"But Mom... Susie gets to go to the Mall Friday and stay out all night. Why can't I do it too?"

Translated... misleading advertising is OK because everybody does it. :td:

It's another variation of the old "bait and switch", with the airlines redefining what "direct" is supposed to mean.

Be careful if Delta offers you a blue Popsicle.

DL 24 RDU-ATL-DUS. Obviously an aircraft change (M88 to 767).

It took a while, but I figured it out.

ROFL.

Definition of Successful Marketing... where someone tries to convince you to pay more than you should, for something that you really don't need, and in the end you don't get what you thought you were buying anyway. :D

Just remember, the difference between marketing and sales is that marketing knows they are lying to you.

DL 186/187, HKG-->DTW-->BOS and the reverse.

Delta has always been very accommodating to me in these kind of situations...
2 ways to get the upgrade ...
1.after you buy the ticket on Delta 1 LAS to LHR call SMS and have them break the flight into LAS-JFK and JFK-LHR one will have upgrade requested the 2nd will not...you will also earn 2 segments
or
2. at the upgrade window say 6 days out if the flight shows upgrade available
call and have them do a V class override...they will still break the flight into 2 segments

be positive and polite...it can be done

You can also buy the ticket like that in the first place. Usually costs about $5 more because of taxes, but at least you're confirmed that way.

You can massage delta.com into it by searching multi-city, sorted by schedule and pick the same flights you would have otherwise picked. So long as it prices as the same fare (it usually does), you're good to go.

As for the OP's desire to make a list of flights, might want to include Hawaii flights as well since Hawaii will negate the upgrade just the same (e.g., DL1299 SLC-LAX-KOA).

You're among the fortunate. We've had plenty of reports here from people who've asked very nicely and had agents who couldn't/wouldn't do that.

While the idea of this thread is nice, I'm not so sure I get the point. If someone is going to have enough forethought to check this before booking, couldn't they also just check the flights themselves?

I think alot of people book a flight rather quickly sometimes and since these are somewhat rare, if they have read this thread before they might thing, hmmm, I should double check my flight to make sure there isn't a hidden domestic connection I won't get upgraded on because of a technicality.

DL30/31 (SFO-JFK-SVO and reverse)
DL46/47 (SFO-ATL-SVO and reverse)

Pretty sure the term for it is "bait and switch." And it's illegal. Whether Delta is baiting and switching with these flights, I can't say, as I haven't seen any advertising/marketing about them.