Originally Posted by
WillBarrett_68
I think you're using "battlegound upgrade" here to mean "gate upgrade" (generally I use "battlefield" to mean "the GA comes on board to upgrade someone who has already boarded because someone no-showed") but in any case, I don't see how window upgrades are "good for status upgrades"? Like, if it goes to the gate, DMs are still at the top of the heap. All the window does in this case is punish people who buy last-minute expensive fares (in addition to depleting inventory that could be used for SDC/IROPs). I'm open to arguments here but I just don't see anything compelling about getting upgraded five days out (tbh this probably negatively affects FCM rates as well).
Basically, if you're getting upgraded at T-120? That's good for you if you're relying on your status. If they're holding upgrades until day-of-travel (or even at-the-gate), that's better for folks trying to work SDCs (DL upgrading down to only one seat remaining in F
sucks for SDCs).
That being said, at this moment I will give DL a bit of a pass on being stingy with advance upgrades for the next little bit because of the shutdown - if they suddenly lose capacity because ATC is understaffed due to that, I understand DL wanting to make sure they can slide paid F pax onto other flights in paid F (not to mention, not wanting to have to pull a bunch of folks from F and "replace" them because a bunch of inbound flights got stuck). That happens in e.g. "normal" WX situations, yeah, but I cannot imagine DL wanting to court that sort of hassle right now if they can help it.