Originally Posted by
uclacolumbiaunc
As a Medallion Gold, I have been upgraded every time I booked an economy fare with Delta. All of them are short one hour flights, so I can't speak for the chance of upgrade for longer transcontinental flights. But based on the fact that I have up graded every single time, I would guess that, other than the major routes like LAX-JFK/LAX-ATL, I would have pretty good chance for upgrade.
I think you're sorely mistaken there.
Originally Posted by
uclacolumbiaunc
On the other hand, I am doing a status match challenge with United (Premier Gold), and I have flown a few LAX-SFO routes on United a few times, and I have yet to clear for Premier upgrade even once. (Though I did get upgraded once for a SNA-SFO flight). The only perk from United is the access to Economy Plus at booking, which Delta took away from Gold status earlier this year.
That sounds about right.
Originally Posted by
uclacolumbiaunc
I am not sure if this is coincidence, but is it true that United generally has pretty low complimentary upgrade among the major airlines?
Probably, they're very aggressive about monetizing domestic first, whether it's 20 cpm P fares or TOD offers to non-elites.