ND76

If this comes off as b*tching or as otherwise narcissistic, please accept my apologies. Just wanted to relate my experience on my most recent DL trip.

I bought a pretty good package through Delta Vacations in order to get the best deal on a trip to LAS to attend the annual NAB Convention. I got round-trip air, hotel shuttle and 3 nights at the new Vdara hotel in the City Center development just south of the Bellagio. The Vdara is an all suite hotel without a casino, only a bar and a restaurant on the ground floor; very easy to go to the registration desk, and the elevators are just around the corner from the desk. Guest rooms are really, really nice, with a small but full kitchen, an excellent work area and two flat panel TVs. Great wireless internet setup. Only drawback is that it takes 10 minutes of brisk walking to get out to the Strip; the best access route is through the adjacent Bellagio hotel (there is a pedestrian bridge between the Vdara and Bellagio--there is also a tram that links this pedestrian bridge with the nearby Aria and Monte Carlo casino hotels).

To get the deal, I had to fly through JFK on the way out. I was booked on the last IAD-JFK-LAS connection of the day, with the JFK-LAS section departing at 2030. As there was only one upgrade seat left on the 2030 departure, I called the Diamond desk to see about SDCing. I was able to get on the earlier IAD-JFK flight (1215 departure), but couldn't SDC onto either the 1700 or 1815 departures to LAS. I decided to take the earlier flight to JFK, and, if worse came to worse, I could wait in a SC and drink beer while watching the Masters. On reaching the SC in T2, a very nice concierge got me on the standby list for the 1700 departure, which 3 hours prior to departure had 0 seats open in F and was oversold by 12 in Y.

By the time 1630 rolled around, the SC lounge between gates 10-11 was unbearably hot, so I decided to see where I stood on getting on the 1700 departure. As it turned out, I was cleared into coach. Further, there were now 2 unreserved/unassigned seats in F. Further, upgrades had not yet been processed at this point. There were three DL employees at the gate; one was at the podium; the other two were at the door. I went up to the lady at the podium and asked whether I could be added to the upgrade list, and told her that I was a DM. She tried to add me, but had problems operating the computer; to her credit, she walked me over to the two DL women at the door, introduced me to them by name, told them that I was a DM, and asked them to upgrade me. Both of them refused. I asked them whether there were any DMs on the upgrade list. They told me no, but to take my seat in Y, which I did as I did not want to start an argument and end up in the custody of New York's finest.

Then, just before the door closed, one of the DL GAs at the door came onto the flight, fished out a guy sitting in an exit row in Y and seated him in BE (this was a TATL 767-300 with a 36 seat BE cabin). I'm not sure what happened to the other seat in the forward cabin (according to the GIDS, there were two people on the same reservation who were 1 and 2 for the upgrade). By fishing a man out of Y and seating him in BE, I'm guessing the GAs never got around to processing any upgrades, so shenanigans may well have been afoot on this particular flight.

Further affiant sayeth not.

PMMMDL

The person upgraded by the GA could have been above you in upgrade priority without being Diamond, such as a Silver with a travel disruption.

ND76

As it was my belief that the people at the top of the UG list were a male and female couple (they had the same last name), and the guy that was upgraded was sitting next to another male he could not possibly have been related to, why wasn't he #1 on the GIDS? And, what happened to the other seat in BE?

NHFL9

This doesn't sound right. Once you were confirmed onto the flight you should have been added to the upgrade standby list. I would suggest asking for a Red Coat or supervisor next time.

I'd also suggest emailing DL. Keep it short and sweet (i.e. Stood by for flight 123, once confirmed on the flight, Gate Agent [insert name if you have] refused to add me to the upgrade list. Sat in coach, would have been in first had I been added to the upgrade list.

Heck, perhaps I'm wrong and it is DL policy to not upgrade in this situation? Doesn't seem right though.

rylan

Yes you should've been added to the upgrade list. No reason for the GAs to refuse if they hadn't processed it yet and there were still F seats available... that is unacceptable.

WBurcham

You are not wrong. OP should have been on UPG list.

jwhuffman

I checked that flights list and there were only 2 nrsa people on board and both were seated in coach at the very back of the plane, one had an aisle and the other was in a middle seat, but around 10-15 rows back from the exit.

So everyone sitting up front were actual paid and medallion members.

Jwhuffman

buck hunter

Thinking it is "high time" that someone in management starts taking a look at what is happening on these various UG's !! Maybe the GA is being given way too much authority or authority he/she cannot handle properly. I have witnessed many shenanigans taking place at the gate with UG over the past few years...both with NWA and DL. Seems no one in managment heeds the customers complaints in this area??

PMMMDL

What "shenanigans"?

1. We know that there were no NRSA's upgraded.

2. We do not know the status of the person who was upgraded. There might have been alot of same day disruptions that would have a higher priority than a DM.

3. We do know that that they did not add the OP to the upgrade list, but that may have been a moot point. If there were already alot of people on the list with a higher priority than the OP (a la disrupted travel) and only 1 or 2 seats, then to be added to the list or not is inconsequential.

GBadger

Well said. The only thing that went wrong here is the OP not being put on the upgrade list. But, there's a chance, as noted above that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.