meh130

Heck, I would like to see it so if you are Y/B/M and Z waitlisted, and there is a J seat available at the gate, you should get it.

Let's start small. No plane should dispatch with empty J seats and Y/B/M fare Z-waitlisted passengers in coach.

GBadger

I agree with others that the OP's solution will not work.
Basically, DL has gotten into a problem where there are too many SWUs in circulation (since they're not useable!) to make them readily useable (people will realize this eventually and switch carriers).

I would suggest something like MadBrewer suggested to solve the problem:
YBM=1 SWU each way
HQ= 2 SWU each way
K= 3 SWU each way
LUT= keep dreaming
This would get SWUs off of the books, while at the same time providing incentive to earn MORE SWUs by flying more, and, it would mean for a PM, they have one r/t upgrade from H/Q (which are not THAT cheap either) or one one way upgrade on K.

This, to me, would be much more valuable than the current system, and would encourage me to keep earning SWUs.

GBadger

Yes, but they also don't give out nearly as many of them!!!

meh130

Agree. Use ExpertFlyer to find the Z fares, call and buy the upgraded M fare in a single step.

However, Z seats are assigned in an irregular manner, so I would like to see a system where if you have to fly on a certain day, and there are no Z-fares available at purchase, that you could be upgraded at the gate if seats are available and you are on the Z-waitlist.

meh130

+1

I like the idea of buying a cheap fare to get the MQMs, rather than use miles to purchase the ticket. So this approach would be appealing to me. Add to this is it might be easier than the dreaded awards calendar, and it would drive revenue to DL, and retire financial liabilities from their balance sheet.

DFWsakp

What r u talking abt? Have you seen American Airlines policy?
They allow upgrading tickets using SWUs on the lowest of the lowest class of service. There is no fare class which cannot be upgraded (They now even included I and O, which were earlier excluded. I have even upgraded consolidated fares sold by travel agents).
I get 8 SWU certificates every year and they are worth more than 80 Delta SWUs any time of the day.
Delta needs to wake up.

5khours

About 20 (10 RTs) a year for the last 30 years with a few before that as well.

Marylou

That has been my experience exactly. For the extra $349, I would much rather have the security of being much higher up on the uh-oh list if anything goes awry.

MAH4546

An AA EXP gets eight per year while a DL Plat gets 4 (or is one allowed to "double select" the SWUs so that one can get 8 as a choice benefit?).

Most importantly, an AA EXP is actually able to make use of his/her SWUs.

5khours

The only way to fix this is to switch carriers. The problem started at NW a few years before the merger when NW made it almost impossible to UG with miles. I was a huge NW fan and made lots of phone calls and sent lots of email to try to get them to change. I was in denial for a year and a half before I finally made a change. Unfortunately I didn't know about FT back then, otherwise I would have benefited from the advice and encouragement of fellow travelers and made the switch earlier.

UA has a really good program where it is easy to UG on low cost fares and the seats in C are really, really comfortable. I understand AA has a good program too. It's really hard to make the jump after you have racked up all those miles, but at some point you just have to say "I'm not going to take it anymore."

GBadger

Yes, but how many miles are required for EXP? 100k, right? So how many DL elites are between 75-100k every year? And DL gives out another 6 at 125k. Does AA provide additional SWUs? Or just the 8?

I think that:
8x(number of EXP) << 4x(number of PM) + 10x(number of DM)

It's not the amount of certs per person that's important, but the total number in circulation. The only ways for DL to reduce that number (while providing an attractive benefit) are to:
a) increase the number of SWUs necessary for certain transactions (like use on KQH fares)
b) give out fewer to their members (and taking away isn't popular).

The first option gives them a method to do this while actually giving us MORE options for redemption...in some ways, a rare win-win.

DLItaly

MXP-TYS 03/15 rt 03/25 1495Euros vs 3190 (tax included)

+ If my customer pay the trip he has an economy ticket and no discussion for me....

jbcarioca

Actually AF does a fairly decent job of encouraging revenue C seats by having lots of pricing flexibility. I pay for C on AF 6-7 times per year just because of that. I recently went GIG-CDG-LHR rather than the BA nonstop just because AF was half the price and with better service to boot.

If DL would do that I'd be buying their product too.

Task Force DL

+1 on the AF fares, but DL does the same thing - The 50-day advance purchase "I" fares are competitively priced with AF/LH/OZ/NH "Z" fares. I have flown TATL and TPAC on I/Z for <$3500 many times. I even flew to India from SYR to BLR on AF recently for ~$3700. This is a damn good deal given that full "C/J" price is >$10k.

TFD

MAH4546

AA offers a year-end bonus for EXPs that hit 125,000 miles, and with that members can choose to take four additional eVIPs. Furthermore, hitting 200,000 miles (or 200 segments or 200,000 points) will get another 8 by request.

Regardless, the basic point remains: AA eVIPs are remarkably useful, Delta's are not.