logic behind upgrades?
 

i don't follow sometimes...

(don't take this the wrong way - an upgrade to the front is a big bonus for me --- i'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth here...)


my flight tomorrow:

Flight 1144 : Salt Lake City, UT to Washington (Reagan National), DC on 20 Oct 2009



xxxxxxxxxxxxxmy name here #9 of 21 on Upgrade List

Current Seat Availability Seat Availability First Coach
Total Available Seats 18 13




what is the logic behind these upgrades not processing at the usual 5 day out for plats?

again, just trying to understand the logic --- i might change my flight patters if i can better understand how the process works



TIA


doug

lots of info here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...about-ugs.html

an additional point of clarification...

"#9 of 21 on Upgrade List" indicates your position on the upgrade list at the time you checked in or last viewed the current upgrade list. It can change as additional pax check in online or at the airport. You can monitor the position on delta.com under "Itineraries and Check-in".

It looks like you do have a good shot at an upgrade at the gate, with 18 FC seats available.

If DL believes that they can sell the F seats, they will hold back those seats (sometimes some, sometimes all) for sale. Upgrades can clear at any time during your window.

Yes and it is not just straight FC sales...they also sell Y-UP seats close to departure to tempt a bit more revenue out of Biz travellers that are going to pay a lot (last minute) anyway.

..
 

roger all the above ...

i'm just trying to figure out if there are certain routes / days / etc. that one should avoid ... not "hit and miss" type guessing....

if i had to make a somewhat educated guess, SLC to DCA is a big time route for Delta since SLC is the west coast hub - again, not complaining at all....

i'm sure there is a pattern to this methodology... just trying to figure it out!


thanks for the replies tho


doug

Yesterday MSP-BOS NW 1075, I was #1 on the UG list with FC booked full. After boarding GA came on plane and moved someone from coach to first.

I checked the UG list before and after this occured, both cases I showed #1 on list. Could this pax offered to buy the UG?

Anyhow...I enjoyed my peanuts and soda and coach seat...

#1 throughout the process or #1 at the time of your boarding? It is possible that person that was brought up was #1 and boarded (assuming the upgrade wouldn't clear and taking themselves off the upgrade list).

Selling gate UGs is not supposed to happen unless there are seats left AFTER Medallions have been cleared.

Andy is right. It is possible. But it could also be a mistake.

Upgrade mix up that left me in Y

I usually fly out of IAD and very rarely get upgraded in advance on the IAD-XXX leg, though I'm about 90-95% at the gate. I definately think it's the market.

Something is messed up
 

I am beginning to think there are issues with upgrades, I looked at my next flight, at 6 days out there were 10 FC seats, today at 5 days out there are 5 and no upgrade. I am DL Reserve Plat on a B fare. I would chalk it up to a bunch of Y fares except it is the second flight in the last week this has happened and both are the only ones I purchased after my WP was linked on Oct 1.

I am ex NW flying on NW metal and never had issues upgrading until this week.

They could also be holding F seats for Federal Air Marshals, who pretty much always fly up front and in pairs. The FAM assignments are always changing based on daily threat assessments, so those seats could become free at the last minute before departure.

[Interesting note: An acquaintance who is a FAM told me he was once on a flight with 14 FAMs because of a known threat also aboard. I'll bet there was a whiny thread on FT shortly thereafter with someone complaining about not getting his upgrade!]

For me upgrades are working great on DL. Unfortunately, I have run into a problem now on NW but I'm not surprised. I have a 006 ticket with a DL-coded, NW-operated flight (LAX-LAS) on 10/26. There are R seats available but I have not been upgraded. My former NW WP Plat Elite # is in the reservation. All of my other flights on 10/26 (DL-coded and DL-operated) have all upgraded just fine).

As I mentioned, all other DL flights are upgrading on time with no problems recently. I guess NW still has issues with upgrades on codeshare flights. No big deal as I'm not likely to take the LAX-LAS flight afterall.

Good luck.

-RM

I was #1 with FC full an hour before boarding, same at half hour, same at boarding, still #1 after I boarded as well as when they moved the guy up. My gut says that the guy was a non-rev/employee as he had been chatting up the GA before the flight. Most likely someone missed their connection and they bumped up him instead of me...

Also, the total number of people on the UG waitlist remained at 20, both before and after they moved him. The guy was dressed casually and did not have a "pilot"-type roller case.

First, you can't judge a book by its cover.

Second you're saying "FC full". There is a difference between Checked-In FULL and Boarded FULL. There are many reasons why a F cabin could be Checked-In Full and not Boarded Full (misconnects, SDCs, cancellations, etc).

If you are #1 on the list, BEFORE boarding, I would ask the gate agent if F has BOARDED FULL? If the answer is YES, then you boarded. If the answer is NO, you ask if you still have a chance for the upgrade. The answer is usually, yes and you should NOT board and wait to see if that seat becomes available for upgrade.