Today - ATL-DTW
At check in on a 757 - 8 FC seats available - I was offered upgrade for $99 and passed. At the gate, 0 upgrades given so all were bought.
My take away - not worth $99 for FC on a 1:30 flight And what good is DM anymore?

some could have been SDCs

Yeahhh but probably not all.

I agree. EC gets free drinks anyway and if I'm going to a meeting it's not like I can drink a lot anyway. If I was on a high fare for that short of a flight there is a good chance of getting the upgrade anyway and if I didn't I'd rather spend the $78 for a meal aand a decent drink or two at the Stockyard in BNA.

I did, but it was still offering the upgrade option before 3/1.

But, assuming that you are not in C+, consider the benefits for the buy-up:

• No anxiety regarding whether you will get the UG
• A wider seat with more knee room
• Free drinks
• The famous FC snack basket
• The bonus RDMs and MQMs
• A two-minute head start off the plane
• And, most importantly, the boundless joy and profound sense of fulfillment provided by knowing that you have helped "train" a "sponge" by displacing his undeserving, freeloading butt back to coach, thereby reasserting your superiority over the common man.

:D

I personally prefer just to call in (preferably when they aren't having too many weather issues). That way, if there's any choice or negotiation, it can be handled immediately.

That was 78 Roundtrip for the confirmed upgrade.

that's what "some" means ...

Took $129 for MCO-LGA on 3/2

LMAO, You paid $39 for what as a PM on a 1:45 flight on a CRJ9, a mini F seat. And you GRABBED it like that was a bargain.

That $78 bought more than a seat. It bought the smug feeling of superiority over the rest of the flying public. That alone is more valuable to the OP than the silly FC seat or bag of brownie brittle...

And yet, Flyertalk is filled with hundreds of pages of Delta elites whining about their upgrade (or lack thereof) to a silly FC seat.

And I have never missed an upgrade on that route as a diamond and I'm pretty sure I was 100% as well on DTW/BNA, if not pretty close.

It says a lot about what Delta thinks first class is worth if they are selling upgrades that cheap. If someone were flying that route with no status and willing to pay for EC and 1 checked bag, they would probably be paying less for a first class seat-if I were a Delta shareholder I would be furious over that.

I haven't had to take that route in a while but I use to a lot. If I have to start taking that route again and am going to continually miss upgrades, I'll seriously consider Southwest instead for those trips. If I won't be getting the upgrade and not being able to get on an earlier flight easier if my meeting finishes early like it often does in Nashville, it may be smart for me to buy a business select fare on Southwest instead since they offer that route non-stop a few times a day.

...it's all perspective. Some value the seat, some value the bragging rights..