Another thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...mediately.html

As others have said, this is not a "ripoff" as you say, but a misunderstanding of the policy. My only issue with the new system is that if you are going to upgrade the status immediately, they should allow a way to update the current record's skymiles number so that upgrades, etc become available as well. Ohterwise, you have people getting excited with the new status but can't take advantage of it until the next trip.