I thought I’d share some ramblings this evening from the Clubhouse at LAX. It’s been on my mind the last few months as I’ve been taking Delta domestic legs as connections for transatlantic VS flights.
Sky Club Access
As I have detailed in some of my Quick Lounge Reviews, Delta lounge agents aren’t always clued up on the VS Gold benefits. I have to admit, this seems to have gotten better this year as more agents have become accustom to dealing with VS Golds.
Entry to the Sky Club is only possible when you have a VS Transatlantic on the same day and same booking. Lounge agents need to enter your VS FC number to do the entry. This is why they always ask for your physical Gold card. However, memorising the number, or using the VS app to provide the number, also suffices.
Complimentary access to DL Comfort+ at the gate
So, this was something I was really keen to exploit. Some of my bookings were in First, Comfort+ and Main Cabin. Therefore, I was well placed to see what would happen when in Main Cabin. This upgrade can happen automatically, but that’s rarely the case. You need to ask to get onto the Upgrade list. The gate agent, or the lounge agent can do this. You’ll know if they’ve done it, because your second name & initial will appear on the Upgrades list on the TV above the gate. Once you’re on the list, you have two options. Go up to the gate agent and ask for the upgrade, which works if the screen shows “seats available” in Comfort+. Or wait until boarding in which case, the remaining people on the upgrade list enter the lottery for the remaining seats in Comfort+, if there are any left, and then you get the magic beep. I recommend option one as it allows you to beat any snoozing DL Elites.
Unfortunately, you cannot pay for upgrades with cash. It’s all based on status and the upgrade list. Which really sucks in my opinion.
Same day schedule changes
This was a nice thing I found. If you have a connecting flight later in the day, but your VS flight is early, you can often get onto the earlier flight if you can get to the gate in enough time. There’s a $75 fee for doing so, and it will change the flown fare bucket, in case this is important for your Tier Point/Mileage collection. I’ve also had a gate agent waive this fee, under certain circumstances.
The key thing to note, is that there’s two ways DL can handle this. They can take control of the ticket entirely, and re-issue it (the way they are supposed to) or they can essentially make an entirely new booking on the earlier flight, which a different ticket number & booking ref, then mark the later flight as “flown”. The second option comes with a slight risk of wrecking the booking, so be careful.
If you’re going to do this same day change thing, I recommend you call VS and make sure DL did the change correctly, ideally before the new flight leaves. Explicitly ring VS and tell them to “protect the inbound flight” just in case DL messed up the booking in any way. I haven’t had that happen, but you do usually see the new flight added to your itinerary in the VS app and that then has the risk of you being a no show for the flight you are no longer taking. Ringing the Gold line, explaining what DL did and making sure the agent makes a note of it on the account, just removes the risk of anything bad happening to the booking. The first time I did it, I thought I’d go down as a no show for the later flight, which fortunately didn’t happen, but from then on, I decided to be extra cautious.
Delays/IROPS
Obviously, DL aren’t covered by EU261 in the same way VS is. I had a particularly bad delay on one of my recent flights. Fortunately, DL deal with the situation fairly well. The main lesson I learned here is to move to another flight at the first sign of trouble, because all the other DL Elites do and if you wait too long you’re going to be at the very back of the queue, which is not a nice place to be. Also, ask for compensation up front. They won’t just hand it out. The standard compensation for a flight going tech, is a $100 delta voucher and addition to the upgrade list, not that it matters because there will be about 100 DL Elites on it for you to contend with. The voucher can only be used on DL 006 issued tickets unfortunately, which is not brilliant.
Ticketing
There's still some fare mapping issues between the two airlines.
You will know if there's a mismatch because you will see the available seats on the Delta website, but trying to click on them will throw an error. Easiest way to deal with it, is decide what seat you want and call VS, who will then call DL and request the seat for you. Unfortunately, sometimes the system still doesn't pick things up after the change and if you want to move seats you will have to go through the process again, which isn't great.
Overall, using DL Domestic as part of my VS trips has been largely good. I travel with TSA Pre-check and Global Entry, hand baggage only, which makes it easier. I’d recommend this combo to single travellers doing this kind of thing. Best money you’ll ever spend.
The VS IT system has issues showing TSA Pre-check on the boarding pass sometimes, so I recommend checking that it has printed before leaving check-in. If it hasn’t, the TSA will turn you away. Don’t believe the check in agent line of “Oh well it is on there” because if it is not written along the top of the boarding pass, trust me, it is not. Also, if you get the dreaded SSSS at a UK airport, Pre-check won’t show on the BP as there is no space for it, so the backup option is to look at the boarding pass in the VS app, which will show it no matter what.
Well, that’s my good dead knowledge share done for tonight. Happy V-Flying people, I hope this helps some of you.
CommanderB, out.
Sky Club Access
As I have detailed in some of my Quick Lounge Reviews, Delta lounge agents aren’t always clued up on the VS Gold benefits. I have to admit, this seems to have gotten better this year as more agents have become accustom to dealing with VS Golds.
Entry to the Sky Club is only possible when you have a VS Transatlantic on the same day and same booking. Lounge agents need to enter your VS FC number to do the entry. This is why they always ask for your physical Gold card. However, memorising the number, or using the VS app to provide the number, also suffices.
Complimentary access to DL Comfort+ at the gate
So, this was something I was really keen to exploit. Some of my bookings were in First, Comfort+ and Main Cabin. Therefore, I was well placed to see what would happen when in Main Cabin. This upgrade can happen automatically, but that’s rarely the case. You need to ask to get onto the Upgrade list. The gate agent, or the lounge agent can do this. You’ll know if they’ve done it, because your second name & initial will appear on the Upgrades list on the TV above the gate. Once you’re on the list, you have two options. Go up to the gate agent and ask for the upgrade, which works if the screen shows “seats available” in Comfort+. Or wait until boarding in which case, the remaining people on the upgrade list enter the lottery for the remaining seats in Comfort+, if there are any left, and then you get the magic beep. I recommend option one as it allows you to beat any snoozing DL Elites.
Unfortunately, you cannot pay for upgrades with cash. It’s all based on status and the upgrade list. Which really sucks in my opinion.
Same day schedule changes
This was a nice thing I found. If you have a connecting flight later in the day, but your VS flight is early, you can often get onto the earlier flight if you can get to the gate in enough time. There’s a $75 fee for doing so, and it will change the flown fare bucket, in case this is important for your Tier Point/Mileage collection. I’ve also had a gate agent waive this fee, under certain circumstances.
The key thing to note, is that there’s two ways DL can handle this. They can take control of the ticket entirely, and re-issue it (the way they are supposed to) or they can essentially make an entirely new booking on the earlier flight, which a different ticket number & booking ref, then mark the later flight as “flown”. The second option comes with a slight risk of wrecking the booking, so be careful.
If you’re going to do this same day change thing, I recommend you call VS and make sure DL did the change correctly, ideally before the new flight leaves. Explicitly ring VS and tell them to “protect the inbound flight” just in case DL messed up the booking in any way. I haven’t had that happen, but you do usually see the new flight added to your itinerary in the VS app and that then has the risk of you being a no show for the flight you are no longer taking. Ringing the Gold line, explaining what DL did and making sure the agent makes a note of it on the account, just removes the risk of anything bad happening to the booking. The first time I did it, I thought I’d go down as a no show for the later flight, which fortunately didn’t happen, but from then on, I decided to be extra cautious.
Delays/IROPS
Obviously, DL aren’t covered by EU261 in the same way VS is. I had a particularly bad delay on one of my recent flights. Fortunately, DL deal with the situation fairly well. The main lesson I learned here is to move to another flight at the first sign of trouble, because all the other DL Elites do and if you wait too long you’re going to be at the very back of the queue, which is not a nice place to be. Also, ask for compensation up front. They won’t just hand it out. The standard compensation for a flight going tech, is a $100 delta voucher and addition to the upgrade list, not that it matters because there will be about 100 DL Elites on it for you to contend with. The voucher can only be used on DL 006 issued tickets unfortunately, which is not brilliant.
Ticketing
There's still some fare mapping issues between the two airlines.
- Economy Delight maps to Main Cabin and Comfort +, so check the DL fare buckets or ask the ticketing agent if you specifically want Comfort+ as it doesn't always get selected automatically. It's possible to have VS Economy Delight and then Delta Main Cabin.
- Premium should always map to Comfort +
- Upper should always map to First
You will know if there's a mismatch because you will see the available seats on the Delta website, but trying to click on them will throw an error. Easiest way to deal with it, is decide what seat you want and call VS, who will then call DL and request the seat for you. Unfortunately, sometimes the system still doesn't pick things up after the change and if you want to move seats you will have to go through the process again, which isn't great.
Overall, using DL Domestic as part of my VS trips has been largely good. I travel with TSA Pre-check and Global Entry, hand baggage only, which makes it easier. I’d recommend this combo to single travellers doing this kind of thing. Best money you’ll ever spend.
The VS IT system has issues showing TSA Pre-check on the boarding pass sometimes, so I recommend checking that it has printed before leaving check-in. If it hasn’t, the TSA will turn you away. Don’t believe the check in agent line of “Oh well it is on there” because if it is not written along the top of the boarding pass, trust me, it is not. Also, if you get the dreaded SSSS at a UK airport, Pre-check won’t show on the BP as there is no space for it, so the backup option is to look at the boarding pass in the VS app, which will show it no matter what.
Well, that’s my good dead knowledge share done for tonight. Happy V-Flying people, I hope this helps some of you.
CommanderB, out.
Last edited by CommanderB on 29 Oct 2019, 10:05, edited 1 time in total.
Fly's a little too much.
