I was on flight 70 from ATL to FCO (ROME) this past Thursday when I was informed in SLC that the ATL-FCO flight was oversold by 49. I did not have a confirmed seat when I left SLC but by the time I arrived in ATL I had seat 38A assigned to me—I assume my PM status lead to that happening.

Upon arrival in Atlanta, I approached the check in counter and asked if there was a possibility for an operational upgrade? The agent smiled and laughed saying, “nice try”. However, about 20 minutes later, an announcement was made asking for four volunteers to bump to a later flight. At that point, I knew the agents were desperate and again I approached and asked about an operational upgrade, this time she said “let me see what I can do.” About five minutes later the agent asked me how I wanted to pay for the upgrade, miles or certificates—because I didn’t have any PMUs on me and not wanting to complain, I said miles. To my surprise, when I boarded and took my seat 4c, I was surrounded by (six) people who had confirmed-coach tickets but no seat assignments who had been upgraded to BE at no additional cost. The reason why I know that they were upgraded is because they were asking the FA how much the Champaign cost and how they had never been in “first class” before—even though it was BE.

So there I was sitting in BE feeling like I had been ripped off. Then I felt guilty because I should be happy that I had been upgraded from a non-upgradeable fare--but in the back of my mind was the issue that not only had I used 20k miles for the upgrade but also I was on an H fare, far more expensive than the LU fares that my seat opponents were on.

I guess my issue is this: I have flow 185k miles this year on DL, and my two flying companions who are sliver and gold medallion respectively did not receive as good of treatment as the standby non-seat assigned passengers. I was the only one upgraded in my party and I still had to pay for it. So, what is the logic used for operational upgrades?


[This message has been edited by SLC2002 (edited 11-05-2001).]