i beg to differ. I am also chairman. at 7 days if there are ANY seats, I and companion automatically get upgraded. For the few times, the computer has not done it, a simple call does

BeatCal - I love to hear this stuff. When did you start flying? Looks like early 80's? What was your favorite plane?

It says it right there. "If an upgrade becomes available". Yes, the majority of the time I get upgrades, but just because there are open seats doesn't mean that they are "upgradable seats".

Case and point, I am flying PHX-DCA next week and I know for a fact that there are still 2 seats left available in first. If I were to buy 2 seats in F I would get those seats. However, I have not yet been upgraded because they are holding those seats for revenue. If the seats don't sell and there aren't any CP flyers with more miles then me, then I will get upgraded at the airport.

GN
Try something
If you are chairman and the computer does not upgrade you at 7 days, call and customer service will (at least they do for me, perhaps i have old fart by my name).

Irish
Favorite planes may have been the 720 and the original 747 with the piano bar upstairs.

Most fun airline: PSA :"Fly with us and get a rise, the business man's airline". I think their outfits were skimpier than Hefner's stews.

Most spoiling: dated an AA agent in college who made me a "V.I.T.". Used to fly student stand-by and got reserved first at airport.

Best Service: American's transatlantic first. They used to carve a prime rib with Russian or Iranian caviar.

Worse part of old days: had to fly with suit and tie.

I guess it might not be fair to the young turks, When I got mine, flying was actually fun. The stews were all young and cute. There was the "turtle club" and one always had a dinner/breakfast date if one wanted!

Thanks! Wouldn't miss the suit and tie, would love the prime rib. My wife is in the travel agency business and there was a time that simply showing her IATA card or business card was enough to get upgraded. That all stopped after 9/11...

Hey BeatCal,

Not trying to beat a dead horse, just wanted to give you an update. My flight to DC tomorrow is completely sold out up front, so no upgrade for me

I am flying PHX - SFO next monday and I did get the dreaded "No upgrade available" email. I checked the seat map and there are at least 4 seats still available, so I called like you said to.

The agent said that while there are still seats available for purchase in F, none of them are available for upgrade. I asked if that was true for Chairman and she said that all upgrades are now processed through the sweep and that they cannot manually do it. Hopefully they will release more seats for upgrades as we get closer to the departure date and I will get one then.

So, I guess that all Chairmans are created equal, but some are more equal than others.

Maybe I have not been "caught" after the sweep. I have had no problems with the manual - but it has been a few months since I have needed to call.

crap

if F isn't full on a US flight, then there are no other elites on the flight. Domestically speaking, that is.

Since retired 5 years ago, I haven't bought a DL ticket, but Ive been using plenty of miles for F tickets. I'm also lifetime PM. Now I need to do a simple overnight RT PDX-ATL in Sept. I'm only seeing 80,000 miles for an F ticket, so I'm thinking I might actually pay for the ticket. Two questions:

If I book a free coach ticket, it says I might get an upgrade. Is that a realistic expectation?

If I buy a coach ticket, it used to be that certain fares (e.g. Y) virtually guaranteed an upgrade at the time of purchase. Is that no longer the case?

I definitely do not want to take the chance of sitting in the back of the bus for such a long trip. Any advice appreciated. Thanks

Y still gets automatic upgrade at time of purchase if upgrade inventory is available. If you search by fare class for Y, it should say "Upgrade Available" instead of "Upgrade Eligible" on the website. Also note that as PM, you get free award redeposits and changes. Thus, you could book the 80K ticket and check regularly. If the price goes down, cancel and rebook. DL often makes more inventory available at the last minute. Also, with award upgrades, it's definitely worth searching within your upgrade window (five days out) for coach award tickets, as if there's upgrade inventory sitting around, you could get first class for 25K miles. Then just refund the miles ticket you booked earlier.

YMMV. I am a DM with 150K BIS miles last year. Employer is getting tougher on using the lowest fare from the online booking engine. That, combined with the UA/CO merger, has me on a status match challenge. So, I have "explored" the Star Alliance product. AUS has many RJ departures -- on almost all carriers (except AA and SW). What I have found is that DL's RJ FC product is VASTLY superior to anything in the Star Alliance. More FC seats (ergo, better chance for upgrade), better catering (dropped my jaw when UA handed me a cardboard box of junk food in FC on a 3.5 hr flight at meal time), real glasses in FC (vice plastic). And, US and CO have NO FC section in any of their "commuter" fleet -- prop or jet -- and they fly 3+ hours in them!

If you are in a RJ heavy market, and you have mid to high status, DL beats the socks off any FC offering in the Star Alliance fleet -- in every way.