Take a look at the Justice Department's website for the press releases announcing the prison terms....

Now if I don't get the upgrade I was formerly "entitled" to, it was you because you succumbed to the siren call of the "sure bet" instead of the "wait and see". I'm too cheap to give up my U and T fares anyway. Enjoy the trip up front. I'll wave as I go by. I'm hoping for a good EC seat as consolation.

Pretty well sums up exactly what is going on. To insure a ride in F, more are buying up to higher fares and some are using SWU's. This is exactly what DL (and the other legacies) want because they are all revenue driven now. Tight capacity with reduced competition will do that.

Right - to me, it's not always worth it, but I have the SWU's (expire in less than 2 months) and it's the 77L...worth a bit extra in airfare to enjoy my transcon flights. Particularly when it's sandwiched between a LHR-ATL-JFK-LHR trip that is followed by LHR-AMS-DXB-KBL!

That said, if G had not been available, I would have just booked the T fare...

:)

I think you are confused.

Not directed at this poster, but as a general comment to this thread - aahhhh, elite tears, delicious, nom nom, nom . :D kidding ;)

I'll break it down for you all, Delta is selling discounted First; although tested since over a year ago, we are fully into FCM. This is a fundemental paradigm shift.

Why a paradigm shift, you ask? Traditionally for the lagacies, selling discounted first was a no-no. The former fare bucket model depended on targeting the business/non-price sensitive customer, i.e, full-fare Y and F. Someone who needs the flexibility of fully refundable/ changeable tickets. If you receive a service, i.e. changeable/refundable tickets, you should pay for it.

Don't be confused as a business customer that your interests are aligned with the supplier. Delta wants to maximize revenue, many business customers want the best price travel - no surprise here. I'd wonder about your firm if it alllowed F travel or if policies were not in place to control fare price selection. Nobody ever said the marketplace is a nice environment

The issue is too many sLUT elites and deeply discounted "Y" corporate fares bypassing the traditional Y/F structure. Delta is not going to shed any of its tears over losing sLUT elites. If you have a discounted "Y" fare you are captive.

Who started the new paradigm, Delta or United? I guess it was Continental that started it, although Delta has moved very quickly to market. As someone not traveling on other peoples' money and not needing flexibility, I'm lovin' the "P" fares. I would have booked one out of MSP<->MCO if I had not had a flight credit on Frontier, so I'll be giving "stretch" a try.

On the upside, however, WN doesn't lie to their customers and say they will be upgraded to FC at 5/3/1 day out if seats are available, then withhold the upgrades even though every seat is open, just in case.

My biggest gripe isn't the loss of benefits, but rather Delta's refusal to be transparent and modify the written policy. It is very similar to when they say my flight is still on time when the plane hasn't arrived an hour after the scheduled departure.

Does Delta really believe that their customers are that blind and stupid??

Are you going to start flying Spiritair?

FCM motivated me to go for DM last year. So far it's worked for me. I know for a fact I wouldn't have gotten all the upgrades I have this year if I were still PM.

Well, you could try it the airline industry way:

Boss: "I am raising prices 5% tomorrow."

Lackey, 5 days later: "No one followed us on the price increase."

Boss: "OK, put the price back to where it was. We'll try again in 2 weeks."

I appologize - my bad wording. I should have said "I suspect" not "I fear"

I have to agree to this. While I may not know exactly what a competitor is paying, I know the market price for epoxy resin and what a small volume, medium volume and large volume user will be paying within a cent or two a pound. I amy not get fired for not knowing, but it would not happen too often!!

Can you help show me where DL says elites will be upgraded at the windows if seats are available on those days? All I can seem to find is....

Your Medallion membership entitles you to enjoy unlimited complimentary upgrades, subject to availability, on most published economy fares on Delta and certain Delta-designated codeshare flights in North America...

No, it doesn't. It doesn't really care. DL now believes that it is "my way or no way" and you are free to leave any time. They can play this game for now, but not for very long. It's an old movie, we've seen it times and over again.

Exactly.

So if all FC seats are unsold (say 12 of 12) at the 5 day window, Delta is now arbitrarily withholding all upgrades until the gate in this situation. Frequent travelers may be aware that 1-2 FC seats will sell in the last 5 days, so 10 upgrades clear at the window. Holding ALL upgrades is clearly a departure from the "subject to availability" clause unless there is evidence to support that most of these seats will be sold.

Delta is doing far more than keeping "safety stock" in these situations. They are violating both the spirit and the letter of their own space-available upgrade policy.

The cost to medallions is that those who would have been upgraded may have to pay for a 3rd checked bag, not be allowed to use elite security line if they are FOs, and do not have the chance to choose seats.

Furthermore, someone who books last-minute or SDCs will see all FC seats open and assume (thanks only to Delta's policy) that most elites have been cleared and there is a good chance of getting an upgrade. I have SDCed onto such a flight only to find myself in the 80s on the upgrade list.

Employing this "unspoken" practice is Delta's prerogative, but it is unfair and abusive to medallions if the terms are changed after Delta laid them out.

To me, this is like my coffee shop deciding that my punch card is no longer valid for a 10th coffee free, but not telling me until after I pay for the first nine. They may not OWE me a loyalty benefit, but I may have overpaid for my first nine thinking that the 10th one free would offset the cost difference.

If a paying customer makes decisions based on the loyalty perks a business has defined, then these benefits are taken away, the customer may have made different decisions that would have been better for them in the long run.

One can't blame a customer for being upset that they overpaid for a product thanks to a promised loyalty benefit that Delta violated.