Three threads down, DL apparently isn't following its own rules on upgrades, why should they necessarily here?
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...ade-rules.html

Some/many of the European low-cost-carriers that sell completely inflexible tickets will also sell you "insurance" that if you miss your flight, they'll accommodate you on the next available one, and it's a fairly modest fee ($10-15 maybe?).

Contrast that to DL here apparently, where, sticking to the letter of the rules, even a non-BE fare would at least require a $150-200 change fee (for someone not eligible to standby for a later flight), and that assumes you contact them before your original flight departs (heaven forbid the OP didn't even wake up until 6:01am). Surely that's not the airline's intention?