I am trying to buy 2 tickets on Delta and upgrade to business class with flyer miles. I have to buy them tonight at midnight. When talking with a Delta repr. today, he told me that because I am returning 18 days later, he can only reserve a departure ticket and can't reserve the return flight because he can't price it out? He suggested I buy a one-way, but won't that cost a lot more? How do I handle this? I have to get those tickets for my daughter and her fiance. They are getting married in Italy and I promised them BusinessElite seats. Experts please help! Many thanks.

This doesn't make sense to me - - but what are the dates of the proposed travel? Seems this must be a factor.

In any case, nice parental gesture - - and congratulations to the bride and groom on their new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

Agree w/Rex that you're a generous parent. Unfortunately, I cannot address your problem. There are some other message boards on sites that specialize in frequent flyer issues where you might want to also post this question in order to get the most knowledgeable responses:

www.flyertalk.com/
www.webflyer.com/
frequentflier.com/

Try again at midnight tonight, and early tomorrow morning when fresh inventory is released by inventory control dep't. Business travelers change travel plans far more than coach flyers and seat inventory changes daily. If you still don't get what you want, ask CSR to escalate your call so you can request supervisory assistance.

Why do you have to buy the tickets at midnight? Or is it that you have 2 tickets on and have to ticket them by midnight? I would call Delta again and be prepared to hold for a long time (I was on hold for 50 minutes a few nights ago)and speak to someone who knows what is going on. One way is almost always more costly in $and in miles than a return

Thanks everyone. Tonight is the night because you can get flier mile tickets 331 days before the travel day. The Delta repr. I talked to said that even though midnight tonight was the time the inventory of seats would show up, the return flight would be later, maybe at a different price, so I couldn't book it. That seemed ridiculous to me.

I appreciate all the kind comments and helpful information and will let you know how it goes. Take care, WT

Knowing that you re dealing with the 331 day rule makes me think that you do have to "gamble" with waiting until it is 331 days to the RETURN.

And if your kids would have to take a slightly different routing, or delay the departure after the wedding by 24 hours, this is the tiniest of problems they will have to deal with in their new state of matrimony!

If you call at midnight you can hold your reservation for 2 weeks. Will the return trip be released by then?

Wandering Texan, Have you thought of also trying Alitalia for the flight and using Delta F F miles to upgrade? I think that works as well. They may have more options for you...might be worth inquiring about.

Two possible ways to go:

1. Do as Rex suggests and wait until the return flight is 331 days out, then book the whole thing. I just booked round trip to Paris this way, then changed it to an entirely different route within the U.S., much less than 331 days and found tickets still available. You are "probably" safe this way.

2. Book only the one-way and ask them to hold the reservation. In theory, they can do this sort of a hold for only 14 days, after which you have to ask them to "issue" the tickets or they release them. However, in my experience, that if you call on the 13th day and say you really want to return on the 18th day, they can extend the hold for you. Then, on the day which is 331 days out for the return, finish the booking.

My thanks to all of you. I have lots of great information to help me through tonight! I have to get them to the consulate office before the wedding, so I can't be flexible with the flights. Otherwise, they will have to take time from work to arrive earlier and it will ruin the honeymoon itinerary I have planned for them. I give you a report tomorrow! Take care, WT

Update: Delta would not let me reserve anything with an upgrade. I had to reserve coach and was only able to reserve the departure flights. I have to call back when the return flight is within 331 days and try to reserve the return and upgrades both ways. I even called back today to try again, but no way. Take care, WT

Try 331 days from the return date.

W Tex-
The issue is that seats available for FF upgrade are not released from inventory when you want to purchase and use the FFM to upgrade. Even though you can reserve 331 days in advance there may be no seats yet available for FFM upgrade. When seats are released - and how many - depends on various factors, including the predicted demand for the seats. If your travel dates are during a peak season, you may well have to wait until just before departure to confirm the upgrade. Seems to me that at present you have two options:
(1) shell out the bucks for biz class (2) buy an upgradable fare, then keep checking to see if seats have been relased. Don't know about Delta, but Continental will put Elite flyers on a wait list for seats, contact you when seats become available to confirm you still want them.

Is 331 days the magic number with all airlines?

That's why I hate Delta. The worst when it comes to trying to upgrade. Delta has a mininum ticket price on which you can upgrade to Business.

Assuming they have prices of $250, $375, $500, $650 and $800 - can guarantee, Delta won't let you upgrade for anything less than $500 or $650.

Most other carriers are a bit more liberal, say for only $100 more than lowest fare.

However, even if they don't have pricing for your return flight - ticket prices are based on the date of departure, not return!!!

Example: Assume you are departing December 10 and return December 20 (ticket prices go up December 15 - holiday time); your ticket price is the price on December 10 for both outbound and return.

Whenever I get strange rules from agents I always call another.