My first experience with the changes has been horrible so far. I don't fly much for work, so getting Silver means I put a lot of money on a Platinum Delta amex and spend quite a bit of money flying Delta exclusively. The best perk up until now has been the Comfort+ seating. I could grab available seats at 24 hours, and if I check periodically one often opened up even on full flights as people's first class upgrades cleared. I've probably been in comfort+ 3/4ths of my flights since getting Silver. That's all done with now, and I am seriously considering changing my flying and credit card spend habits because of it.
My first flight has pretty good availability in comfort+ so I want the upgrade. The buggy IT site wouldn't even list the comfort+ upgrade checkbox for me, so I called Delta and they said they manually checked it. I check in at 24 hours to see 2 upgrade lists, and sure enough, I'm not on the comfort+ upgrade list. I call again - they call back 45 minutes later because the comfort+ changes mean wait times are horrendous at all of the call centers now. The nice rep says she can't upgrade me on the spot, but will put me on the list - promises it should clear in an hour or two "or else call back" - great. I'm still not on the list until I check in again and this time I find a box to select I want the upgrade. It's now 12 hours later, my GF and I are 1 and 2 on an upgrade list with 9 seats available, but it's still not clearing. I'm so angry over these pointless changes....
I am no longer assuming I will fly Delta that's for damn sure. All I've got left is a free checked bag and getting to pick "preferred seats"...