This has been happening on my MSP-PHL friday flights. At the window it is F7 P6 with no V. By 2 days out they open V when they realize that people don't want to go to Philly for the weekend no matter what the TV advertisements say.

I am sure by T-2 you'll see some V and get the upgrade. Probably good for diamonds who purchase late (less than 5 days) that they are in the running for the upgrade out of V instead of a gate or battlefield.

It's all revenue management. I know that folks on here want to ignore it because the conspiracy seems so much-more glamourous, but they are two different cabins. If coach is full and low buckets are sold out, F may be cheaper.

I understand the P/Y pricing argument, but for the pop-ups at check-in that offer to upgrade for $50/$100/$150, can't medallions select that the same as everyone else? Am I missing something there?

Here are two examples of the absolute idiocy of FCM.

Flying today MSP-RDU, as a DM on an M fare. I booked this flight outside the UG window and got the last Y seat. There were 9 of 12 FC seats available. As of last night, there were still 9 of 12 seats available. I am sitting at #1, so no real issue, but they have thrown out all common sense when on the day of the flight they are holding back 9 seats at $818 One way. Even the TAs and GAs see this as silly. So this Sunday, I am going RDU-MSP and 10 of 12 FC seats are open and again I am holding an M, without a seat assignment as Y is overbooked.

All this is telling me is that there isn't any V inventory and instead opening up some V inventory and selling some cheaper Y seats and filling the plane, they will UG the Medallions and leave some empty seats in the back.

I am just a lowly gold RDU flyer, and it seems like this is the case on most of the RDU routes since April. I've only cleared before check-in for RDU-BOS flights lately, regardless of number of available F seats. Not clearing at the 5 day window impacts me as a GM much more than DM. So I just grab exit row (or now EC when available) and hope for the best, not much more I can do.

With my bookings this year, EC has been full and unavailable at the time of booking. I know that being a DM helps significantly and I am 38/40 for UGs, but most have been BFs, so for this year I have going in with a less than optimum seat and hoping for better. I would think the two misses would have gotten me moved to EC, but they didn't (LAX-RDU and MSP-RDU).

EC isn't officially available until June 7.

Maybe this FCM isn't a bad thing :p Just purchased a first class trip for $50 more than coach.

Of course it isn't bad. Cheapa$$e$ on here will talk out of one side of their mouth saying how valuable they are and out of the other side scoffing at a <200 upgrade. Ludicrous. I am sure DL reads and laughs.

I'm pretty sure that if Luda ever flew commercial, it would be in paid FC. :p

FCM would work a lot better for me (and surely plenty of others) if pax could book coach or lowest fare, as required by many business travelers, and then buy up to FC in a separate transaction. Why should FCM be limited to the initial purchase, then exclude any who purchased a coach ticket initially?

I see a lot more monetization opportunity if PMs, GMs, and FOs had the opportunity to jump the UG waitlist by paying for an upgrade. Of course, DMs would pay too after they start losing upgrades to FOs!

It's definitely getting silly. 1554 from LAX to ATL on May 26th and no upgrades were cleared, all BF's and Delta were selling standby upgrades to other pasengers as there werent enough medallions to fill up the FC cabin on the 757. Absolutely ridiculous.

I just print out both screens with a little note saying I bought up to F and only need reimbursed the coach price. My company has no problem with that ^

But even though you've found a workaround for DL's dumb FCM implantation, wouldn't it be easier for you, and allow more business travelers access to buy up if DL offered upgrade certificates for purchase after a Y fare is bought?

DCline...genius idea. I wish they would implement it in the "Flight Extras"section of the itinerary. UA does it. Although, that would stop probably 50% of the threads on the DL FT forum. DL's "most valuable" clients could easily buy up.

Is this a good explanation of FCM:
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DL's Y and F price curves tend to converge close-in to the departure date as Y fares creep up (typically HQK fares at high prices) and F drop as P/A fares are opened.

Medallion upgrades typically have not cleared (V/X inventory held back w/in the window) but last-minute coach PAX (Medallion or otherwise) "buy up" to the P/A fare. Upgrades, if any, clear at the gate.

The proposal would be:
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Provided there is P/A inventory, offer a variable-rate add-on upgrade for existing reservations that is the delta between purchased fare class and currently advertised F inventory?

This would be found within the itinerary online (like wifi) and possibly offered at check-in. I assume if there was no P/A fares you wouldn't even see the option in your itinerary.

This add-on would be offered to all ticketed PAX, not just Medallions (I'm not sure how DL could market it as a Medallion-only benefit).


Other than the IT implementation cost, what would the downside to DL be in this scenario?
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The current system seems to favor last-minute purchases regardless of loyalty. How many business travelers can't upgrade to F because of corporate travel restrictions?

If there are many, this incentivizes last-minute non-loyal PAX to "switch" to DL and get a cheap F upgrade. If anyone could upgrade, DL may lose this non-loyal PAX (they may pick a lower cost carrier?). Perhaps DL has the data that suggests these non-loyal PAX become "loyal" due to the F experience?

If a business traveler doesn't have a restriction (I assume high level execs have the latitude to override these silly restrictions), then this incentivizes them to pay for expensive last-minute DL travel. These folks are HVC by definition, then.

Although I don't think it would "hurt" the F cabin "integrity" (whatever that's worth this day and age) to have buy-ups for existing reservations I am not so sure that offering everyone a buy-up to F would really help the general Medallion population.

If it's for everyone then there's a strong chance *no one* will ever get an upgrade as random PAX logging into their account see Upgrade for $75! and snag it while you're asleep.

So, instead of hoping that no one buys a last minute ticket, we'd have to contend with *everyone* already ticketed buying up.

This system would really only benefit folks with, say, an ExpertFlier paid account that can set up an alert when P/A buckets become available for sale... I guess that is probably many people here on FlyerTalk, but most folks don't know that.