approx, Kayak is offering Delta £675 or £715, Virgin £740 or £775. Same flights same times, same day. WHY I ask??!!. Even says on Delta info, operated by Virgin Atlantic. Puzzled that Delta can offer these flights in Economy at such a lower price!

I know what you mean, I am just looking at Vegas end of July, £726 with Virgin, or £624 Delta - operated by Virgin, same flights

Penny_L wrote:

geben wrote:On a slightly different track I am looking at flights from MAN to MCO next April 8th out returning May 20th approx, Kayak is offering Delta £675 or £715, Virgin £740 or £775. Same flights same times, same day. WHY I ask??!!. Even says on Delta info, operated by Virgin Atlantic. Puzzled that Delta can offer these flights in Economy at such a lower price!

I know what you mean, I am just looking at Vegas end of July, £726 with Virgin, or £624 Delta - operated by Virgin, same flights

The same happens with some KLM flights they are quite often cheaper if you buy them via DL.

More here

Couldn't you book with VS still and do price match?

SoloFlyer wrote:Couldn't you book with VS still and do price match?

Except the VS price match has to be with a UK website.

Also it is only the base fare that is price matched not the total fare i.e. not the surcharges, airport fees and taxes elements.

As per VS price match

SoloFlyer wrote:Couldn't you book with VS still and do price match?

Someone asked about this on Facebook, the answer was no as it's a code share...

tontybear wrote:Except the VS price match has to be with a UK website.

But when using the Delta website for bookings, it is a "UK" website as you select your country as UK and prices quoted are in GBP. How would VS define 'UK' website?

Hamster wrote:

tontybear wrote:Except the VS price match has to be with a UK website.

But when using the Delta website for bookings, it is a "UK" website as you select your country as UK and prices quoted are in GBP. How would VS define 'UK' website?

The url is still delta.com not delta.com/uk or uk.delta.com

Does that make it a UK site because you've changed the location / language to UK/ English but without it changing the url to reflect that?

If you choose France/French does that turn it into a French website or just a translation into French of the USA site??

The url does change to fr.delta.com if you do that but not to uk.delta.com for the english version though.

I am being ignorant no doubt, but is there a down-side to actually booking on the Delta site?

MrDoob wrote:I am being ignorant no doubt, but is there a down-side to actually booking on the Delta site?

I was thinking the same thing. Possibly you will get DL TierPoints not VS.

Only major downside to booking with Delta is those of us who do miles upgrades at the airport who are not in the right booking class won't be able to pay up the difference with ease as this will have to be done through Delta first. Other than that I can't see any real downsides.

MrDoob wrote:I am being ignorant no doubt, but is there a down-side to actually booking on the Delta site?

Only downside is if changes are required, will have to talk to Delta as they are the booking agent. If that is a downside I don't know having never dealt with Delta.

You will still get full VS TPs and Miles if credited to FC