andy2343

I think I know the answer but wanted to be 100% before I do any booking--if I'm AS MVP Gold and book a full-fare Y ticket, I would only get an instant complimentary upgrade if there is U space available? I always thought (at least for other airlines like DL) that if you purchase a full fare ticket your complimentary upgrade is instant at time of booking; but it sounds like, at least for AS, it's only instant if there's U space, otherwise you go directly on the upgrade waitlist?

Thanks you guys!

jackal

Correct.

Although I'm not sure if even a full Y ticket on DL confirms directly into F if no upgradeable space is available. I'm less familiar with DL than with UA, but on UA, even as a 1K, if you buy full Y, there must still be R space (upgradeable space and the equivalent of U on AS) for an upgrade to be confirmed. I assume it works similarly on DL.

Seattlenerd

I think that used to be the case on NW, but pretty sure it's not true on DL.

I'm old.

Medeski

Whats the window for Delta Diamonds to clear on complimentary upgrades? System is willing to instantly upgrade me using a guest upgrade and Im still waitlisted for F. Flight is Saturday evening out of PDX if that makes a difference

braffy

If you are trying to use a MVPG guest upgrade, your status is irrelevant and the upgrade can be processed anytime there is U space available.

For complementary upgrades, Delta elites won't clear until the 24 hour window (or, more likely, in the hours leading up to the flight), and their priority will be below all AS elites. This is similar to how DL processes upgrades for AS elites.

jackal

That's the theory. Actually, in practice, it's not similar. DL doesn't upgrade AS elites until ~30 minutes before departure at the gate. I have yet to hear anyone report a confirmed upgrade in advance of this.

AS, on the other hand, has been reported to upgrade DL elites as early as 48 hours before departure.

This has been the cause of some stirrings of discontent as AS treats DL elites better than DL treats AS elites.

Medeski

Not using a guest upgrade but figured I would mention it as a data point

Thanks for the info

braffy

Thanks for the clarification jackal. I'll admit that as an AS elite the only (rare) DL upgrades I've received have been at the gate. But I always assumed that was because I was at the very bottom of the upgrade list.

As for stirrings of discontent... these could be easily remedied by giving AS elites full access to Economy Comfort. Wishful thinking, I know...

CAVU

I am correct from reading these posts that as an MVPG, if I don't clear in advance and I am watching the screen at the gate, my priority is soley based on when I bought my ticket and that an MVP could be ahead of me on the list?

evoG

For DL upgrades? Yes, an MVP could be ahead of you, all AS elites are lumped together. Time of purchase isn't the only factor, though: fare class and IROPS affect AS elites' position on the DL UG list.

For AS UG at the gate? you should generally be ahead of MVP. The only time you would be behind an MVP would be if you purchased/changed/waitlisted less than two days prior to departure, when MVPs are added to the UG processor.

As for getting UG on DL sooner than -30min, I have twice, once at MSP GA had printed me an F boarding pass more than an hour before departure (F went out with several empty, he was just being proactive), and I think once at MSY the ticket counter agent printed my F bp after dropping my bags... this was just after reciprocal UG started. would be great if we could confirm UG earlier.

jackal

Those are still the airport agents processing upgrades manually. What DL doesn't do--and what AS does--is list partner elites for automatic upgrades by the automatic upgrade processor in advance of the airport staff being able to handle the reservation.

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

I've written into AS and DL about this- nada

Air Houston

The UA statement is incorrect. On United full Y fares purchased by a Premier 1K (or other Premier member) can be upgraded immediately to F, as long as F is available. To upgrade B fares (and M fares for 1K's) PN needs to be available. It varies, but PN availability is often one or two less than F availabiloiy. R is needed for upgrades done using miles, RPU's and GPU's. R varies greatly and could be zero even if no F seats are sold yet.

SamuelS

So if I might ask as a follow-on to that, if you are an MVPG already upgraded to U, and then do the 10pm SDC to a different flight - which of the following is the process?

If U is open, I presume you would immediately be upgraded on the new flight onto which you SDC? Is this automatic, or do you have to manually do it? I SDC'd at 10pm out of LAS a few months ago, and I recall it rebooked me into Economy and I then had to do the OLCI again to force it to bump me up into the U inventory and process the F upgrade. On other SDC occasions, it seems to be automatic into F?

If U is not open, but F is open, do you go directly into F (thereby overriding the U bucket). I presume this is not the case?

If U is not open, do you go on the upgrade waitlist, and if so, am I correct in that as you are less than T-24, DL elites as well as MVP would all be ahead of you? Would a DL elite then get the upgrade at the gate over an MVPG?

baliktad

If used to be that if you were confirmed in First Class, you could SDC as long as there was any open seat in First Class (even if there was no U space and there were people on the upgrade waitlist!). This was a loophole that allowed SDC'ers to jump the queue. It has since been closed.

Now the behavior is that regardless of your upgrade, you can only use SDC to confirm a seat in your originally booked cabin. So if you bought a coach fare, and were subsequently upgraded, you can SDC only to the coach cabin. AFTER you have SDC'd, you are eligible to claim an upgrade if there is available U space. It is not automatic and you must click the "Request Upgrade to First Class" button during OLCI. This closes the loophole and ensures that those on the waitlist have priority over SDC'ers.

It's not clear where you will be on the waitlist if there is not U space available when you SDC, but I would expect that you would be below all other elites of the same or higher tier, and above all other elites of a lower tier.