avidflyer

Well it is completely different because I can buy an upgradeable ticket and do it ahead of time for sub $1500 (both UA and AA) so I am not at the gate wanting an upgrade. I did receive an UG from J to FC on a AA flight...wow...just wow but the planets aligned for me there.

I am not sure you are understanding what I am saying; I do not doubt you get them (and I have a couple of times) but it IS 100% NOT the amount you fly above DM. When I was with NW they did have a CRP system they were working with to also take your historic spend into account. That was stopped when the merger happened. I also know a few folks at DL's IT department and they are quite clear that there is no way for the Gate to know who you are beyond your status. That is just a fact. I am not saying it has not happened often but I too have flown 250k - 300k a year with Delta/NW up until this year and I have not received an inordinate amount of OP Ups.
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Edit to add: If you ask 20 VFF's here on FT how many Op UPs they have got over the last year I would bet it is 1-2 (if any) out of 10-20 Int flights.

Xam

Doesn't Delta have a policy that you cannot upgrade on Int (MBY), <24 hrs out?

jsmith50

I completely understand and agree with you. I hear what you're saying about GAs not knowing the number of miles you fly, that they only see your status, which is absolutely true. I'm just saying, it would be easier for all and would eliminate all of these shena posts on here if DL would create a policy and stick with it. I don't care what the effect is on me. I'm really pretty low maintenance, I expect to get what I pay for and anything else is icing. But, to the average traveller who flies 1-2 times a year or even the FO who is flying 30K miles a year and doesn't understand how the system works, they rely on what they hear from GAs, FAs and from fellow travellers, including the ones that post on this board and they assume when something looks out of the ordinary that it's shena in action. But given the current climate with DL, it's impossible to say with such certainly that "it doesn't happen unless the flight is oversold" because we've both seen it happen, however rare it may be.

3Cforme

No. They dropped it a while ago, along with opening unoccupied seats to upgrades. Check waitlist provisions for SWUs:

http://www.delta.com/skymiles/about_...erts/index.jsp

photojojo

I'm confused... Didn't DL at one time (2007-2009) offer to "sell" upgrades at the gate? I know for a fact I've seen/heard the offer before for $500 for a TATL and $50-250 (depending on length of flight) for a domestic upgrade.

The problem is I can't for the life of me remember if that was DL but considering how much I've flown them, I thought it was.

PRWeezer

OP is a GM & thus not eligible for SWUs, correct? I long for the day when I used to get at least one as a lowly FO...has it been 10 years?

I think the simple answer to the OP's question is No. Unless of course you might be willing to pay the fare difference from whatever you booked to a true BE ticket, if that is even possible to do at the gate. If OP had booked a Y B M fare, is it eligible for a mileage upgrade at the gate (as a GM)? And if on one of those fares, wouldn't the OP have tried for it at booking, and thus be wait listed to clear closer to flight time?

Or, as others suggest, if the flight you're on happens to be over booked in coach & you're high enough in priority to be bumped up, maybe you'll get it.

avidflyer

Domestically they do it very rarely and it is impossible to plan for. When they have a wide open FC I see them post the "Ask the GA about an upgrade to FC for $100" or whatever but with loads like they are it just never happens anymore. Internationally they do not do it at all. I have only ever got a "buy up" message at check in in AMS where KL still does sell last minute upgrades.

ND76

The first time I was ever op-uped was on an LGW-BOS flight back in December, 2001 (my total RT price was $308). Y was oversold; I was a GM at the time, and I was bumped into BE (this is when the 767s had two BE cabins) when I checked in at the front counter.

As a member of DL's top tier, I've been op-uped once on a misconnect, and the upgrade took place at 9 am for a 2100 flight; another time when our JFK-FCO segment was cancelled due to a MX and we accepted a re-route to MXP where we got BE seating; and another time DUB-ATL where Y was oversold.

Last year, I thought I was going to be upgraded to BE at the scanning machine ATL-LGW, but I ended up being upgraded to exit row seat 10A when a new boarding pass popped out of the machine.

I've had DL FAs twice thank me for my business deep in Y and apologize that they couldn't move me up to BE.

ryanm

The easiest way is a return flight on KLM, since they do sell OLCI UGs (I've paid as little as 150 Euros). I tried on a recent JFK-AMS flight on KLM metal but operated at JFK by DL, and would have been able to--I don't know what price--had it not been an award ticket.

That said, it's been my experience, which I hope I'm not now jinxing, that intl UGs are not always that rare. I fly to Europe about twice a year, and in 2009 got BE on JFK-LHR as Silver, and this summer MUC-ATL as Gold--both without even asking.

Edit: forgot to mention that on all of the flights mentioned above I was on a LUT fare.

c_d

Avid, cool to see you back here. Anyway, your statement is just plain wrong. DL has a couple of routes (and all VFF's are well aware of that) that almost guarantee an op-up even on LUT fares for nVFF such as me (only having between 100k and 150k BIS MQM per year).

Especially the European routes are pretty heavy in Y due to DL's impossibly stupid market positioning as "holiday bomber" but super light in "real" business travels. Over the past four years, I have received op-up's: 100% BCN, 50% FRA, 80% MUC flights, pretty darn good in TXL, almost all CPH, and had a very good rate in summer CDG of > 40%. Another candidate city is PRG where I did receive an upgrade but were unable to make it to the plane due to a OK feeder flight delay.

AMS, at least for me, is some kind of an exception. They indeed try to monetise by selling really cheap upgrades in order to avoid op-ups.

I mean, those routes have been total firsts for me. When flying from CDG in June this year, I had a SILVER sitting next to me who was op-up'ed on a 50k COACH AWARD flight.

NYBanker

Are you aware of UA handing out non-opup upgrades at the gate?

jsmith50

I flew with a non-status work colleague who got a companion op up from our shared PNR from NGO-DTW this past June, so silver doesn't surprise me.

DaddyRabbit

Correct, but as a DM I have been upgraded on int'l flights a few times this year on oversold flights.

stencil

You just said the same thing he / she did.

mnredfox

Well, I wouldn't hold my breath til I reached 5mm to find out DL "changed" the rules.