miracle upgrade out of LAX
 

Props to the couple in 3c/d that missed dl 1554 LAX to ATL this afternoon. Im DM with an M fare and still was middle seat in Y when boarding. The board showed 2 reserved but not checked in and thanks to fellow FT flyers decided to wait and see. Sure enough with 30 min till departure the seats zeroed out and I enjoyed 3c! Man that's a stressful market for those of us unable to book P fares!!

Wow, DM on an M fare. I'm glad I never have to take that route. Being a lowly PM, usually on a T fare, regardless where you sit I'd porter your bags for you, take your drink order and pass out the FC snack basket.:p

I've found LAX-ATL to be tougher than LAX-JFK. Almost makes me like JFK :)

And I'm usually on a higher fare class thru ATL (but no M)

No wonder, you were on a 757! What do you expect for a DM on a M fare?

I've found LAX-anywhere except short haul is a tough upgrade. I think I've missed more upgrades from/to LAX than all my other missed upgrades combined. Seriously.

I booked the ticket 5 days before, and now see how delta monetized FC so quickly, my one way M fare was $608 and the P fare for first was $638. Decided to stick with our Travel policy (paid First/biz only on flights over 8 hours) and roll the dice on the upgrade

I too have seen FC UG seats dwindle on that route. Last three flights through LAX have either used SWUs or paid-up to get FC. Have seen alot of DM tags heading to the back.

LAX-LAS and LAS-LAX is easy - anything from LAX eastbound is nearly impossible for this PM

your company wouldn't let you pay the diff?

Yes, I couldn't agree more. I'm also a Diamond out of LA and I used to get upgraded in advance on the flights to ATL (usually a LUT class fare). But lately, no more advanced upgrades ... and on my way to the back.

Actually, this brings me to a question, I usually see open FC seats on my flight -5 days before the flight ... it is okay for Delta to not process upgrades and instead sell that inventory till the last day? I thought their upgrade policy means anything not sold -5 days are upgrade inventory.

That's not the policy at all. The policy is Delta will sell every F seat they can, up until 30 minutes before the flight. Should they believe they won't sell them, they may make upgrade inventory available.

This makes good business sense for Delta. The problem is that F seats used to be very expensive. Now people are finding they can purchase for a small premium over some of the more expensive coach fares, so naturally they may opt to buy it, meaning Delta thinks they will sell more seats, and less seats will be available as upgrade inventory.

We elites don't like it. We want all the first class seats for ourselves. :D

That would've been brutal. Good job.

Rather than risk it, I'm booked in BE on ATL-LAX on a 767. But my question is which is the best seat? How close is row 1 to the bulkhead? I'm 6'1" if that matters.

Try SNA.. LAX is MUCH easier the SNA where the have something like 3 rows of FC and 30 plus elites. As DM on a low fare class I am often not even in the top 10 on the list!


And "Delta should quit selling seats so we can get upgraded" Gee that makes sense. Let's take the MOST profitable fares out of circulation (First Class walk up is pretty high LAX - ATL!)

That said I did clear LAX to ATL today. Was #7 on the list with 1 seat but took a bump to the flight an hour later. Requested FC instead of cash on the next flight. Got both a voucher and FC (sometimes it pays to be very pleasant to the agents and smile. It also helps to come right after the family having a fit because while Mom and the two kids were in row 28 dad was in row 31 and that's TOO FAR AWAY!!! (Bizarre!)