Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > Delta Air Lines | SkyMiles
Reload this Page >

First Class Monetization, or FCM: The Definitive Thread

First Class Monetization, or FCM: The Definitive Thread

Old Feb 20, 2019, 3:42 pm
  #4291  
Marriott Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: CVG
Programs: DL DM 4MM, Lifetime Marriott Plat Elite, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,429
Data FC monitization working..

More of a fun thread, so please don't flame the usual WFBF. Flew yesterday ATL to SLC. 767 with 30 seats up front. Comfort plus was full 11 days out. At diamond UG window (and yes I am a Diamond), 9 seats available, no upgrade for an "M" fare. 2 days out 6 seats available, perhaps another Diamond member cleared. T-24 check in, 4 seats available. #1 for upgrade. T - 4 hours #3 for the upgrade, 1 seat available. So, I burned an RUC and bumped backed to #1 and got the ONLY available upgrade seat. So the good thing is that I got the upgrade!

I tell you all that to share what the passenger manifest for FC showed: 2 Diamonds up front, myself being one of them. Couldn't count the number in back as the page was folded, but I would infer many from what I could count. Quite a few Golds, and even 3 silvers and a smattering of Plats up front. The NO status was more telling with 7. The data shows people are finding ways other than status to fly up front. And yes, they could have paid with miles to upgrade the ticket at purchase, or with cash, or an award ticket or done a SDC with a FC fare. I just find it interesting that only one (me) upgrade got processed on a Tuesday afternoon on an "M class ticket and had to use a RUC to get it! This is the new Delta.
DL Platinum is offline  
Old Feb 20, 2019, 3:57 pm
  #4292  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: MCO
Programs: DL PM, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 4,273
Originally Posted by DL Platinum
More of a fun thread, so please don't flame the usual WFBF. Flew yesterday ATL to SLC. 767 with 30 seats up front. Comfort plus was full 11 days out. At diamond UG window (and yes I am a Diamond), 9 seats available, no upgrade for an "M" fare. 2 days out 6 seats available, perhaps another Diamond member cleared. T-24 check in, 4 seats available. #1 for upgrade. T - 4 hours #3 for the upgrade, 1 seat available. So, I burned an RUC and bumped backed to #1 and got the ONLY available upgrade seat. So the good thing is that I got the upgrade!

I tell you all that to share what the passenger manifest for FC showed: 2 Diamonds up front, myself being one of them. Couldn't count the number in back as the page was folded, but I would infer many from what I could count. Quite a few Golds, and even 3 silvers and a smattering of Plats up front. The NO status was more telling with 7. The data shows people are finding ways other than status to fly up front. And yes, they could have paid with miles to upgrade the ticket at purchase, or with cash, or an award ticket or done a SDC with a FC fare. I just find it interesting that only one (me) upgrade got processed on a Tuesday afternoon on an "M class ticket and had to use a RUC to get it! This is the new Delta.
When you noticed that the FC seats were dissapering, did the number of overall seats available decrease or stay the same? With how terrible the FCM offers have been lately, the seats that where dissapearing where probably last min FC purchases which isn’t uncommon for a transcon ex ATL and I would guess SDC on the day of departure. I wouldn’t be sweating over an UG on a domestic 767 anyway as they have the worst FC seats in the DL fleet. Seriously, when are these old birds ever going to leave the fleet? I thought they where all supposed to be gone a few years ago?
MCO Flyer is offline  
Old Feb 20, 2019, 4:14 pm
  #4293  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,742
Don't forget that some domestic FC seats get taken by people on international J connections who don't select a seat until they check in.

I'm sure there was some FCM on that flight, but I wouldn't attribute all of the disappearing seats to FCM.
gooselee is offline  
Old Feb 20, 2019, 4:55 pm
  #4294  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHX, SEA
Programs: DL Silver, Avis President's Club, Hertz President's Circle, Global Entry (Former AA Plt/Gold)
Posts: 4,417
I'm looking at an FCM offer right now, but buying two offers in the app comes out to more than calling to upfare my ticket instead (purchased by a corporate TA who gave me the green light to upgrade if I want).
Gig103 is offline  
Old Feb 20, 2019, 5:54 pm
  #4295  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: DL PM 1.57MM; AS MVPG 100K
Posts: 21,304
Originally Posted by Gig103
I'm looking at an FCM offer right now, but buying two offers in the app comes out to more than calling to upfare my ticket instead (purchased by a corporate TA who gave me the green light to upgrade if I want).
that's exactly what I just saw ... booked DCA-DTW-SEA thru Concur for tomorrow, H-->D was on the order of $270 which is fine ... but an hour or so after I completed the Concur transaction I still wasn't able to check in (the website message was something like "We are unable to validate your ticket" which basically meant that it was still in the ticketing queue) ... worse, I noticed that DCA-DTW would be in Main Cabin, so the usual routine (upfaring only the as-booked flights) probably wouldn't leave me with a DCA-SEA fare basis -- which would of course screw up my SDC plan

called the corporate Concur desk, got the agent to switch the booking to DCA-ATL-SEA which had both H and D, then was on hold with DL for about 10 min ... during which time D vanished, so I was looking at ~$1700 for a J fare (with wonderful segment-by-segment buyup offers of $109 and $429 )

OLCI let me SDC (still in H) to DCA-MSP-SEA which still had D; the OLCI offer was only for MSP-SEA ($369 ); called DL to upfare the whole trip to D, but the PM line agent refused to touch the ticket or engage a supervisor ... called Concur back and spoke with a different agent who put a release in the PNR; OLCI "Change Flights" option brought up a better ATL connection for a $238 add-collect ^
jrl767 is offline  
Old Feb 21, 2019, 10:38 pm
  #4296  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHX, SEA
Programs: DL Silver, Avis President's Club, Hertz President's Circle, Global Entry (Former AA Plt/Gold)
Posts: 4,417
Originally Posted by Gig103
I'm looking at an FCM offer right now, but buying two offers in the app comes out to more than calling to upfare my ticket instead (purchased by a corporate TA who gave me the green light to upgrade if I want).
I thought I'd follow up on this. I checked the app last night and it was $149 one direction but $430 the other direction. Since a dummy booking shows the FC fare was $720 total (upfare of about $327), I called the FO Medallion phone number to do that instead. The interesting thing is, the offer that the agent had was "$149 per person each way" which was $27.50 less than the upfare option per ticket.

Of course what I didn't think of until I saw the receipt is that this $300 shows up as a Misc fee so I probably don't get MQD or Skymiles for it, but if someone offered me 2300 Skypesos for $27 I probably wouldn't have taken them up on it, so I guess I'll live

Edit: She also said that it's nonrefundable and I figured she meant the Z fare, but now I'm wondering if she meant the seat upgrade fee - like if IROPS occurred and I was downgraded or something. Not going to let it stress me out but if someone wants to chime in it wouldn't be bad to know

Originally Posted by DiscoPapa
Yes you do. Buying an upgrade while purchasing (shown on the Trip Summary page) or after you’ve purchased (in My Trips) will earn you the bonus MQMs. This is regardless if you use cash or miles to upgrade. If you are upgrading from an award ticket, then you will not earn the bonus MQMs as you are still on an award ticket.


Just sharing another data point that in-advance FCM does change the fare, I have "Z" for my upgrades (formerly "T").

Last edited by Gig103; Feb 21, 2019 at 10:46 pm
Gig103 is offline  
Old Feb 21, 2019, 11:07 pm
  #4297  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: DL PM, MR Titanium/LTP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,130
Originally Posted by Gig103
I thought I'd follow up on this. I checked the app last night and it was $149 one direction but $430 the other direction. Since a dummy booking shows the FC fare was $720 total (upfare of about $327), I called the FO Medallion phone number to do that instead. The interesting thing is, the offer that the agent had was "$149 per person each way" which was $27.50 less than the upfare option per ticket.

Of course what I didn't think of until I saw the receipt is that this $300 shows up as a Misc fee so I probably don't get MQD or Skymiles for it, but if someone offered me 2300 Skypesos for $27 I probably wouldn't have taken them up on it, so I guess I'll live

Edit: She also said that it's nonrefundable and I figured she meant the Z fare, but now I'm wondering if she meant the seat upgrade fee - like if IROPS occurred and I was downgraded or something. Not going to let it stress me out but if someone wants to chime in it wouldn't be bad to know



Just sharing another data point that in-advance FCM does change the fare, I have "Z" for my upgrades (formerly "T").
You should be good to get bonus MQMs if it's showing "Z" -- I've taken advantage of an MCM in the past (SEA - RDU) and it processed as a separate "seat upgrade fee" but still updated the fare class and gave me the bonus MQMs
Duke787 is offline  
Old Feb 22, 2019, 12:45 am
  #4298  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: STL/ORD/MCI/SAN
Programs: AA CK MM, AC SE100K, UA 1K, DL Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 1,985
Originally Posted by DL Platinum
The NO status was more telling with 7. The data shows people are finding ways other than status to fly up front. And yes, they could have paid with miles to upgrade the ticket at purchase, or with cash, or an award ticket or done a SDC with a FC fare. I just find it interesting that only one (me) upgrade got processed on a Tuesday afternoon on an "M class ticket and had to use a RUC to get it! This is the new Delta.
From a newly minted quite-by-accident FO...

The discount J/F fares (GAP fares) on DL are often ridiculously cheap compared to AA (where I'm an 8 year EXP) on the routes I tend to fly. Recently, I've been part of what seems to be an overall trend for many of us -- if I want to sit up front, particularly on routes where upgrades tend to be slim, I'll consider just paying for it.

I had no intention of attaining status with DL, but I guess I flew on enough of these cheap premium cabin fares recently that the status just happened. It's possible (and actually quite likely) that a lot of the lower level elites you're seeing on the list are simply routinely buying F/J and gaining status quite easily as a result.
metallo is offline  
Old Feb 22, 2019, 5:23 am
  #4299  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
Interesting.

I just received a buy-up offer for first-class between Detroit DTW and St. Louis STL for $74.18 or 6,900 miles on a CJR-700. What's interesting about this is it's basically the same $74 and change buy-up offer as other short, regional or mainline flights yet I actually purchase a comfort-plus (W) ticket, not an economy-class ticket.

hockeyinsider is offline  
Old Feb 22, 2019, 2:06 pm
  #4300  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: DL PM 1.57MM; AS MVPG 100K
Posts: 21,304
"absurd" isn't even close ...

a couple hours ago I purchased SEA-DTW-DCA in U for $214 (FCM fare in "I" was $478, but I need the receipt showing Main Cabin for expense reporting) ... on the confirmation screen I was offered an upgrade for an additional $515 ... nope, not happening

a few minutes ago I logged back in to make the change -- the lowest coach fare was K at $301, FCM was D at $515 (also checked on another computer, without logging in, and saw the same numbers) ... and unsurprisingly, the offer in my PNR was up to $713

SEA-IAD: U=$208, I=$467
jrl767 is offline  
Old Feb 23, 2019, 4:44 pm
  #4301  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Treasure Coast, FL
Programs: DL Diamond, Marriott LT Plat, HH Diamond, Avis Preferred Plus, National Executive
Posts: 4,577
I think this is one of the worst I have ever seen (as an FYI this is part of an TPA-ATL-CDG flight and wanted to use a GUC for me and my companion and the GUC wouldn't even clear on the TPA-ATL segment). Only $947 to upgrade to first. LOL. DL.com is currently selling TPA-ATL for $264 on our date.

apodo77 is offline  
Old Feb 23, 2019, 6:29 pm
  #4302  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,820
Originally Posted by apodo77
I think this is one of the worst I have ever seen (as an FYI this is part of an TPA-ATL-CDG flight and wanted to use a GUC for me and my companion and the GUC wouldn't even clear on the TPA-ATL segment). Only $947 to upgrade to first. LOL. DL.com is currently selling TPA-ATL for $264 on our date.

They want your miles rather than your cash.
apodo77 and strickerj like this.
moondog is online now  
Old Feb 23, 2019, 11:46 pm
  #4303  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Treasure Coast, FL
Programs: DL Diamond, Marriott LT Plat, HH Diamond, Avis Preferred Plus, National Executive
Posts: 4,577
Originally Posted by moondog
They want your miles rather than your cash.
Hopefully no one is moronic enough to pay 93000 miles for a 1 hour flight in F.

Last edited by apodo77; Feb 24, 2019 at 6:26 am
apodo77 is offline  
Old Feb 23, 2019, 11:49 pm
  #4304  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC/ NJ
Programs: UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,191
Originally Posted by apodo77

What moron would pay 93000 miles for an hour flight in F?
It's a system generated algorithm based on supply and demand, so unlikely that no one would actually pay it. On a recent flight I saw the FCM offers vary quite a bit over the days before the flight
apodo77 likes this.
MarkP24 is offline  
Old Feb 24, 2019, 10:01 am
  #4305  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta Gold, Marriott Platinum, Former Amtrak Select, Former Hilton Gold
Posts: 422


lost_perspicacity is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.