hurnik

In General, how does Delta deal with upgrades to first class/business, if you have booked an economy seat?

Specifically:
1) Is there a certain time before check-in (I'm assuming check-in 24 hours prior to flight departure) where you can check-in online and they'll have unsold seats that they will offer for upgrade (if you are willing to pay)?

2) If there is such a magical window, is the upgrade cost generally less than if you had just booked first class to begin with? Or the same?

3) Or do they upgrade the frequent flier people first and then any unsold/leftovers are available?

4) Is there a way to track specific flights to see "history" (ie: likelihood of upgrading)?

I'm specifically looking at:
ALB -> PVR via Atlanta on 1/9/15
and
PVR -> ALB via MSP on 1/16/15 (they used to have like 3 other flights, but cancelled all of them except for the MSP one a few weeks ago).

Thank you
--Kevin

roknroll

Delta has started offering paid upgrades to first, which show up in your trip itinerary on the Delta Site. It's not always offered, but that is a starting point to check. The price will be based on the fare you booked and the price of what first class is currently being sold for, and tends to be *slightly* discounted when compared to just buying first class outright. The cheaper your economy ticket, the more they will ask for an upgrade. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ing-trips.html

I also believe now that checking in via the Delta app at T-24 hours has been offering paid upgrades to some people. It's not always there, but you might see it. It's still not cheap though. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...p+upgrade+paid

Aside from that, you are probably not going to see them offering a paid upgrade unless ALL elites have received their complimentary upgrade. For non-busy routes or off-peak travel days, many people have seen them selling upgrades at the gate. That's when all elites have been upgraded and those seats would be flying empty. I think in those cases, they require a minimum of a K fare or higher in order to purchase the upgrade.

I'd say that traveling on a Friday, your domestic routes will have little to no chance of a paid upgrade offer aside from just buying first class. If it's a very early morning flight, then maybe. The ATL-PVR route might have that option, however.

CDR9317

I've had the option of paying for an upgrade a couple of times before, some of them as long as 2 weeks before departure and sometimes 2 or 3 days before scheduled departure. It is a very random event and in my opinion, if you have the money and don't have any other upgrade possibilities, take it before it is too late.

Also if First Class is relatively empty and there are some open spots after Medallions clear the upgrade list, you might see the buy an upgrade option once you arrive at the gate (gate agent/gate monitors).

Other than these two scenarios, you would have to be a Medallion in order to have a spot in the upgrade list OR pay the fare difference between coach and business class for a confirmed spot in first class (assuming that you already have an economy ticket and that there are first class seats available at the time you call Delta)

bgriff

I don't know how much you paid for your flights originally, but it looks like those flights are currently on sale for ~$800 roundtrip in coach and ~$1350 roundtrip in business.

That $550 fare difference is actually quite reasonable for a trip like this -- if you were offered a special discount during check-in or at the gate for an upgrade, it would likely cost $100-150 per flight, so potentially even more than the upgrade would cost right now, and as others have mentioned, you would likely have lower priority for an upgrade than Delta elite flyers on your flights, so the chances of actually getting upgraded at the last minute are low. Even if you did get it, you probably wouldn't get it for all four of your flights; one or two (particularly MSP-ALB, which is operated by an aircraft with a good ratio of first class seats to coach seats) maybe, but not all (particularly unlikely on PVR-MSP, where the ratio is particularly bad).

So, if the upgrade is really important to you, and if you paid around $800 for your coach tickets, I would consider paying the $550 more to upgrade to first now -- you would be confirmed in first for all four flights and wouldn't have to worry about it again. You can call Delta and ask them to do this; they may try to charge you a change fee but as long as you're staying on the same flights and just moving to a higher fare, you should be able to ask them to waive the change fee. If one agent says no, you could politely hang up and call again to try another one.

That said, if you paid less than $800 to begin with, you will have to pay all the way up to the $1350 to get confirmed in First, so the incremental cost may be higher. (If you paid more than $800, the incremental cost will be lower.) You can also keep an eye on your flights and see if that $1350 cost for a ticket in First goes down between now and then, but I wouldn't expect it to go down much, if at all -- as I said that's a pretty good price for a route like that.

GeorgeBurdell

I bought my way into FC week before last SEA-ATL.

I was stuck in a middle seat in EC and there were about 6 seats in FC. I believe I was ticketed at L class. After checking in and estimating my chance for an upgrade somewhere between slim to none, I called the DM line. They allowed me to book P class in FC for $484 with no change fee.

Tibs

Round trip flight CHA-ATL-LAS - four segments all with FC Cabins (granted the ALT<->CHA route is 20 minutes of flying) - Offered $200 after booking and I bit. One of the flights is currently an international 767 - I'm sure it will change and it was a surprise when I went to the seat map during upgrade....$100 each way to sit up front on a route that is a pain for upgrades...I'll bite.

QDDawg

Booked a flight last week DCA-ATL-BNA/ BNA-JFK traveling the first week of Dec

At booking the offer popped up to upgrade the entire trip for $75. I passed as I typically get the upgrade and none of these are long flights.

Last night was going through my flight list and the offer was there again for $55, so I took it.

Figured 3 legs at less than $20 each was worth it for the gauranteed seating and 2 - 3 bevs on the flight home will take up at least $20 of that

EZEDoesIt

My ATL-LGA for next week had been offering an upgrade $79, but now it's showing $350+. Anyone ever see it go down again less than a week before the flight?

Faydra

I saw it go up in an HOUR. (must have been extremely bad timing on my part). But, I learned my lesson - when I see them cheap, I grab them. Fast.

EZEDoesIt

Welcome to FT and thanks for the depressing news.

It had been $79 for the past two weeks! Guess that's a record or something.

Faydra

Thanks... That actually wasn't my first post - my first post is waiting to be approved.

I guess some threads are moderated and some are not?

Anyway, hi.. Sorry for being depressing

EZEDoesIt

I have another o/w ticket departing in less than a week and it still shows a low-cost upgrade, so apparently they don't have the same advance purchase restrictions as the ticket itself.

Guess if there was A space (or whatever it was) still available I would be offered. I'll just keep checking in case it comes back.