I am sorry to ask question I sure has been answered many times, but I am very new to SkyMiles and need help. We earned FO status for the first time in our lives for 2008. We understood that this status might help us be up-graded to FC.

We assumed our chances would be next to none because all those PMs and GMs would be ahead of us. However, since getting that FO status we have flown four R/T and have received upgrades on half of them.

I always said I would never pay the ridiculous price for FC even if I were wealthy, but FC is really nice. So, we decided to attempt to gain GM status to improve our chances.

Everything I am reading on this site talks about everyone having too many SkyMiles diluting the opportunity for us. The thread this morning about FC priority assignments totally confused me because I do not know what any of the terms mean.

Should we still try to reach GM status, or is it possible that half of the plane will have GM and everyone else will have something with a Reserve Card?

Is there anything we can do to improve our chances? Does the amount of money we pay for coach have any impact on the priority selected for FC upgrade?

Another Question: Isn't DL supposed to award FC to Medallions before auctioning off those seats at the gate? On our first flight after gaining FO status the GA held us at the gate until everyone had boarded. He repeatedly announced that they had two seats in FC available if anyone wished to purchase them. He started offering them at $175 and ended the offer at $100/each. When no one bought those tickets he gave them to us. Should we have said anything to him when he started to try and sell the tickets/

Final Question for this post: Everything I am reading indicates that there is no opportunity for a medallion upgrade to FC on international flights? Is this always true?