What time (specifically) do the upgrades clear?
 

I am curious about recent trend data... When have upgrades (in advance) been clearing lately? Is it still 4:15pm as the most common time or is it later?

Thanks!

It has been my experience the last year or so to happen around 6pm eastern time YMMV.

This has been my experience as well.

Just another few random data points: I got the email for next Monday's flight (Apr 9th) at 3:22am EDT on Wednesday morning (April 4th). For this past Monday's flight, the email came in at 3:58am EDT on the Wednesday morning before. Going back to a flight on March 21, the email came at 5:47pm EDT on the 15th.

6-ish sounds like a good number. Maybe their email server has been slow the last couple of weeks.

At the gate, lately!

The auto sweep is at 5pm eastern time (takes a few minutes to run) and the notification emails come within 2 hours after the upgrade is processed. It will be your upgrade window, rounded up to the day before.

If it doesn't clear at that time, it is done manually and could be anytime from then until the departure, though usually at the gate if not at the window, as Delta is trying to sell those F seats until the last second lately.

For next Monday's flight's I received one about 4:15 CST yesterday and the other about 2 this morning

I have a flight (wife & I) leaving at 06:40 PM Thursday. (DL Myr/Atl/Las) I got my upgrade notice this AM at 03:30.

There are sweeps that start at about 5 pm ATL time. In the past, the sweep could take as long as 45 minutes, with higher flight numbers processed last. More recently, the sweeps seem to be completed much earlier, perhaps by 5:15 or so ATL (Eastern) time, which is 4:15 in the midwest (Central time). The confirmation emails are sent out many hours later and do not reflect at all when the upgrade was granted.

I am Plat and going out to DFW at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday night (April 9). I am supposed to get my UG notice 5 days out (meaning tomorrow) but was shocked to see the UG confirmation email at 6:06 p.m. today, a full day early. There are still 12 seats open after I received my UG.

OTOH, there were 14 seats open on the morning of my ATL-SLC run two weeks ago and I didn't clear until I got to the gate. Sweated that one, for sure. Of course that was hub-to-hub so guess they were holding back for FCM.

This is not early, it is right on schedule. Despite DL advertising 5, 3, and 1 day windows, the upgrades are actually run at 6, 4, and 2 days prior to departure. Since DL runs one sweep a day instead of hitting every flight at the 24 hour mark, this makes sense... suppose you had a 5:00 AM flight and it was run at 5:00 PM the day before, that's only 12 hours. And chances are you're already checked in by this point and on the airport upgrade list.

The upgrade sweep starts at 5:00 PM Eastern time. In previous years, it seems to have run much faster, taking maybe 20-30 minutes. Recently, it has taken as long as several hours. Emails are sent thereafter, but keep in mind the time you receive the email may be well after the sweep has run, so you cannot rely on its timestamp for much.

This timing is normal. DL says five days, but it's really six days, so that DM and PM first sweep happens at 5 pm ATL time on Wednesday for a flight the following Tuesday.

It's gotten more variable. Today the email came at 1:58 PM EST for a flight 6 days away DTW-SLC.

Yup, more of this lately.