Originally Posted by
asnovici
There is no issue. DM's in the back didnt pay for the BE seats nor used their SWUs or miles. Therefore they are not eligible to sit in BE. If DL (or any other airline) was giving premium BE seats on their transatlantic and tranpacific flights for free to their top elites, those seats would never be paid for. There is something called revenue protection, fare rules and SkyMiles rules. I don't understand what is this thread about.
I understand what the thread is about. I have also flown international trips, ATL-DXB, and seen a packed economy cabin and empty B/E. I understand that there are Skymiles rules. My question is, why doesn't Delta change its rules to allow elite passengers to use miles to upgrade, without having to buy the most expensive economy tickets to do so? I'd be willing to use a ton of skymiles to do this. Delta would get a lot of miles off the books, could resell some of those economy seats that would be vacated by people upgrading, and would make their most loyal customers happy. It especially seems like a good idea since I understand that some other major airlines (United, for example) permit elites to use miles to upgrade from the cheaper economy fares.