Originally Posted by
DillMan
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.1; U; en-us) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 es61i)
Do you ever fly to Europe or Asia? Ever tried upgrading a coach fare on DL. Let's see...AA let's you upgrade pretty much any Y fare to J, most like me are 100%, and I can buy whatever cheap-o (or not) fare is available. With DL I have to buy what is most likely a much more expensive fare if I'm booking in advance and hope....just hope.....I clear.
DL's upgrades to Z (Asia/Europe) can be confirmed at time of ticket purchase for PMUs or upgrades with miles, but waitlisting is common. Your point about AA's relative generosity in permitting upgrades on cheap coach fares has merit, but omits AA's copay requirement. DL's upgrades on flights with domestic first rather than international business service are free (and sticker-less) to bottom+middle-tier elites, a perk AA doesn't offer.
I can appreciate AA' strategy dating from time when Caribbean and S American competition was less: if you want Business class, buy it.