curiousexplorer

<Sorry if this has been addressed before>

I have booked a domestic flight within the US with Delta and I’m wondering if as a FB Plat you would still get a free upgrade to Comfort+ or that was cancelled? I have seen various reports, from people who are told this is definitely not the case to others who have been upgraded after booking or after calling Delta.

Tim_94

According to the FB website, Comfort+ seats on Delta are still free:

https://www.flyingblue.co.uk/en/prog.../tier-benefits

San Gottardo

Yes. But you cannot select a seat in Delta Comfort+ at the time of booking when only booking a Main Cabin fare (this used to be the case in the past). The T&Cs state (bolding mine):

I don't know what that means in reality though.

1. Can you select Comfort+ seats for free at the moment of OLCI?
2. Are you merely being put on the upgrade list (and then probably bumped down that list as all kind of DL frequent flyers are above you in the pecking order)?

Given that they mention a 25% / 50% reduction on the price to be paid for Silver and Golds, I presume it's not the airport upgrade list, but something you can do at the moment of OLCI. Although that would contradict the notion of "at the moment of departure".

Even in English they manage not to be clear.

irishguy28

If there were any available at OLCI then presumably, yes.

But in my (limited) experience, the best you can hope for as an FB Platinum is to be put on the "upgrade list" for a day-of-departure move up to the Comfort+ cabin once all Delta elites have been dealt with. On my last DL flight, I was second-to-last on the list (33 out of 34 or something like that) - but for most of the time (you can check the upgrade list through the Delta app in the days prior) I was dead last, so presumably an FB Gold/Silver or some other equivalent status level in another programme, requested to be put on the waitlist after I did. Naïvely, in the days leading up to check-in, I thought my odds were pretty good because there were only about 6 or 7 people on the upgrade list. All that changed on the actual day of departure.

In the end, the flight went out with the Comfort+ section absolutely rammed full, and the rest of us "plebs" each had a row of 3 seats to ourselves to stretch out in in the rows just behind Comfort+.

So...I really would not expect to get any "upgrades" on the strength of Flying Blue status, because Delta status holders of all stripes jump ahead of you on the list - the same for Aeromexico status holders, I believe - and unless you're travelling on a route or flight for which the flight is practically empty, you're more than likely to be pre-empted by a late surge of Delta elites who then swamp the Comfort+ cabin.

You might be better off picking a row further back where you might have a seat free beside you.

ivanwmc

Any data points on chances for a FB Platinum member to get a bulkhead Comfort+ seat on DL flights JFK-GRU and GRU-ATL in Y (fare classes V and U)? I will be on them May 15 and June 13.

AMS-JFK and ATL-AMS segments will be on KL and I got the wanted bulkhead KL Economy Comfort seats on those.

Any suggestions as to which alternative preferred seats I should reserve until any potential Comfort+ seats become available?

EDIT: In the meantime, I have made the outbound journey and I can tell you, that there is not only very little chance to preselect a DL Comfort+ seat but even SkyPriority boarding is quite a dissappoinment. I got to board after preboarding of parents with infants & disabled passengers, mactive ilitary servicemen, SM Medaillon, etc. so I basically boarded just before general boarding.

At the Sky Club the scanner flagged both my paper and electronic boarding passes. The DL concierge asked me whether I have an American Express Platinum card, because without it I would be denied entrance. When Iinsisted I should have access because I have SkyTeam Elite Plus status, he looked at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about and apologies profusely that he had to turn me away. I said I wantged to speak to a supervisor and he then looked in his system and seemed confused, but stuck to his guns.

When I clearly was getting agitated, he asked me with which airline I supposed to have status. I said, I am ST Elite Plus because of my Flying Blue Platinum status. He asked again which airline and I answered KLM. That's when he understood the situation and checked my boarding passes again asked for my FB Platinum card or number and allowed me into the lounge where the Coca Cola machine has pride of place right next to the bar and ''Starbucks' coffee machines were banished to opposite ends of the lounge.

nldogbert

I am not sure what this policy change has done, but recently even on a B-subclass Eco fare, as FB Plat, I was not able to select Y+ and not even on the upgrade list (although was listed on the upgrade list for First).
On the day of travel, at the counter after asking about it, they managed to add me to the upgrade list, but all the way to the back of a waiting list of 32 other DL FF ahead of me

I am not sure if KL still offers DL top tier elite members complimentary selection of the Y+ seats on both EU and non-EU flights, if they do, it seems that there's some unbalanced reciprocal agreements.
I am going to after my trip write a complain to FB Customer support. Previously as a Plat, Y+ seats were offered complimentary on both KL and DL without issues.

Cheers!

cvision

Some time ago Delta changed the way Comfort+ access works, also for their own Platinum/Diamonds. Access to Comfort+ is now solely regarded as a complimentary upgrade.
With that NO ONE is now able to select Comfort+ seats at the time of booking for free. Since PM/DM "clear" the Comfort+ upgrade at any time before departure, they can however select them AFTER the ticket has been issued.
That also has some implications when aircraft are being swapped and e.g. the C+ cabin shrinking, you might "loose" the upgrade to accommodate revenue C+ pax even if you had selected your C+ seats way earlier than they bought their tickets. Yes, I've been screwed by this a few times. And hey - I also don't get access to Comfort+ until OLCI (and only then through the upgrade list) when booking a AF/KL codeshare, and even then that entire process is buggy.

See above, access at time of booking is not complimentary anymore, even for Delta elites. Since they are now handled as upgrades, only DL (and maybe some AM) elites "clear" the upgrade at T-X days before departure.

Not quite, since Y+ on AF/KL is not considered an upgrade but *just* a different seat; while C+ is for all intents and purposes still in the main cabin, it does have its own fare buckets and soft benefits like snacks/bev on domestic flights. Maybe complain to AF/KL that they don't have an upgrade scheme for elites or offer something distinctly better than cattle class and cattle class with more space.

HalconBCN

Can anyone confirm the lounge access policy for FB Elite Plus flying a DL Basic fare Europe to US with a stopover in ATL? Do we get lounge access in ATL?

Goldorak

how long is your stopover ? The usual ST rule applies. Your domestic flight should be within 24hrs of your international one.

hhdl

Since the only lounge would be a Delta SkyClub, the Delta rules ultimately apply (even if you can argue that it doesn't comply with SkyTeam rules, the most you'll get is a sorry a few weeks later, which won't help you).



If we're talking about what DL would consider a stopover (more than 24 hours between arriving and departing ATL), this is likely clearly a no SkyClub access situation
If we're talking about a connection (less than 24 hours): if not an overnight connection, you would have SkyClub access. On an overnight, you wouldn't have access on departure (because of the same-day international flight requirement), but if it's possible to physically access the SkyClub after arriving in ATL (I don't know if that's viable in ATL after CBP) you could argue that you are on a connection from a same-day international flight (whether that argument succeeds is a very good question)

Note that if you have an overnight connection or a more-than-24-hour stopover and really intent on getting to a SkyClub for whatever reason, you could buy a Delta economy ticket departing that evening, which would allow you through TSA to physically get to the SkyClub and would satisfy the connection from same-day international flight requirement (Delta doesn't consider separate tickets disqualifying in this scenario, AFAIK). Since Delta's 24-hour cancel policy for tickets bought directly from Delta effectively means same-day tickets are fully refundable up until time of departure (in fact, Delta just authorizes the charge against your credit card: if you cancel, they don't actually charge your card). If you choose to do this (setting aside the ethical considerations of taking inventory), choosing one of the really short regional flights from ATL (e.g. CSG, which is blocked at as short as 49 minutes) will at least prevent an argument that it makes your next flight impossible. Note that if you make a habit of doing things like this, Delta may be rather displeased with you and the response may not be entirely predictable.

Xandrios

That note at the bottom is a curious one. Per SkyTeam lounge policy travel between the US and Caribbean is excluded? I can understand that - somewhat - for Puerto Rico as one may say that is domestic... but travel between the US and St. Maarten is absolutely not. If Skyteam did indeed adopt that rule it must have been under pressure from Delta. And that is very worrying if true.

hhdl

AFAIK, it's not new. Remember that DL for a long time did give Elite+ to Gold members and Flying Blue Gold if you were a North American resident likewise did not confer Elite+ (presumably at DL's behest: though AFKL may not have wanted to foot the bill for Golds who don't fly TATL accessing lounges on flights where Flying Blue was getting paid single-digit dollars for miles); the domestic lounge exclusion for Elite+ and carving out US-Caribbean from the definition of international may have been part of that compromise.

Doesn't AF fly some A320s from MIA to PTP/FDF/CAY? I wonder if Elite+ get lounge access on those above and beyond the SkyTeam requirements (as Elite+ have lounge access on domestic AF flights).

HalconBCN

Thanks for these details! It would be a BCN-ATL-LGA, with a 3 hour connnection in ATL. As FB Plat, I will go with the basic fare as I understand it confers lounge access at ATL. The Delta app has a big warning that this fare type does not include SkyClub access. Obviously the warning is directed at their own elites. it is curious that DL elites are shut out while STE+ can enter the lounge.

hhdl

For basic, the warning is for paid members (or Diamonds who chose a membership in the lounge over upgrades). Even on a non-basic fare, DL STE+ don't have access until they're in PE and their guest has to be in at least PE as well.

physicsdude

I definitely agree as I also heard this from somewhere that I can't remember.

Also, when ST updated its overall rules some time ago, it reiterated that STE+ do not have lounge access on a domestic flight unless the specific ST carrier doesn't want to follow this rule or have certain rules on their lounges in place. However, most airlines in the alliance like DL, KE, AM, AR, and others enforce this rule. Personally. I fly a handful of US-Canada trips for work, and except during the mayhem of travel last year when SkyClubs were packed to the brim, it's nice to grab a bite and get some work done at a quieter SkyClub before a short hop over to Canada.