Earlier this week I flew transatlantic on DL for the first time. I was a GM with a very high MQM count. My flight ATL-FRA was on Sunday at 6:25 pm. I haustled down to the airport arouind 1:30 that afternoon to check-in in hopes of getting an exit-row seat from the check-in desk (you can check-in up to 6 hours pre-departure). Well, she couldn't do anything for me. All seats exit row seats, she said, are held for gate assignment only. Deflated, I headed home to go about my business for a while before departure. Had a big lunch and whatnot, since I was not expecting anything decent for meal service. I desperately needed sleep because the day I would arrive I had a meeting with clients whom I'd never met before in person.

Got to the gate about an hour pre-departure and found the gate area jam-packed. Last I checked on DL.com, there were four unassigned Y seats and more than a dozen unassigned BE seats on our 777. I asked the GA about an exit row seat but he (very politely) said they had all been assigned. He encouraged me to check back in 10 or 15 minutes once he released his "held" inventory of seats for pax who had not checked in. I did so, and he handed me a boarding pass for 13J. OP-UP! No discussion or anything, just my expression of gratitude before I scurrying away from the desk, afraid that someone would see it. Turns out that BE went off full, so they must have had to op-up a bunch of Y pax. I was on a B fare, which was around $2400 round-trip. I presume all that mattered was my very high MQM count. That flight to FRA actually put me over Plat. ^

On my flight home from STR (Stuttgart), I checked in at the ticket counter. DL did not assign any seats in Y at all on that flight. All were held for airport check-in. There, when I asked for an exit row, the ticket agent gave me an aisle seat in 21, which I confirmed was an exit row when I saw the aircraft from the AF lounge and it (a 763) had two over-wing exit doors. Row 21 had very generous legroom and full recline. Row 20 appeared to have decent legroom but only partial recline (and the IFE audio didn't work for those pax). The noise and, ultimately, smell from the lavs got pretty irritating, as did the other pax looming over me in the aisle waiting for their turn to use the lavs. Plus, the exit row was FREEZING COLD. I wrapped a blanket around me the entire flight, and I was still cold, so bring a sweatshirt if you're going to ask for or sit near an exit row. There were maybe two empty seats in Y, which meant no op-ups.

At STR, I was directed to another agent when I asked about lounge access. She explained the rules about Plats only. And I said that my point was, I am Plat now, but the status won't update until Saturday. She called SkyMiles service and explained the issue. SkyMiles reported back to her that I have indeed been Plat since Sunday (my departure date for FRA) but that the record wouldn't update 'til Saturday. (!) The agent called the AF lounge and said she had a special situation and asked the lounge hostess to let in the certain pax for ATL who is GM on the BP but is really PM. It worked. The AF lounge was decent but nothing to write home about. I was just glad to get drinking water, which they really don't have in Germany.

Here we are on Saturday, and I'm a newly minted Plat.