Consolidated: Upgrading on Alaska Airlines as a Delta elite
After wading through the 12 pages of the AS upgrade thread, I think I'm starting to get a handle on the best way to handle upgrades on an Alaska Airlines flight as a DL elite, and wanted to post a quick summary for others to review. I'll try to edit this post to fix inaccuracies as they're pointed out, and moderators should feel free to do so as well.
Hope this is helpful! Thanks in advance for reading/reviewing; special thanks to RobOnLI, Stripe, GBadger, mudbug31, skip1421, opus17, bradfrancini, philfna, stephem, akonradi and all the other reviewers for questions or corrections that have been incorporated into this post. Here's my understanding of how it works: At booking time:
Before the flight:
At the airport:
After the flight:
Open questions:
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Thanks for the comprehensive summary! The implementation of this program has been so inconsistent and spotty. It would be nice if DL would post something simple and clear like this. Until then, I imagine most would be prone to just sticking to DL metal.
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Definitely agreed that implementation has been spotty - although a lot of the kinks seem to have been worked out now, and scoring an upgrade on my flight tomorrow turned out to be completely painless once I learned to try the "Upgrade to First Class" link.
I'll always prefer to book Delta metal when I can, and upgrade reciprocity likely won't change that. AS isn't a bad airline, though, and living in Seattle it can be hard to avoid them in certain situations (in particular, SEA-SFO is nearly impossible to book on DL metal, and if you're time constrained an AS direct flight starts to look pretty attractive on other routes too...) Now that AS elites are getting upgrades on Delta as well (which started a week or two ago, apparently), I'm optimistic things will be a bit more consistent from here on out. Plus, the AS board rooms have pancake machines and soup. So full of awesome. |
This is really helpful. BenA, thanks for taking the time to put it together and post it.
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Originally Posted by BenA
(Post 15417658)
[*]Attempt to check in on AlaskaAir.com at exactly T-24 before your flight. On the seat assignment page, there's a small link at the top: "Upgrade to First Class". Have some faith and click it - it won't automatically charge you despite it looking like an upsell :) If upgrade inventory is available, you should clear at this point.
Originally Posted by BenA
(Post 15417658)
[*]As I understand it, there is no upgrade list on Alaska within T-24; you need to be proactive with chatting with airport agents if you want the upgrade. This is apparently a sore point with AS elites and may change around the end of 2010, so this information may be out of date by the time you read it.
The sore point right now with AS elites is that anyone doing OLCI with U inventory available can snag the upgrade. AS currently doesn't have a process kick off when U becomes available to upgrade the first eligible MVP Gold or MVP elite. So if a DL elite checks in and U just opened up, the DL elite can grab it. This is what many are unhappy with and this is what AS is fixing in the next month or so. Supposedly as AS fixes this bug they will also add automatic addition to the upgrade list for DL elites. I haven't heard if they are adding automatic upgrade processing for DL elites, though. -RM |
This is a little off topic but kind of a relevant question:
Don't AS Elites get "Sky Priority" and free checked bags on Delta? If so, why wouldn't DL elites get free checked bags on AS??? |
Originally Posted by BenA
(Post 15417658)
[*]As I understand it, there is no upgrade list on Alaska within T-24; you need to be proactive with chatting with airport agents if you want the upgrade. This is apparently a sore point with AS elites and may change around the end of 2010, so this information may be out of date by the time you read it.
Originally Posted by RobOnLI
(Post 15421197)
This part also isn't correct. There is definitely an upgrade list under T-24. Most airport stations print out the upgrade & standby lists and post it at the counter of your flight. DL elites can be put on this list at airport check-in or by the Board Room.
Originally Posted by RobOnLI
(Post 15421197)
The "Upgrade your flight" link *only* appears if upgrades are available. Otherwise that link will not appear at all and you will know right away whether you can be upgraded or not. ...
DL elites can be put on this list at airport check-in or by the Board Room. The sore point right now with AS elites is that anyone doing OLCI with U inventory available can snag the upgrade. AS currently doesn't have a process kick off when U becomes available to upgrade the first eligible MVP Gold or MVP elite. So if a DL elite checks in and U just opened up, the DL elite can grab it. This is what many are unhappy with and this is what AS is fixing in the next month or so. Supposedly as AS fixes this bug they will also add automatic addition to the upgrade list for DL elites. I haven't heard if they are adding automatic upgrade processing for DL elites, though. Upon check-in in SNA for my return flight, the kiosk had the "Upgrade to First Class" button greyed out and F was indeed full. It's not clear whether or how DL elites are automatically added to the airport upgrade list. On my outbound, my first flight was on DL so DL checked me in on the AS flight. The AS phone agent the night before said I was on the upgrade list. On my return, I checked in on alaskair.com. When I called after OLCI to inquire about the upgrade, the agent said that I was not eligible for an upgrade because I was on a DL ticket. That was clearly wrong, but because F was sold out at that point there was no point in pushing back. I was never added to the upgrade list. On both flights AS had my DL status correct. For now, DL elites have to be pretty proactive to get the upgrade. IMO the old system of AS upgrade certs we had at NW was simpler and worked better. I was 100% using those. |
Originally Posted by BenA
(Post 15417658)
[*]Check your itinerary on Alaska.com to make sure your SkyMiles number appears correctly. If it does, you should appear as "Delta SkyMiles Elite [Gold|Platinum|Diamond] Member #******####". If not, remove and readd your number.
Interesting...Have others found this to be the case? My reservation (DL flight number on AS metal) shows my SM # correctly on alaskaair.com, but does not say anything about my status. If it's supposed to be there, then this would explain why when I called in, the AS phone agent was "doing me favors due to my wife's gold status with Delta". As a PM, that really puzzled me at the time... |
Well, I'll be... When I check my wife's reservation, it shows "DL-elite" next to her number. Mine says no such thing... Time for a call to AS, I guess.
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Originally Posted by GBadger
(Post 15421647)
Well, I'll be... When I check my wife's reservation, it shows "DL-elite" next to her number. Mine says no such thing... Time for a call to AS, I guess.
Originally Posted by GYEWorldTraveler
(Post 15421311)
This is a little off topic but kind of a relevant question:
Don't AS Elites get "Sky Priority" and free checked bags on Delta? If so, why wouldn't DL elites get free checked bags on AS??? |
Originally Posted by mudbug31
(Post 15421683)
I almost always have to call AS to make sure my DL number is properly inserted into the reservation, but when it is, it always shows up as 'DL-Elite.'
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Originally Posted by mudbug31
(Post 15421683)
I almost always have to call AS to make sure my DL number is properly inserted into the reservation, but when it is, it always shows up as 'DL-Elite.'
AFAIK, AS Golds and 75K Golds can use Sky Priority and get free baggage, etc. No such provision is currently in place for DL Elites/Sky Priority, one of my biggest gripes with flying AS at this point. |
Thanks all for the corrections! I've updated the OP to fix my errors... really appreciate everyone taking the time to chime in.
-Ben |
Originally Posted by Stripe
(Post 15421524)
It's not clear whether or how DL elites are automatically added to the airport upgrade list. On my outbound, my first flight was on DL so DL checked me in on the AS flight. The AS phone agent the night before said I was on the upgrade list.
For now, DL elites have to be pretty proactive to get the upgrade. IMO the old system of AS upgrade certs we had at NW was simpler and worked better. I was 100% using those. And DL elites have to be prepared to push the AS agents when they refuse to add us to the upgrade list. You do have the right to be there and the AS agent should add you. The AS agent is correct in that all DL elites (even Diamonds who fly a heck of a lot more than most AS elites) are behind all MVP's. Yes, DL does provide Sky Priority and free baggage to AS elites as if they were DL elites. It's sort of one-sided right now. -RM |
I would also add the status of upgrades to HI on the "open questions" list.
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