Originally Posted by DL Platinum

If I am understanding the OP situation correctly, I would offer the following: Standby is just that, you are hoping and praying for a seat, any seat, not an upgrade but a seat. The GA should clear and upgrade all passengers confirmed on that flight first. And only then, start clearing standbys to whatever seats are available. If the OP was on a "E" economy fare as stated, I'm not even sure how they got to standby for a different flight. My understanding is unless it is Deltas issue that cannot happen. So let's assume that. If I were the GA, I would be clearing people into seats based on the fare basis paid, not the status, especially if on an "E" fare. The OP got cleared into a seat as the #2 on the standby list because of status, but the GA assigned seats according to the fare basis (at least that's my impression). It has been my understanding that "E" fares are always relegated to the last few rows in the plane regardless of actual flight load.

Which is why I hate the "E" fares. Even the CEO of Delta said, 70% of people that look at the E fare, book up to gain the "benefits".