Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
Exactly. Instead of an offer to make the upgrade from an already purchased fare that at least goes "well, hey, dude already gave us some money so we should account for that when we offer an upgrade price", I am penalized to make an upgrade (charged more to make an upgrade than if I just booked a D1 ticket), compared to a cancel and rebook (cash price OR miles price).
Yes, in the world of FT where we know all the ins and outs and tricks and nuances "duh, just cancel and rebook if Delta's being dumb about pricing your upgrade" is obvious, but how obvious is it to people who don't live in our bubble?
As noted, sometimes it's cheaper, sometimes it's not. As for uninformed consumers having to pay more if they don't know to check both options - yes, that's true. Welcome to the world. Delta isn't systematically penalizing people who purchase and buy up, otherwise the upgrade offers would always cost more than the cancel and repurchase. The numbers appear to come from different formulas. But people who know an industry being able to finagle different pricing is neither something that's remotely new nor is it limited to Delta or travel generally.