Originally Posted by
Alderma9
Has anyone noticed a significant reduction in upgrades clearing for Diamonds in advance as well as at the gate. Being DM for the last few years I generally clear upgrades 5 days out, however recently I've been seeing flights with plenty of space not clearing in advance.
I know they continue to push reduced revenue seats over upgrades upgrades but I've now seen a $43 upgrade for sale and me not clearing in advance, which is just extremely frustrating. Maybe I'm crazy, but I personally have noticed a significant shift in my upgrades and have confined to not make any upgrades more and more.
For me this problem is already at least a year old. Loyalty is not valued as much by the airlines as it used to, and as I am not a Delta captive, my airline choices are now much more influenced by price and schedule. As airline policies change, so do the preferences of customers. Delta must feel like they come ahead this way or they would have discontinued the ultra-cheap upgrades that are certainly not building loyalty among their long-term frequent fliers.