I am thinking it must be on the order of 10%.

I was traveling with five others back in January. Two of the five others were PM. I was already confirmed in F; they were not and were wait listed to use an SWU.

They showed up something like #30 on the upgrade list. I told them that they clearly weren't coded right. They, of course, not being FT participants, had no idea what I was talking about. I told them to call and make sure they were coded as UP2B.

So, the guy starts calling, as we had about two hours left before the flight (this was the ice storm day in ATL, so we were there early). The agent he talked to had no knowledge of UP2B. He called back; the second agent was clueless as well. He then went to the SkyClub; no clue there either. He called the PM line back again; no luck. He asked the gate agent; no luck. He starts looking at me like I am the one misinformed.

So, trying to help, I called the DM line and logged in under the DM number of another friend that I help with travel. The DM agent had never heard of UP2B, but to her credit she spent about 20 minutes trying to find out about it. She came back from an extended hold to tell me that UP2B only applied when one had a Delta Amex Reserve card!

Bottom line, my friends sat in coach because they could never find anyone who had a clue about UP2B, much less was able to apply it.

Now, fast forward a month, the same friend with the SWU had another encounter where he was trying to use an SWU and was in SLC at the SkyClub. The agent there knew about UP2B, applied the correct code, and the friend shot to number 1 on the list instantly. I felt vindicated as he told me the story.

It's just amazing to me that this is so problematic.