Was offered $160 again on SEA - RDU -- was tempted but declined (don't need the MQM as of now) and ultimately got the PM upgrade anyway so glad I saved the money

Tempting but probably not worth it...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...acad0a2e7.jpeg

A perfect example of how bad the pricing is with this buy-up scheme. With that many empty seats, Delta could drop the price to $500 and fill them in 5 minutes with diamonds and platinums. $949-ish is a couple hundred bucks more than I'd pay. I don't think I would go over $650.

I'd consider paying this for DTW-Aisa on an A350. Maybe.

Then again, if I'm on a $600 off-peak TATL ticket or something, paying $900 on both flights puts the total price to $2400. Pretty good for TATL J (plus you get the MQMs).

Monetization $ different for same itinerary
 

The last few times that I booked travel via work (Concur), the 1st Class upgrade cost for both miles and dollars was very steep ($1300 MSN to TPA with open cabins (confirmed via ExpertFlyer). However if I did a dummy booking for the same itinerary, the upgrade cost was at least 50%, or less. I did call Delta and was quoted a figure that was comparable to the personal booking. Thoughts on why this is happening?

Convenient "click here" online buy-ups are a market with a captive audience where only the seller has perfect information (the seller knows who the customer is, and also knows what the current market price is), while new bookings are a market with public information and competitive alternatives. Why would anyone be surprised that the convenient "click here" online buy-up is more expensive?

Interesting thoughts and do not disagree. However, I did the dummy booking immediately after ticketing and was logged in to Delta. The less expensive up-sell was at the very end of booking vs ticketed (which many have noted previously) so that could be ta factor. The surprise is the amount of the difference...

I'll keep monitoring to see if the trend continues and call the desk if I want to buy up and there is a big differnece.

This often happens to me with my Concur bookings. I assume it's related to my underlying fare class being a corporate fare so the system-generated buy-up is skewed.

I always call when this happens and have never had an issue (and they always waive the upcharge fee).

Was this price offered on a paid ticket or an award ticket? Wondering if I'll ever see something like this on the intl leg of my upcoming award flight. I see the domestic positioning leg has a cash upgrade offer (again, all an award ticket) but zilch on the int' leg.

Thanks!

I know this is a total YMMV situation, but don't pretty much all of the DTW-Asia route arrive late afternoon/early evening? The TATL upgrades are way more valuable because they all land in the morning, and no sleep on in the air makes for a rough day on the ground. My TPAC strategy (for flights arriving in the early evening) is just to power through the flight and pass out from 8 PM to 7 AM local time. Wake up feeling refreshed and now at least "somewhat" in sync with the local time.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c36848ac92.png
Comic relief

$850 and change for Detroit–Baltimore is absurd. It's one of the worst examples of first-class monetization that I've seen.

SEA-SFO roundtrip for 15K miles next weekend.

Current offer is $85 each way for F. I think it's a great deal, but F is completely empty, so I'll wait for upgrade.
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