thehowieee

Ditto on the award availability. The only way I'm flying on vacation to SFO from BOS with my wife will be on paid non-stop option. If I could confirm seats up front for a reasonable amount of miles I'd use my SM's, but if I can't confirm with a SWU and a higher fare class; no thanks. I'll instead pay the $230-260 knowing that I'll get Channel 9, or satellite TV and my wife will be happy.

... was going to book a trip to SFO for my parents, but the only thing for a reasonable amount of miles in F was BOS-DTW-MSP-SFO, yeah, no thanks. ... almost as bad as what I had to do to get them to OGG; BOS-MSP-LAX-HNL, and then a flight the following day on go! to OGG ... love that easy award availability especially when its all on DL metal! blech.

LADELTA777

Upgrades on this fly are only available 30 minutes prior to departure there is no pre clearence for this flights, LAX-JFK or SFO-JFK

wilsonnyc

I'm sort of curious to see if this is a recent change. I flew these routes prob 3-4 times late last year and always cleared 6 days out, but the times i've flown the route this year, i've had to wait until about 5-10 mins before board until the upgrade cleared. I wrote to Delta about this (the late nature of the UG meant that last time i flew, the GA ended up incorrectly separating myself from my GM travel companion on the same PNR, which caused some issues during boarding) and in the very apologetic reply, they noted that they were unaware of any specific change to policy regarding advance upgrades on the LAX/JFK + SFO/JFK routes.

On our return flight, we were upgraded the morning of the flight (which was nice), but I think that was a manual job from someone at Delta as a response to my email (again, very appreciated) because we both received a 50% MQM boost as if we had paid for F. So who knows what official policy is. I've heard different things from everyone.

I guess my issue is, why wait until just before boarding to upgrade Medallions on these routes, when there are sometimes 13-14 open seats and only 6-7 Medallions on the UG list? As is evidenced in my case, it ended up just causing issues for the GA, and then, subsequently, for us, when we were unable to choose our seats before enough UGs were processed to make it so that there were no 2 seats together anymore. It just adds stress to the trip and I now feel as if I need to get to the gate 50-60 mins before takeoff to make sure nothing goes wrong in the seat assignments, as opposed to checking in and relaxing at the Skyclub. Sort of negates the experience of the Skyclub, imo.

LADELTA777

I know this, last time I flew LAX - JFK I went to the counter & was talking to the gate agent, and I saw a memo on the Gate Agent desk, pretty much saying all these flight are to clear no sooner than 30 minutes prior to departure, this does not mean it was a legit paper.
This is what I read.

GBadger

As I posted in the other thread, that's not completely true.

I've been cleared at the 6/5 day PM window for these flights on 2/4 occasions.
And yes, this is since the BE service started (December).

So, though not likely, it IS possible (or at least WAS possible) to get cleared in advance.

layble

I also flew JFK-SFO on Tuesday (first flight of the day) and there were 25+ people on the upgrade list so YMMV.

KLC

As noted in the xref'd thread, the change appears to have been made with the marketing of the SFO-JFK and LAX-JFK nonstops as BE. The upgrade buckets for these flights are typically "X0" (zero), in which case advance upgrades are not processed. It's not a policy change, just an application of the availability rules. The normal priority pecking order applies for the gate upgrades as well.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...l-upgrade.html

wilsonnyc

I hear ya, I got advance upgrades last December as well.

Curious to see when your last advance upgrade was. My last experience 2+ weeks ago seemed to indicate some sort of change in how upgrades were processed. i.e., despite there being 13 seats open and 6 medallions on the list, *no one* cleared until about 5-10 mins before boarding. When we checked in at JFK, the lady at the medallion check-in counter indicated that they were not doing advance upgrades anymore. Any other time i've flown this route and there's been such availablity in F (and such a low # of medallions on the UG list), I at least was upgraded an hour or so prior to flight (and could see my seat assignment from the SkyClub or at the kiosk).

It stinks because if they really have changed policy and they are not officially clearing upgrades until 5-10 mins from boarding, it just means i need to get to the gate earlier and I have less control over my seat assignment. Add in a medallion travel companion and you need to absolutely be vigilant to make sure you are not separated as UG's get processed. Add that all up and I'm heading to the gate prob 20-30 mins earlier than i would otherwise as opposed to working/imbibing/relaxing at the SkyClub.

vatraveler

Pretty annoying that they make these all battlefield, when loads of F seats are open.

WBurcham

Same here, if I WANT To use a PMU or miles to upgrade, they should let me do so. Then again, under the current system, I can upgrade w/a PMU & change to "V" inventory once it becomes available.

Remember for domestic F tickets, you can SDC for no charge into F.

This is recent, IIRC January saw this instituted. However, there are very often more medallions than available seats, even on lighter days/times.

It was... they are having significant walkup business building so are holding upgrades back now until the gate. Also saves them $$ for SkyClub entrance (avail to J/X/Z on some/most transcons to/from JFK).

Agreed.

Buster CT1K

I did clear 5 days out JFK-SFO the Friday evening of MLK weekend. Battlefield upgrade (barely made it as a plat) three days later.