FCM at it's worst
 

(Worst, that is, from DL management's point of view)

I am watching for my return UG for this week's travel.

Just a few hours before the T-6 sweep.

Right now, EF is showing 1 of 24 FC seats taken on a 757.

Availability in coach is limited to some middle seats and a few windows... so fairly full.

Currently available purchased fares are Q for $330 and A for $408... so the FC buy-up is $78 for a 2.25 hour flight. $3 more than the $75 at-gate UG sales that they will likely end up offering to those folks on K fares and above.

Here's the kicker, EF shows V9/F9/G9/P9.

Classic FCM fail?

Some may claim that 757's are ratty, but they (so far) are good for UGs.

So did all 16 F seats get sold prior to departure thanks to FCM or did a bunch of Medallions get upgraded on the flight in question???

One thing to give 'em credit for their revenue management - they pretty much shutout this PM's ability to use the skyclub on tcon's.

Armed with a window UG and flying NYC-west coast-NYC I was always able to use the SC for departures. But without the window UG BP, not anymore!

Haha, funny thing is that I don't really miss it much - I'd rather just arrive a little later to the airport and go directly to my gate.

PM sLUT fares, BfUG's have been pretty good to me so far this year... But, I'm sure they'll be fixing that soon!

FCM has some value
 

Upgrade & Standby Lists
List is ordered by priority1
To: Las Vegas, NV
Flight 1217 : Detroit, MI to Las Vegas, NV on 29 Apr 2012 (Flight 1 of 1)
Passengers Upgrade Status
NAMEXXX/NAme XX #2 of 9 on Upgrade List

Seat Availability First Coach
Total Available Seats 13 13

*********************************************

Delta is trying to sell every FC seat
On this trip 13 yes 13 FC seats are open
As a Diamond no upgrade at 7,6,5,4,3,2,or even 1 day in advance
number 2 with 13 seats open

So the good thing about FCM is that they don't upgrade anyone in advance
It helps every DM if all upgrades occur at the gate

Unless all those seats get sold last second for super cheap

19 out of 28 F seats (757) were still unoccupied when I showed up to the gate last Wed am for my ATL-LAX flight. No one was upgraded on this one till the gate. Had 50 or so coach seats open as well.

I've resigned myself to this on all WC flights from ATL. Most others still clear at the window.

+1. We buy many of our tickets at the last minute because of the nature of our work, so I spend a lot of time looking at last minute available fares. While my experience as a DM is that more and more of my UGs are coming at the gate rather than at window, I'm noticing at time of ticket purchase that the difference on many routes between higher fare classes and the F price is negligible. I don't think FCM is really impacting my UG percentage yet, but I would not be surprised in the near future as more and more people realize there is often a small difference in the fares. The biggest benefit here as a business traveller is that most companies don't allow F purchases so I think that is helping leave enough seats open for UGs. However, if I were flying personally and I was buying within a couple weeks of my travel dates and the difference between coach and F was $100-200, I'd buy the F ticket in a heart beat!

Yeah, I had the same recently. No cert or miles upgrades either. 12 seats open. Everyone awarded at the gate. That really pisses me off. No reason for it. Screws everyone, as then no one has a chance to re-select a better seat in back either. Normally, many of the upgrades at the window open up better coach seats which lower elites are then able to select. Do it at the gate and anyone can end up in those seats. I can see holding out for 1 or two seats but, 12, or the whole cabin??? COME ON! That just pisses off good customers. Bright idea, huh?

So stop by the gate and let the agent know what kind of seat you would like. And besides, IME, there are a ton of seats still available up to 24 hours prior. And if the entire F cabin is empty and you are a plat, chances are you will be sitting up front anyways. Not sure what the big deal is??

I experienced the rule of unintended consequences that can hurt upgrades tremendously because of FCM. LAS>MSP. 11 seats unsold because of FCM less than 24 hours out. But, irrops hits on a late or red eye flight and those 11 seats are assigned to the irrops passangers, some of whom have never seen FC before with no status.

Before FCM 9 of those 11 would have gone at the various windows for upgrades, but instead they went to irrops. Before FCM the irrops passangers would have ridden in the back, except for maybe three.

I am not complaining, just pointing out how the face of FC can change in a totally unexpected way because of a change in the system.

I'd rather keep my carefully chosen seat in coach than to be subjected to the whims of an IROP anyday.

Dumb Question
 

OK... call me dumb but what is an FCM? Been racking my brain for a few weeks on this one and even looked at the FT and DL glossaries. BTW, I am 4 for 4 with UGs this week. All 4 were issues 5 1/2 days out. Two on Tuesday and two more next Friday.

First Class Monetization. A scheme whereby Delta both attempts to maximize revenue and irritate the most loyal customers by withholding Upgrades as long as possible in the vain attempt to sell them to the great unwashed.:rolleyes:

Cheers

In theory, this should never happen. Those pax that were being rescheduled as a result of IRROPs, should have been, essentially, waitlisted for the new flight. UG board should have been handled as it usually would have and then the remaining pax should have been assigned whatever seats remained. Sounds a situation where the GA didn't prioritize running the lists correctly.

Theory. But, reality was they were given to them way before the gate agents worked the flight, probably when they rescheduled. I do not know the specifics of why they were given the bump up, but that they just were.

I inquired when the upgrade list did not change with 11 seats open after the 11 seats disappeared with the upgrade list staying the same. I was told the irrops story. I know that all the seats did not go out to full fare--or paid FC--because several of the young travelers were giddy that they got a free FC seat because their plane had problems. First time unexpected experience for them.