I only missed two upgrades last year as a DC-based PM. Both were DCA-ATL, and five of the upgrades were RUCs (one of the RUCs didn't close).

I'm able to be super flexible with my schedule, and can avoid tough routes. Helps that I almost never fly during consultant times.

Wonder how many people in the SE (or SE of ATL) fly anything but DL.... I.E. how many DM's are there...

I had to go to California on short notice; I found a relatively low fare ($567 RT), about four hundred less than any of the 3 WAS airports, at CHO, about 75 miles from HEF. My itinerary was CHO-ATL-SFO. There were 2 open F seats on the 717, and I was the only name on the upgrade list; I cleared about 12 hours before departure; there were no medallions of any metal in Y on the flight (it was almost sold out) and one F seat went out empty.

I was on an A330-300 from ATL to SFO, and 24 hours before departure there were 7 F empties and I was #3 on the list; by 7 hours before departure, there were only 3 F seats left and I was #5 on the list. I called DL and got a reservationist to apply an RUC. She unchecked-in me, I re-checked in, but I did not move up the UG list. I called back and got a different agent, and it turned out the first one did not enter a priority code; when she did that, I shot up to #1 (by departure the list grew to 39 pax). DL sold (or gave out) one more F seat, but I got the happy news at 45 minutes prior to departure that my UG cleared.

I wonder how many current DMs will be relegated after 1/30/17.

How was CHO? I've been seeing some low fares there lately, so I'm thinking about giving it a try.

Fewer elites is definitely a draw haha. DCA-ATL is brutal.

Great little airport.

The airport is 7 miles north of Charlottesville, so driving south on US 29 you don't run into the congested commercial areas on the north side of the town.

The airport is about one mile west of US 29. There is just one runway, 3-21, a 6801 foot strip. Parking is $8.00 per day in an economy lot, and $10.00 in a lot across the access road from the terminal. There is a shuttle bus that serves the economy lot; the ride took something like 2 minutes.

The terminal is small but modern and somewhat stylish. They have TSA precheck there; when I arrived around 0450 there was just one person ahead of me in the precheck line; there were probably 100 people in the regular line. The TSA people I came in contact with actually seemed like decent human beings. Good for them.

In addition to Delta's 717 flight, there was a United commuter (propeller) plane bound for IAD and two American Eagle flights (I think CLT and LGA) leaving within a few minutes of each other.

Delta has the gate to the left of the exit from TSA. Delta has the only jetway at the airport; this is odd because the south end of the terminal is at ground level, while the north end is elevated (accessed by an escalator). The Delta jetway is basically a ramp; while the AA pax have to descend stairs to get to ground level to board their aircraft.

There is a restaurant and bar post-security. There was a good crowd in there, even though legal adult beverages didn't start until 6 am.

Delta's operations are run by DGS. The staff on my visit were friendly and competent. Boarding took maybe 10 minutes tops, and the door closed 8 minutes early.

As I live almost halfway between BWI and CHO, CHO is now a real alternative when DL prices its flights less than from DCA or IAD.

I drove down to CHO late Friday night-Saturday morning, when US 29 was basically empty, and enjoyed a nice drive, even though it was raining moderately. Got there in less than 90 minutes; I slept in the back of my van and got up at 0430.

The airport is building their own "Founders Lounge" post-security, but construction had not been completed.

My sister-in-law and her husband (a DL 5MM) live in Spotsylvania County; CHO is a real alternative for them (they use both DCA and RIC).

Hopefully the lounge will take PP. :D

I will definitely have to give it a try. Always fun getting to walk on the ramp.

I will second ND76 regarding the ease of getting between the western DC suburbs (exurbs) and CHO, and of negotiating the airport ... I lived in Manassas for 14 years; it was far less stressful to drive ~75 miles to CHO than ~70 miles to BWI at pretty much any time of day, even more so when leaving the airport at 2330EST after an 0545PST wakeup

Randomly looking at Google Flights, there's some really odd broken fares ex-CHO on UA and AA.

Like CHO-IAD-DTW-ORD on UA. Pretty cheap too. Looks like a segment elite's dream.

of course you'll have to enjoy the UX (Silver Air, iirc) Saab SF340 on CHO<-->IAD :D

A LOT!

Take for instance my last ATL-MCO flight. 10-12 seats in FC and ~40-50 people board with Prem. Now of course 1/2 could be 'cheaters' gaming the system because no GA actually cares when you board but even so that assuming 1/2 that is 20ish people just on that flight with a smaller FC.

I've been on flights out of ATL that as a PM on a W fare I was 15+ on an upgrade list.

Thing with MCO is there are a ton of DM's who fly here with the family - so since there's normally 4 or 5 on the record locator no upgrades, so as an FO I've had pretty good luck flying out of here (more than 75% upgrades). Most of the time i don't clear until the gate, but I've cleared on most of my flights to/from MCO.

Yah. Mostly just single people from my experience.

I am also fighting that when I am traveling I am going with known heavy travelers. I am a motorsports photographer and going from ATL I know 1/4 of my flight is drivers, crew and others. They fly a LOT... just like me. So always fighting each other.

Upgrades MCO-ATL or ATL-MCO appear to be a total crapshoot, sometimes wide open, sometimes no seats available at the gate. Thurs afternoon can be really hard, esp the earlier flights. I've been 10+ on the upgrade list as a DM.

MCO-DTW/DTW-MCO is usually an easier upgrade but is also wildly variable.

FO, got $89 FC offer PHX-MSP for an AM flight in early February. Jumped on it. Especially nice because I had to book economy for my employer, and the buy-up was less than the fare difference between that and FC if making a new reservation.

New offer $225.