Originally Posted by
vsgvarun
I called the medallion line and asked about this... A supervisor told me most of the changes:
Delta Comfort + will become a new fare. It will become W class. Passengers will have to pay a fare difference to upgrade.
The medallion program will remain the same. At booking, DM and PM tickets will be reissued to "WU" fare class immediately. GM will be reissued to WU 72 hours prior, and FO will be reissued to WU 24 hours prior. Medallions can still have 8 companions in W (C+) within the same PNR. Outside of the PNR, you can have 1 companion.
The supervisor also told me that the FC free upgrade will stay the same, but the reason they are changing comfort plus to W is because they can "better control inventory". She told me that comfort plus fares are subject to change, and will require a reissue and fare difference.
FO and GM members will get comfort plus upgrade certificates in addition to their complimentary upgrade at 72 and 24 hours. GM will get 4 certificates and FO will get 2 certificates annually. They will be using the fare class "WP".
I called the diamond desk after reading the blog post earlier and was told basically the same thing. I think it would be rotten of Delta to take away free C+ seats at the end of the benefit year but wouldn't surprise me with Delta. And as others have said I would rather keep an aisle exit row than be moved to C+ middle.
I was not told of the certificates by the agent I talked to but I guess she would have no reason to since I'm DM and the wife is PM. This will be a big benefit for FO's and GM's but be a diminish in benefits for PM's and DM's. Since Delta introduced the C+ chances getting a C+ seat has been a lot easier. It will mean competing with FO's and gold's on long hauls for a C+ seat now. I wonder if Delta will make an C+ seat available to use the certs on or if they will limit the inventory on long haul flights where people tend to pay extra for C+ seats like they do with RU and GU inventory. What happen s if a GM or FO burns a cert for a C+ seat and gets upgraded to first, will they reissue the certificate?