Originally Posted by
USirritated
There is one other factor, time in Medallion class, in other words, how long someone has been a Plat, or how long someone has been a Gold, etc., having precedence over someone who has been a Plat for less time, if that person bought the same fare class ticket, for example.
Not at all.
Order of precedence is by elite status and fare paid. Y fares trump all (so it's DM Y, PM Y, GM Y, FO Y, then DM B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then PM B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then GM B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then FO B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then companion upgrades by the same order as above).
First tiebreaker between two equal elites on the same fare is if one has a Delta Reserve American Express card. Second tiebreaker (in the case neither/both have Amex Reserve) is time of request.
Delta does not take into account how long one has been a Medallion or how many YTD MQMs one has at all with regards to the upgrade procedure.