stone36

So I just sent a complaint to Delta but essentially here is my gripe:

I flew from ATL-BWI on 7/21 and there were weather issues affecting ATL. My incoming flight was fine, but many were delayed and didn't make the connection.

As a result there were 8 (of 16) open seats in first class. I was number 3 on the UG list.

Gate agent come down with the manifest, talked to two or three FA's, looked at the list, looked at the cabin, looked at the list, etc. and then she walked out, they closed the door...

As one of the FA's walked past I asked "Are you going to be taking care of the additional upgrades?" Her response was, "Oh, I'm not sure, we have to wait for instructions form the captain" (or something like that, which I knew not to be true, as a rule of thumb if someone is asking about upgrades, this probably isn't their first flight).

We then sat at the gate for about 20 minutes waiting for congestion to clear so we could back out. We then sat for another 1:40 waiting to take off.

The only conclusion I can draw is that the conversation mentioned above essentially said “look we have 8 open seats in first, but if we move them we are going to take a delay, what should we do?” And then they made the wrong choice.

Remember when I boarded and you said you appreciated my loyalty, and then again after we took off you said the same thing? I am loyal, but because of the benefits which have been getting worse and worse.

All in all was in my seat for 4.5+ hours on what should be a 90 minute flight.

Would you be pissed?

woodford02A

well hey, at least they did not fill them with nonrevs as most FTs would like to believe happens on a daily basis!

LondonElite

Could this be the start of people paying for F if they want to sit there?

stone36

It could be, if there was a change in operating procedure... But there hasn't been yet. I think most folk are on this board because they appreciate the perks of flying, and UG's are one...

KDCAflyer

With FAs having digital manifests now, there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to access the upgrade list and move people up.

3Cforme

They could take a delay to reseat people, then add to the delay while waiting for new weight and balance calcs. (Moving eight people to F is not trivial to center of gravity calcs.)

enviroian

As a 1K UA and AA platinum flyer I'm not familiar with DL's upgrade process. However I have read here that once you board you lose any chance of an upgrade. Is this true? That has never been the process with either UA or AA. I've been pulled up front many a times to an empty F seat.

Why is DL so off on this what appears to be basic logic?

zedthedeadpoet

Nope. Not true. I've been upgraded many times after I had already boarded and taken my seat in coach.

HDQDD

Fair enough, you got hosed. I would complain too.

Your taxi delay complaint should go to ATC and/or your God (if you believe in God) about the weather. Good luck with that.

When I was an agent eons ago, the FA's didn't upgrade onboard simply because they didn't know the pecking order of elites (it wasn't part of their paperwork). It would actually lead to *more* complaints from other elites about "s/he got *my* upgrade". I guess an argument could be made that they should get that info...but I doubt it's high prio.

Yeah, but in the summer weather delays are a way of life. Best advice is to fly in the morning before the convective activity gets to its worst. But even that doesn't always work.

mills1090

Something not too different happened to me. Re-booked through MSP due to a clear misconnect in ATL. Was re-booked into C+ on the 1st leg from F cabin (it was full). The 1st leg took a huge delay as well so, F started emptying out. Long story short F went out with empty seats and me on the upgrade list on a paid F itinerary. Delta was super apologetic and refunded the FCM upgrade I had paid.

stone36

@HDQDD

Thanks for clarifying, I should state that I don't have complaints about the weather, it happens and it's out of DL's control, just trying to paint the picture of the events. More it had to do with the fact that because of the weather I (and certainly the Crew/Agent) knew we weren't going anywhere in a hurry as there were 40+ planes lined up ahead of us. That was the other funny part the pilot at one point actually said we were #35 for take off so another 30 minutes or so 75 minutes later...

And while we sat in the taxi line they were letting people get up, go the bathroom, passed out water, etc.

stone36

I believe you, and I ask this sincerely, what about the 50+ people total who didn't make the flight and calculating for where there were not going to be sitting?

Even in first, 6 of the empty seats were all together, with only 1C and 1D occupied on the right side. Plus once the doors were closed because there was so much space they announced "feel free to move to any open seat within your class" (as in don't go into first from EC or into EC from economy), for that reason I don't know that weight/balance was their primary concern.

Zorak

From what I've read, the policy is YBYL. However many GAs don't implement it that way so your best bet if you're on the bubble is just to ask how they will handle it. I have been pulled from Y up to F (I'd asked) and have seen it happen to others as well, so it can certainly occur. OTOH there are also stories of people who hung around the gate area and got an upgrade even though not being 1st on the list.

fti

Yes, that is supposed to be true.

That doesn't mean it is not true.

Exactly. This has not only been my experience, but has been confirmed multiple times by Delta after an inquiry asking for clarification.

davetravels