No proof, just data points:
- Wife and I are DM
- Wife is at 700,000 miles, I am at 1.3M
- Wife has hit DL Amex spend for waiver (25k), I have not (both hold DL Platinum Biz cards)
- Neither of us are Reserve holders or Corporate travelers
- Wife's initial is before mine (A vs B) (shouldn't matter, but I threw that one out there)
- 3 bookings this year where I've booked her ticket first, mine immediately afterwards
- Always the same fare class (booked within minutes of each other when plenty of equivalent fare space available)
By the rules (
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...-upgrades.html ):
- Priority Complimentary Upgrade Hierarchy
1 - Medallion Status
2 - Fare Class Groupings: higher-priced fares are ranked above lower-priced fares
3 - Delta Reserve Credit Card Members
4 - Delta Corporate Travelers
5 - Card Members who earned the Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) Waiver in the current calendar year
6 - Date and time of upgrade request
For the wife and I:
1: tied
2: tied
3: n/a
4: n/a
5: wife
6: wife
Yet ALL 3 times, I've been upgraded before her.
On one call to DM line asking about why my wife's GUC didn't clear before mine, the DM agent did say "oh yes, MM status does make a difference"
So I don't know of a written rule out there about MM status improving upgrade, and I've seen others on FT swear that it makes no difference, but I beg to differ...unless somebody can offer a better explanation?