That's crazy in contrast to SFO-JFK – a flight that's half the time and on an inferior hard product – being offered for $965 with 17 seats open.

You got a great deal, though. I would have taken that in a heartbeat.

If one books a flight with Delta but it's operated by KLM, are the FCM options usually the same?

The same as what? Are you asking if the FCM options are the same as Delta-operated flights or if they're the same as if you had booked through KLM?

Unless KLM has changed their policy in the last year, discounted business class tickets are only offered at online check-in or at the airport on the day of departure. You can upgrade in advance, but you have to pay the full difference in fare.

FCM offers are only provided on DL marketed and operated flights.

I’ve noticed the FCM’s are higher than just booking a new ticket. I just went into a ticket changed it to the same flight first class for $200 less than Delta wanted for the FCM. Since they don’t have change fees it’s a no brainer just to change your ticket and pay them the extra money. Their upgrade cost was the same price as a whole new ticket. LOL .

This was possible pre-COVID-waiver too -- the change fee was routinely waived if you were up-faring, so advice in the thread has always been to check the price for F outright before accepting an FCM offer.

Yes, DL has long had a policy for waiving changes fees when upfaring to a higher cabin -- https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...e-policy-.html
There was a little nuance for international tickets for travel outside US50/Canada in that they were supposed to charge the greater of the fare difference or change fee.

At any rate, it has long been the case that FCM offers can be higher than fare difference (I have yet to see an FCM offer that was exactly the fare difference). There have been a number of reports of people seeing exact same levels on same routes which suggests fare difference is not a factor and they simply have a number of fixed price points on each route (likely based on underlying bucket inventory and other factors). If you think about these as primarily about upgrading employer purchased tickets (where upfaring can create issues), it makes a certain not to use fare difference as the original purchase price is effectively a sunk cost and not typically of concern to the flyer.

Yes but pre-Covid you had to call. Now you just do it online so it’s incredibly easy. I guess they just figure people are too stupid to look and just assume the upgrade offer is a good deal. Can’t blame Delta for trying to get the cash


I wish I had taken a screenshot.


I did check one today for Las Vegas. The first class for that flight was $949. My first class monetization offer was $810. My original fare was $198. So I have two choices if I upgrade. One would be to spend over $1000 for the seat and the other would be to spend $949 for the seat Both seem high, so I chose to pass but it’s interesting.

There are a number of challenges in trying to use fare difference. FCM offers are available on individual segments in an itin which are often covered by a single fare component. You can't split apart those segments when upfaring (at least without breaking fare). It's either all or nothing. FCM is also offered on award flights. How do you calculate fare difference when dealing with award flights? They likely just choose the simpler path and ignored original fare/class and instead developed fixed price points on each segment which is necessarily going to lead to cases where the upgrade amount is more or less than fare difference. My upgrade offers generally don't change too frequently. If I were to choose the offers when I initially booked, it might be more than fare difference. But as you get closer to flights and the advance purchase requirements of the cheaper FC fares start coming into play, they will often be less than fare difference.

Those are fair points. No pun intended.

That said, I don't think others here were suggesting that the FCM offer should be based on difference of fare... I think people were saying that it's a good point of comparison to gut check if the FCM offer is good or not. In the case of trips with multiple segments, this may be difficult to do. In the case of award tickets, the difference in fare is the difference in miles to upgrade the fare, which can be compared to the pay with miles amount of the FCM offer.

What is the process of "upfairing" online thru the website or app so as not to have to call in? Instructions would be appreciated and TIA.

If you use the seatmap to upgrade (FCM), it's not really the same as an upfare and you will lose any value for what you paid if you end up changing your flight (unless there is a significant schedule change). It will be treated like an upfare for mileage/MQM earnings purposes (your flight will have a new booking class), but it's not really the same thing.

Hey xliioper I understand the using the seat map is not an upfare and is FCM. I was trying to figure out how Orange County Commuter was able to "upfare" online without having to call in if that's even possible.

If you use the "Modify Flights" option on your itin, it will be an upfare. However, if there's been any changes to your flights, in many cases it will error out if you try to use this.

So with the many few minute flight change times that happen often on SCS this would make the "Modify Flights" button worthless it sounds like and would have to call in anyway. Thanks for the info and will be checking that often.