DP-340

I have also experienced this type of problem (mostly in ATL) and IMHO ATL is the airport were GA are allowed, for whatever reason, to bend the rules the most! I had the following experience 3 weeks ago:

• I am PM and had paid M-fare for an ATL to LAX flight which was delayed about 1 hour.

• Half and hour before boarding, the screen said there was 8 available seats and 2 unclaimed seats in First Class (total 10). I am 2nd on the list and was happy because I was certain that I would be upgraded.

• They started boarding First class and 5 minutes later all empty First class seats suddenly disappeared and only the 1st name on the upgrade list was upgraded (I became 1st on the upgrade list)

• The standby list magically shrinks from about 20 to 0.

• A PM asks what happened to the upgrades, and the GA simply says "there will be no upgrades, the First class cabin is full".

• Disgusted I entered the plane and took my coach seat.

• I see several (>3) military in F class before the plane departs

I can't imagine that there suddenly appeared 7 additional First class fliers (9 if you count the unclaimed seats), or EPs PMs having paid Y or M fare tickets... This is what I suspect happened:

• When planes are late it is hectic and gate personnel are overwhelmed, especially with all those standby passengers that want to talk to the GA.

• It is easier for the gate personel to assign a First class seat to a cranky standby passenger, than processing upgrades & then standby passengers...

• I also suspect that rather than upgrading Elites, GA prefer to manually upgrade military personnel.

RunawayNFly

I DID report this to Delta and was told that they would internally investigate this.

Rules are rules and I personally feel that revenue paying elite passengers should be rewarded for their loyalty. Personally, I think that the GA are just being lazy or don't want screaming passengers yelling in their face. Inconvenienced INFREQUENT flyers are usually just as grateful to have a coach seat as to be upgraded to a FC seat. They are just happy to be getting to where they are going. If the proper procedure is followed and Elite members are appropriately upgraded and standby non-elite passengers are seated in coach, ALL PASSENGERS are then happy! I just don't understand what is so difficult! DO you????

I used to fly US Airways and one of the reasons that I stopped doing so was because they did not UG elite members prior to someone paying for a FC upgrade at the gate. I thought that it was very disrespectful to the elite passengers for their loyalty.

airphone

I guess money is fine and they relaxed the k class restriction.

Fly So Free

Twice within the last month I have heard gate agents ask for any 'active' military personnel to please see the agent...recent BUF-ATL flt saw the flight attendant upgrade a military guy in uniform, however all passengers had boarded & door closed.

indufan

No, it's not any different actually.

Burj

Right...what I meant by that was as a paid seat it was already confirmed as his seat so for the GA to give his confirmed seat away is shocking! If they had a confirmed seat through the upgrade window it would be equally bad.

With respect to battlefield upgrades I could see a GA claiming that it is o.k. to give a seat to a military personel instead of doing an elite upgrade... I'm NOT saying that it IS o.k....but if the seat is ALREADY assigned to someone there is absolutely no way they could claim it is o.k. to take it away from someone to give it to someone else...

In either case it is inappropriate, and against Delta's own rules, for a GA to give away FC seats before all the medallion upgrades are done...

skchin

As a brother of an active military personel, I've heard that many enlisted soliders will travel in military uniform when they are not authorized to do so. For instance, if they are on leave (vacation), not on way to their duty post - they are not authorized to wear uniform and told to stay low profile and blend in with the general public when traveling.

I personally experienced 2 weeks ago on my ATL-LAS flight in First, when a 21 year old solider in uniform heading back to his reserve unit was upgraded to first. The FA on duty asked if he would like any thing to drink. To my suprise, he ordered a coke and rum while in his uniform, then ordered a second alcoholic drink. I should have scared the crap out of him by asking for his chain of command.

keeton

For the OP's case #1:

Are you sure they were going for the $75 upgrades? Those can't be offered until all medallion upgrades are assigned. More likely they were paying the fare difference from Y to F.

For case #2:

I bet those standby's that were upgraded were non-rev bud's of the GA.

For case #3:

Whenever your boarding pass is scanned with your coach seat, you are automatically removed from the UG list. DL will no longer come on the plane and move someone up based on the list. If everyone on the UG list boards in coach then the remaining F seats will go empty.

The general tone I was getting is that it appears that DL may have been giving active duty military an extra perk for holiday leave. I hope it was temporary. Otherwise I will need to go get me some desert camy's to wear when I travel!

NOLA7460

Not always. After a GA at MSY told me my upgrade did not clear and that I should board, the GA walked to my seat in coach and handed me a new boarding pass. ^

This whole thread is about a larger issue that ticks me off: consistency (or lack thereof). I wonder how many times the abbreviation "YMMV" has appeared in the DL forum on FlyerTalk. Delta simply needs to abide by its own published standards. A Delta customer in BOS on x/xx/2009 should have the IDENTICAL experience as a Delta customer in LAX on x/xx/2009 regardless of who the gate agent it -- from airport experience, to boarding experience, to in flight experience. I wouldn't care if delta published "all uniformed members of the military will receive complimentary upgrades before Medallions." Ok, great -- it's published. Delta reminds me of going to a signature restaurant after it has changed chefs. Every dish needs to be consistent every time.

BobH

On NW a few years ago, we were on a flight from DTW to FNT (which spends on the order of a grand total of 16 minutes in the air).

NW had upgraded a soldier who was home on leave for 16 days...

Everyone in FC agreed he should be let off the plane first so that he could have that many more minutes with his family.

Anyone wanta argue that that wasn't the right thing to do?

(Ya I know, this type of discussion belongs in Omni!)


Bob H.

flavorflav

You're kidding, right? You wouldn't go up to a solider on an airplane and break his chops about having a drink, would you? Two weeks before Christmas? With two shooting wars in progress? Seriously. Tell me you wouldn't really interrupt the flight of a total stranger -- a grown man -- and interrogate him about how to reach his superiors to "report" him for the grave crime of having a drink on an airplane.

For the record, the only rule in an organization as vast and diverse as the Army is that there is no rule. It all depends on your command (what your boss has to say about the matter). Some people can drink in some uniforms at some times and at some locations. Some can't. You have no way of knowing by just eyeballing someone.

Surely you have better things to do than to hassle strangers about having a drink.

delta_nonrever

One could argue that yes, those soldiers did not pay for a first class ticket.
However, neither did elite flyers who happen to receive a complementary upgrade from Delta.

There is such a sense of entitlement for upgrades.

Give them a break. They may not be back to ever have the chance to be an elite flyer themselves.

uavking

A little o/t, but I gotta get this one. Per a policy memo from the Chief of Staff of the Army, ACU is an authorized travel uniform CONUS and there is no specification in the memo that it has to be duty travel. The idea is that the Army wants to remind people that we are at war. Not that I agree with this policy, but big brass wants it, so whatever. My only concern is that soldiers be as STRAC while traveling as they are on post, i.e. smart looking uniforms, no sleeping (especially not laying out on the floor in the terminal), no headphones, etc.

As for drinking, this is kind of a gray area. If he were on duty, then no, no drinking. However, if he were on leave/pass, then have at it, so long as he is watching the "8 hour bottle to throttle" reg if he is an Aviation soldier. The only catch is that he wouldn't be able to go drink in the airport bar, since one cannot wear ACU into establishments unless on a local command authorized lunch hour. Class A's/B's, as my drill sergeant so eloquently put it, are the only uniform that you can wear anywhere, including strip clubs.

Burj

If Delta wants to make a policy covering upgrading military personnel, by all means they should, AND they should publish it.

What is not acceptable is for Delta to officially have one policy, and then turn around and have individual GA make up their own policy on the spot as to upgrades.

I would expect military personnel to appreciate the importance of following order, chain of command, etc...

Would it be fair for your boss to tell you "If you do A, B, and C then you'll get this promotion or this time off of work..." and then when you do it all have them say "Well despite what I said and despite you fullfilling the requirements, I've decided that someone else is more DESERVING...too bad..."

Without getting too dramatic...one thing that makes America great is that we have rules and laws and they (for the most part) apply to everyone equally... It isn't a sense of entitlement to expect Delta's employees to adhere to Delta's policies/rules

MikeMpls

Yes, they did. By earning their status, they have earned the upgrades in accordance with the terms & conditions of the FF program. It is the airline's responsibility to allocate those upgrades as stipulated. It is not the gate agents' prerogative to give them away to anyone else.