I am also a dl elite and fly co occasionally. As soon as I put in my dl elite # the premium seats on co.com open up.

Has the OP tried putting in his co elite # on the reservation record on delta.com and then change seats to the premium section?

Hope fully this will work for you and you will not have to deal with the India call center morons.

As far as half elite credit goes I feel this is a co issue because when I fly NW as a delta elite I get full credit no matter what fare.

Talk about unfair...

-Vincent

Almost as unfair as certain CO agents who upgrade DL elites in violation of policy. If I can get "premium" seats on DL (with DL, the use of the word 'premium' is abit tongue in cheek), I have no problem with DL elites getting access to our premium seats - with the exception of the exit row seats blocked for CO Plats only.

Skyteam bennies can't all be one-way....but there are certain things I dont want to share :)

Those CO agent who upgrade Delta Elite PEEVE ME!

-Vincent

So my DL flight from JFK to ATH was completely full, as I expected this time of year, and seating was per airport assignment. Was hoping against hope for an OP-up upon reaching the counter after almost an hour waiting outside in the check-in queue. Interestingly enough, there was an agent walking the line who asked if there were any business-class passengers in the line. I asked him quietly if skyteam elite did anything for me, and he ushered me to the front of the queue. Of course, he also did this for any tom dick or harry who claimed a flight within the next 2 hours.
At any rate, I asked for a window seat. The agent referred me to gate check-in, where that agent said "I see you have requested an exit row" which I had not, but I was happy enough to get the exit-row aisle. Turns out that both exit rows are directly next to the bathrooms. 10 hours of constant bathroom usage right next to my shoulder was almost too much to bear. Who designed this cabin layout? I'd like to have a word with you.

Well I thought I'd follow up with what I heard from both Delta and Continental, which, in my mind illustrates why Delta seems to be universally loathed. Basically Delta replied with an e-mail saying (a) yes in fact they had moved me from row 36 to row 31 (and of course offered me a seat in a row further up that didn't recline, which I'd declined); (b) that no, they did not offer "preferred seating" to SkyTeam Elite members, only to Medallion members; and (c) if I'd like to become a Medallion member, they offered a Medallion challenge if I'd send them a copy of my Continental OnePass Elite card.

Continental actually *called* me and apologized profusely for the mix up, and let me know that they'd talk to Delta, to see if there was a misunderstanding about the elite seating policy so they could make it clear to their elite members. I was specifically told that CO elites should not have to ask to be transferred from the India call center to the Atlanta call center to request seating, and that they were working on that. I was also informed (which I figured) that Delta wasn't supposed to be offering status matches.

I won't go into a comparison between my Delta and Continental flights (some of my flights ended up being rebooked on CO codeshares because of a cancelled Delta flight), except to say that one bathroom on my Delta 757 from SLC to CVG had so much red maintenance tape on it that it looked like a crime scene. What ever happened to "The Airline Run by Professionals?"

That's odd. The last several flights that I've been on that had Delta flown segments all I did was call the CO Elite desk and have them take care of it. In every case I've not had a problem. In at least two cases I subsequently changed it again at the airport in ATL as well for bulkhead seats and in every case, with the exception of not being able to get my BP until I hit Atlanta, I've been in the first seating group...