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If I do an E Basic fare class search for a Delta connection flight from my home town airport of South Bend (SBN) to the heart of Delta Atlanta (ATL) you know what I find? Take a look:
The Delta earnings “estimator” tells us that I am set to earn ZERO MQMs and the MQD field is just a dash for credit. SkyMiles does not even show up. What about a higher normal fare class (i.e. not a BASIC fare). Let’s look:
Ruh Roh, same thing! Does this mean that I will not be earning points for this or other Delta connection flights? Let’s first get a reminder of what Delta.com tells us here:
Yes, I am using a lot of big red arrows in today’s post but the reason is that I want to make it clear what it says on Delta.com. Delta has NOT changed the wording of how many “points” you earn flying on Delta marketed Delta connection flights and that includes BASIC fares. In fact we can dive even deeper into the T&C and see:
Even when we look at partners Delta does not currently love very much (think Korean Group 4 partner) if you do book on Delta.com as a code share you do earn. I am going off topic with this one a bit but I am trying to make a point and that is that this earnings estimator showing ZERO is a bug and it has been going on for a while now.
OK René this is a bug why are you just blogging about this now? Why not sooner?
Delta has had a bunch of IT issues this year. They have mostly fixed the blocked cabin viewing issue with the latest updates, but award tickets still have seats blocked unless you do a dummy booking to see the real open seats (really frustrating). I had hopped this latest IT bug would be fixed quickly so did not reach out to Delta to ask. Plus, and more importantly, all these flights are earning full points despite what the online Delta.com estimator is telling us and that is all that really matters right?
So is there a workaround? Again it is just ridiculous that, like with the seat map issue, we have to go to sources outside Delta.com to do things we should be able to do inside Delta but welcome to 2017. I use this very quick and useful tool “SMCALC” to find the MQMs for whatever flights and whatever fares (ignore the SkyMiles part as that is money based since 2015). I have found it to be accurate within 1 or 2 MQMs for almost all my flights.
Lastly I have now reached out to Delta for an official statement as well as to some in Delta IT to see if and or when this bug will be fixed and if they know about it (I am sure they do). If I get any kind of statement I can share I will update this post but for now, as long as we are getting full points, this is just another IT irritation we have to workaround so don’t be too stressed out about it is my advice! – René
UPDATE: From a Delta Corp representative I am told: “We are working on it and you’ll see the update soon.”
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
A question – prime select – between DTW NRT on 350’s. Do DM get to UG like C+ ? And if not, why not? Thanks.
@Clearence – There are no C+ seats on jets with Delta Premium Select (PS) seats (at this point). No medallions do NOT get PS seats free.
Does that mean that you believe that later there will be C+ seats on aircraft with PS seats? Maybe for the time being DM are better off on an aircraft without PS if we are in coach.
@Bill – No. When you see PS seats I doubt there will ever be C+. Then again, you just never know with Delta. If they can make more money adding C+ to PS birds they will even if it further confuses travelers more than now. My gut tells me C+ will one day be limited to domestic only.
I like reading what you post 90% of the time. Sorry, but this post is in that 10%.
@Evan – You would not believe the number of emails I have got on this issue. It needed a post. Also, clearly, Delta is aware of this bug but is taking too long to fix it.
You said DL fixed the seat map issue but they haven’t. All seats in different cabins are blocked for my revenue flights this month. Completely unnecessary restriction.
@Obichang – I said they “mostly” have fixed it. Some are now reporting NO issues after latest IT updates while others are random or only on awards.
Seat map is not fixed on my iPhone nor my laptop on any browser. I have 7 paid trips coming up and one using GUC. All show the other cabins blacked out. I asked the Diamond desk about this and they said they are aware of it and will fix it. Not yet they haven’t.
Delta’s website went from me being able to select seats on KLM flights earlier this year, to now not working even when booked. Same with the miles calculator, it shows sometimes then now it doesn’t.