Originally Posted by
MR_MAMA
You say you were one of the last to board, when did you board? Was your BP printed out at least 15 minutes prior? Were you int he gate area at least 15 minutes prior?
If this is the case and you used your miles, this means you paid for the class of service. Call again, write an email again, call the Post Flight Resolution at Customer Care. They can't just do that on whim if it was not a comp upgrade. Your status should not matter here
Even if it was a confirmed free upgrade, they cannot do this on whim. However, I wonder if there was an error in the processing/granting of your upgrade originally in that it's highly unusual for a miles upgrade to clear the day before the flight as IME at that point empty FC seats are either put into V inventory (free EUA for elites in order), not G, or held for last minute FC purchases then BF upgrades at the gate. Again IME, domestic upgrades using miles tend either to be available very early at the time of ticketing or not at all; when the few domestic G inventory seats are taken, they're gone permanently from the flight most of the time, although inventory management can do anything at any time.
If you arrived at the gate too late according to the rules of your flight (international?) or failed to leave the F/G SkyClub at MSP promptly when boarding for your long-haul international flight was announced, they can take the upgrade without compensation, although I would still hope/expect that they would offer you the option of waiting for an upgrade on a later flight that day. Involuntary downgrades (except for OPUPs and NRSAs) require compensation, but I don't think it's considered the same as IDB. If you were late because of a late connecting flight, they can take away the upgrade, but compensation is owed (and they should have given you the option of an upgrade on a later flight). The amount of compensation does seem to depend on the elite level in practice, but if you paid more for a fare that could be upgraded, this should be considered. As a rough guide, 10,000 bonus miles is considered to be about the equivalent of a $100 ecredit/voucher when a choice is offered.
This is an example where OLCI and the printing of multiple boarding passes can be an advantage, to have a duplicate one for your record.
DL should know and keep a record of which gate agents were assigned to work your flight. Thus, even though MSP is a large DL station, a physical description of the agents can allow them to figure out who said what to you.
My understanding is that DL and other airlines forbid customer-facing employees to cover (or not wear) name badges, although full first and last names are not required. I would report the badge turning to DL very specifically. To me, this indicates that something was not right. If they had followed official procedures, why would they object to your knowing their names?
I hope this doesn't mean that MSP employees are becoming infected with a tendency toward shenanigans. I've always had the impression that they play by the rules here almost all of the time and generally try to be "Minnesota nice" to passengers.