Originally Posted by
avidflyer
Yes this is the downside of A/P fares. They are really treated as -UP fares which are indeed economy NOT first Class.If you look at the fare rules you will see the actual fare and it is probably an H economy fare with an instant upgrade "when available". If you call the medallion desk they will likely get you on another flight with FC available but this flight you are out of luck.
I recently flew a two-stop broken-fare illegal routing (booked as multi-city) where the last segment was in P (H-up), but the others were in H (no -up). My second flight was delayed, so I was going to miss my third flight and was thus given rebooking options on the website. All rebooking options were in first class for BOTH segments.
When I arrived at my second stop, I discovered that my original third flight was delayed enough that I could make the connection, but was informed that my first class seat had been given away. Both the GA and @DeltaAssist told me that I would not get the class-of-service bonus if I flew in the back because my P-fare was actually only an H-up fare.
Thankfully, when the miles posted, it showed "Paid/Flown: H/H" with my bonus miles posted as "Delta 50% Class of Service Bonus for UP fares". The pleasant surprise was that my second leg showed "Class Paid/Flown : H/J" with the same H-up fare bonus.
Apparently the agents don't know how -up fares work, but thankfully the system seems to get it right, even if downgraded.