I'd totally jump on that one to fly in F cabin! A couple of drinks per flight would cover that cost, and the better seat would be a bonus!

I wouldn't be so certain. I flew to DCA two Julys ago and was shocked that ~$400 was a lower fare bucket.

It's not a normal route to a big airport with ample competition and multiple nearby airports providing additional competition. It's a 3x/day to a small remote airport with only 1-hops on other airlines competing with it.

DCA traffic is currently higher than that of IAD, which is 14 times larger.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...b67_story.html

Not sure what that has to do with the mystery airport I'm talking about which I said was NOT DCA.

Monday's flight from ORD to DTW there were two seats in first still available on an A319 and was offered a buy up at $149. Seeing I had the bulkhead in C+, I declined:)

They must have had two other people take them up on it because first class had no seats when I got to the Skyclub. I have never missed that upgrade as a Diamond (and if I did miss it as a PM it was only one time). I noticed they didn't do a PDB service so at most the people in first got two drinks. I wasn't going to drink anyway on that flight and even if I wanted to I figured I could just grab another drink in the skyclub before paying the $149 and my seat had more leg room than a first class seat.

Just booked RDU-DTW-IAH-ATL-RDU for the first week in August for $67 total!! This is my third successful FCM on this route for under $70 since December.

Total in coach, or just for the upgrade?

If the former, do share the details.

No just for the upgrade. Paid $500 for K (out) & X (in) fare.

Six leg trip coming up in a couple of weeks. Flight times just off of peak. Flights cover two thirds of the country. All in for $144.

Worth it for the SDC possibilities alone....

When does DL start paying us to UG?

Go to seat selection page and see:

"Upgrade to first class and we will give you $150 round trip"

I was talking to someone today that had to fly ORD/DTW home on a last minute ticket. She was taking Amtrak and it was severely delayed so she decided to book a one way fare and have her husband pick her up in Detroit. First class was $60 cheaper than an S fare, plus she would have been checking a bag with no status so Delta lost on that revenue as well, so Delta basically paid her $85 to fly in First.

That explains why there were no first class seats available for upgrade Monday when I flew ORD/DTW.

I am sure when Delta brags to their shareholders about having all those sold first class seats they aren't telling them the seats are being sold for cheaper than an S fare and they are also losing out on the check bag fees.

An exceptional value! Go for it.

Just booked for the week of 6/8 to IAH and back. Followed up shortly thereafter with an FCM offer of $68.

Interesting. Someone in my office and I are flying DTW/DFW in August. He's FO and I'm diamond. We booked our tickets separately this morning, same flights and same fare class and paid the same for our tickets. Just looked at the buy up and it's over $500 for me to buy up to first class but yet he is on the same fare class and exact same flights and paid the same as I did and it's only $175 for him to buy up!!! WTH???? So now Delta isn't only making it harder for their most loyal flyers to get upgrades but they are charging them triple if they want to buy up from someone that flies over 100K fewer miles a year?????

If anything Delta should be offering a discount to their higher tier elites instead of charging them triple.

At least I got a lot better seat than he did (I have a C+ aisle which wasn't offered to him for free).