Did FCM die or just go crazy? The flights we've booked have all required connections each way, and the upgrade prices for a single segment have ~$280-$540, which usually exceeds the main cabin price for all four legs. But hey, if DL can get people to pay those kinds of prices, good for them.

It may be that the pricing algorithm computes a higher FCM price for a lower purchased fare, so the pervasive low fares cause high FCM offers.

Oh sure kinda like the algorithm that wanted $399 to upgrade ORD DTW and then everyone on the upgrade list got an F seat at the gate. I wonder what coma DL's ancillary revenue team is on.

I seem to clear most of the time on DTW/ORD and always on DTW/MDW and MDW/DTW but I've actually seen zero seats on ORD/DTW more than once and as a diamond have sat in the back of the bus probably 25 percent of the time on that flight. I think a lot of times though coming back it's people connecting. I wouldn't pay $39 to upgrade on that short of a flight much less $399

And more importantly, these algorithms are beyond unintelligent because the upgrade fee should never fee higher than outright paying for F DTW/ORD, but again, DL's ancillary revenue team isn't exactly best-in-class LOL

Couple of questions here on FCM and corporate travel, appreciate any answers.

Due to corporate travel policies I see a Y-fare in economy that is cheaper than an S-fare in Comfort+. Which one would result in the lower buy-up to F? Is the S-fare re-ticketed with an MQM bonus, or would it still only get 100% MQM? I believe Y-fare still gets 150% MQM even though it's actually cheaper?

I don't think any of us can predict what the FCM buy-up would be for your situations... as others have reported there are some wacky pricing being offered lately, and I've seen it as well where it is significantly cheaper to call up and have an agent process/reticket rather than take the upgrade price offered online.

As for your Y fare vs S question, yes Y and B get 150% MQM while the C+ will get normal 100% MQM. Either way, if you buy up to first then you will get 150%

Y and B fares still get 150% MQMs, according to the How to Earn Miles page on delta.com.

The buy-ups offered are a black box; I don't know if FT in our collective knowledge has enough data to establish a pattern. I will say that one of the unique parts about Delta's FCM buy-ups when they first came out is that they offered a way to go from Y to F with cash any time after booking for a price other than the difference in fare. My guess is that they have a (machine learning-trained) model that takes into account a number of options, including fare class, to arrive at the dollar value to offer as a buy-up. The question you have to ask then becomes: all other factors being equal, is a customer buying Y fares more likely to buy-up at a higher price than a customer buying S fares?

I cannot remember what the rule is for earning MQMs on re-ticketed fares on a buy-up; I think it's dependent on whether it's day-of-departure or not.

Earnings depend on if ticket needs to be reissued. DoD/T-24 upgrades dont usually involve reticketing, thus no bonus. Before that ticket is normally reissued.

I'm a bit surprised that DL hasn't fixed this so that they can market increased MQMs as a benefit to buying an upgrade. Then again, I don't believe FCM currently earns MQDs either.

How would it not?

I was wrong -- looks like FCM does earn MQDs for the amount of the additional collection. See this post.

If you are going the FCM route, the key is to ensure that you make sure that the coach ticket is replaced with a real FC ticket.

I will book the coach fare in order to have the receipt that I will file with my invoice for client reimbursement. Then I have the agent charge me the difference and issue a FC ticket.

If you pay the differential, say on the seat selection page, and if the fertilizer hits the fan and you end up in coach for some reason, the fee you paid for the upgrade to FC is non-refundable (at least, it was pre-Covid).

The key is not to pay for an upgrade, pay for converting the ticket from a coach ticket to a FC ticket.

Plus, I have often found the price differential for an UG at the seat assignment page to be more than the differential on the booking page.

Great advice. I did exactly this. The FCM offer on the DL website was almost 3x the price of re-issuing the economy ticket.

Cheating on AA hard here, but I do think DL has handled COVID pretty well and so I am willing to take a few test drives. I guess this is exactly what they wanted.

While FCM offer is frequently more than fare diff, it's not always the case (particularly when you have purchased a cheap X/V fare). I believe going the agent route will always result in paying the fare diff (even if FCM offer is less).