Does check in time matter
 

First post, so take it easy...

For Delta's upgrade process...I understand the different medallion levels and fare classes, but beyond that...

does it matter what time you check in? Or is the final tie breaker the time of booking?

thanks for the help

Welcome to FT, hattric73.

Time of check-in makes no difference at all. Final tie-breaker is time of upgrade request, which is generally when you booked the ticket.

Welcome to FT.

For upgrades, time of check-in does NOT matter. It is time of upgrade request (which is usually time of booking).

Yup what they said. On NW it DID matter and in-fact there were some creative ways to check-in and still get an EUA but not on DL. The process is much cleaner on DL and when you do check-in you will be slotted in line for the battlefield upgrade based on fare class (also did not matter on NW), status, and time of UG request, so essentially booking. You can check in 1 hour prior to departure and if you qualify you will be number one on the list. I like the DL method but I do worry that the focus on fare class could easily lead to reduction in upgradeable fares where NW took that out of the criteria (other than "Full fare" Y) and went with time of ticketing as well as check-in time which are fare class independent.

There is one other factor, time in Medallion class, in other words, how long someone has been a Plat, or how long someone has been a Gold, etc., having precedence over someone who has been a Plat for less time, if that person bought the same fare class ticket, for example.

Not at all.

Order of precedence is by elite status and fare paid. Y fares trump all (so it's DM Y, PM Y, GM Y, FO Y, then DM B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then PM B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then GM B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then FO B/M/H/Q/K/L/U/T, then companion upgrades by the same order as above).

First tiebreaker between two equal elites on the same fare is if one has a Delta Reserve American Express card. Second tiebreaker (in the case neither/both have Amex Reserve) is time of request.

Delta does not take into account how long one has been a Medallion or how many YTD MQMs one has at all with regards to the upgrade procedure.

I have not heard that before. NW was starting to use LTV (Long Term Value) but never actually rolled it into the UG algorithm and I don't know if they were ever planning to.

DL seems pretty straight forward as described above and yes, a newly minted Plat will Trump a 10 year plat on a higher fare class.

To be frank, what place did you pull that ridiculous idea from?

I've been told that several times by Delta personnel, including red jackets and other managers.

The above is not the case.

mersk862's post is correct for order of upgrade processing.

Its amazing how much rumour and misunderstanding there is surrounding the upgrade process. Many Delta employees most likely do not have the facts straight either further confusing the issue.

Especially on a topic where it is clearly posted on Delta.com. The information is widely available and easily accessible.

So? Please, rumors and BS are more interesting & powerful.

I'll have to say that I clearly prefer DL's method here. Especially since there is a strong inverse correlation between time of ticketing and fare class, i.e. the highest priced tickets are likely going to be the latest purchased.

And time of check-in would seem to punish those flying non-stop. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a pax can check-in for all segments of a multi-segment leg 24 hours prior the initial departure, right?

I wouldn't worry too much about DL eliminating upgrades on some fare classes. We had that many years ago (only K+ fares were upgradeable), I don't think they'll go back to that. Unless everybody else does, and then DL would probably follow suit.

I agree with you 100%. Yes, it is a much more fair system and the NW system could be gamed slightly with the check-in time thing. If you were not a FT reader you likely lost a lot of upgrades to those of us in the know.
The DL method is straight forward and fair.