gooselee

I read that as cappilot having access to information that the rest of us do not, and thus encouraging OP to write DL as there was a very clear violation of protocol in this situation. I could be wrong. I don't know.

Re: the you board, you lose "policy" - Again, I may have missed a thread, but the last time I saw a thread really unpacking that with several people trying to get answers from DL, I thought the result was that there IS no policy, other than it's up to the GA to decide who to upgrade and their driving goal is to dispatch the flight on time. Thus the inconsistency in GAs who pull up already-boarded pax vs. upgrade those left in the gatehouse vs. leave the seats empty.

As of right now, UGs are a published benefit and should be executed in a consistent way to avoid uncertainty and doubt like this. GAs should refrain from outright lying to pax, as well.

Believe me, I'm a fan of WFBF, but stories about GAs making up their own policy like this also hit a nerve because of my own past experiences. In one case, I was booked on a P fare due to an emergency and that being the only thing left. Managed to escape from a work meeting and went to the airport early, where I SDC'd to an earlier flight but got a middle seat in coach as F was booked full. At the gate was #1 of many on the UG list.

Agent acknowledged FC fare and said there might be misconnects and I should wait in the gatehouse. Finally, he was calling for final boarding, and I asked if there were any empty seats left in F, as I had been waiting for a seat in my purchased class of service. He says sorry, plane is completely full, get on board.

Boarding door shuts 5 minutes early with two empty seats in F. End result, I got where I needed to be safely and quickly, but paid an exorbitant amount of money for a crap seat in the back which I would not have been stuck in if the GA had simply not been too lazy to process the "UG"...

davetravels

1) The jump seaters could have taken the seat(s) that were vacated in Y by the UGs.

2) At what point should someone board, or not board? The OP specifically asked whether or not F was full, was told yes it was full. Should he STILL NOT BOARD? What more exactly should one do, in your opinion, in this situation to ensure they are getting the proper UG treatment? !?

houserulz77

Come now Dave. If OP wanted to sit in the first class cabin, he should have purchased a first class ticket. After all, the only purpose of OP's platinum status is to lend credence to his complaints when there are GM's ahead of him in the the Sky Priority line.

apolloms

as someone else said, it looks like you got hosed by the gray area of boarding and losing your spot on the list. Technically, once the door is shut the FAs can move anyone up front they want, but this seems have been before the door even shut. I think DL needs to make a consistent policy about this issue and then there either will/won't be expectations. As someone else also mentioned, in the future, make sure you ask if it's boarded full. I've had times where there was a multi hour delay and some pax got fed up and switched to a different flight and i got moved from the cockpit jumpseat to F....it just happens sometimes.

bubbashow

There comes a point where getting 150 people pushed on time is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than a Medallion upgrade. At what point should DL draw the line?

woodford02A

I thought there was a consistent policy: you board, you lose your shot at an upgrade.

I think a lot of folks expect GAs to come on board and pull them up front if seats become open, but per the policy above, it's only a 'surprise and delight', not a hard and fast rule that this will always occur.

bubbashow

careful, Woodford, don't hit 'em with the truth.

davetravels

1) In the specific case of this OP, the GA had PLENTY of time to UG him at the podium, and then simply put the nonrev into his Y seat.

2) The "Pushing back on time is far more important than Medallion UGs" is always your mantra. Apparently Delta doesn't value the perception to upper level Medallions that happens when they advertise unlimited space available UGs, and they see the plane go out with empty seats in F or uniformed employees there. If they can't manage the program efficiently and transparently, perhaps they should discontinue it, which would surely lead to lost business.

I feel certain that for every Medallion we see who posts here about this stuff, there are dozens, if not hundreds of Medallions a day who see this and are left with a bad taste in their mouths. I guess they simply don't care, since they only have 2 true competitors now.

The GA outright lied to the OP about the status of the empty F seats. How do you think that slap in the face is perceived by multiple Medallions every day?

sethb

If First Class has already fully boarded, then those seats are available so sit in one of them.

bubbashow

Obviously not as seriously as on FT. DL seems to be performing just fine. I'm a Medallion and it is far more-important to me to make my connection and get where I am going than to have someone (maybe even me) be sorted out for an upgrade.

apolloms

there is no 'official' policy but that is what usually happens. I've been on a lot of flights during my commutes where GAs have come on board and upgraded people from the UG list due to misconnects and things of that nature...

krlcomm

+100

dilbertsdaddy

Not to change the subject, but what's up with that? I usually get a response in a couple of days and I sent a request two weeks ago and still don't have a response.

jamesteroh

If I'm number 1 or 2 on the upgrade list with zero seats I always ask the agent if they will pull me if someone misconnects. Usually they say they will but if they say it no or it depends on how much time they have I will wait by the gate and have gotten a couple upgrades that way, one time I was number two and number 1 had boarded and there was one no show so that worked out great for me. Once on a lax/dtw flight I was number 4 or 5 of zero seats so I didn't even bother and the GA came on board and gave me a boarding pass for first class right before they closed the door so not sure what happened there but I was happy on that long of a flight.

If the OP didn't ask the GA if they would come up and pull him if there was available seats then he really can't complain. If the GA told him they would or that first had BOARDED full and they upgraded non-revs then I would be furious.

gooselee

+1

The problem is there is no consistent or official policy. Those that chant "you board you lose" are trying to make it fact, but I would say on MOST of my flights where there's an empty seat in F at T-5, I notice the GA coming on board to pluck one or two people from the back.

Several options here:
DL can clearly state that there are no on-board upgrades. GAs don't have to do the BFUGs and those who want to hold out hope can linger in the gate area.

DL can clearly state that they will always process on-board UGs at exactly T-10 using the original list. It puts extra work on GAs and possibly delays the flight, but at least The Entitled know they'll be pulled up if there's a seat.

DL can clearly state that UGs will always be run by the original list, but BFUGs will be handled by giving the lead FA a final manifest/new BPs, and then the pax being pulled up from Y after the flight is at cruising altitude (thus not slowing down boarding/pushback).

DL can clearly state that they will not process UGs beyond those that are cleared at T-30, period. If there's an empty seat in F, they will fill it with someone from the standby list, no matter how many medallions are standing around in the gatehouse. If there are no standbys left, the seat goes out empty.

There are things to like and dislike about each of the above options. But if someone at DL would just write the policy down, train GAs appropriately, and reinforce the consistent application of such a policy, nobody would be left playing the guessing game.

Then there's the unstated obvious: This simply is not, nor should it be, a priority for DL. Their planes are going out full and all of us that complain about SHENA continue to book tickets. Empowering the GAs overwhelmingly results in getting the flights out on time, so a few medallions upset at the lack of an upgrade policy likely ranks drastically low on their list of things to pay attention to.