mtkeller

I would read jdrtravel's post as being about medallion upgrades on domestic routes clearing when someone is booked into an eligible fare class and wants to use miles to upgrade but cannot waitlist for the upgrade using miles. I think it's a tough call in that case, as I know that the new UA's decision of where to place upgrades with miles relative to complimentary elite upgrades was not universally popular.

Gamecock

I disagree. SWUs expire. The airlines really could care less if they are used or not. Miles are on the books and are a liability until they are used. My piddly number of DL miles are an indefinite liabilty.

jdrtravel

Exactly. I fully understand how upgrades work.

As a GM, I don't have any SWU's. That being said, if there is no G inventory ever released on the flight (or Z for transcon) then my only option for upgrading is to hope for the medallion upgrade. I find that on the routes one wants it most, its hard to find G class. I tried to book a flight from LAX to NYC recently. I was willing to connect and avoid the nonstop if I could find G class (for example, LAX-MSP-LGA). At least on the dates I was trying to book, there was zero G class available, yet wide open F cabins. I can understand DL not wanting to sell the entire F cabin to mileage upgrades, and wanting to reserve some for PM/DM complimentary upgrades, but I wish we had a chance at the gate. I liked someone else's idea of letting us buy SWU's with miles. Furthermore, I could imagine it being very frustrating for a non-medallion member who wants to buy a mileage upgrade to watch F seats beat sold on standby when they wanted to use miles.

Barbella7

It's especially annoying on flights to and from Hawaii. I know they often don't release availability before hand, so that makes it pointless. With no complimentary UGs, it's nearly impossible. I would love to see DL allow you to buy SWUs for miles. Maybe have the SWUs cost more because they can be used at the gate which would get rid of some of the miles on the books. If not, say you can only request a mileage UG prior to T-24. Then, if they haven't cleared, take them to the airport. Once you request a mileage UG, there should be a hold place on what ever the amount is to prevent people from going negative. Or let people try to be responsible and if they are negative, charge them the amount it costs to buy the miles they are negative. Rev Mgmt would love that.

MSPeconomist

Most airlines view SWUs as a special privilege that they offer to their top tier elites. To let anyone buy them with miles would make SWUs even less valuable to those of us who have earned them. Similarly, given the restrictions on the use of SWUs that DL imposes, it would be inappropriate to erode them further by putting miles upgrades (for anyone) and SWU upgrades into the same category for the gate standby list. If someone wants SWU-type upgrade privileges, they should fly more and get enough MQMs to earn those SWUs and then pick them over other choice benefits.

jdrtravel

Fair enough and agreed. That said, I wish that milage upgrades could at least be somewhere on the priority list.

Robert Leach

I have actually had gate agents, on two separate occasions (once in HNL, once in ATL), process mileage upgrades at the gate for Hawaii flights.

Not saying every gate agent would do this, but the ones in HNL seemed accustomed to doing it since there are no complimentary upgrades and the only way you will sit up front as an upgrade is with miles (or an SWU).

The occasion in ATL was pre-merger, so that request might be met with a hard "no" these days, but technically it is something a gate agent can do.

MSPeconomist

If the GA has time to pull the miles and FC seats would otherwise go empty, I see no reason to forbid this, but (1) it shouldn't delay the flight and (2) it shouldn't take upgrades away from elites would otherwise have gotten them--i.e., the upgrades using miles should be at the bottom of the list and not bumped up at the expense of those who are trying to upgrade following the published rules. The GA should not be unilaterally reallocating upgrades at his/her discretion. Furthermore, there could be an argument about NRSA losing FC seats in order to upgrade someone when the DL rules do not entitle the passenger to the upgrade.

Barbella7

That's exactly my case. Looking at HNL via ATL but don't want to risk it on a 10 hour flight. Even if they charge more for miles, I think there should still be a way to be on the Airport List. Wouldn't they rather get more miles off the books than let F go out empty? I wouldn't mind if SWUs went ahead of miles, just if there is a chance so F doesn't go out empty.

jdrtravel

This is where this is a problem of clarity. The way in which the mileage wait list works once at the gate is not clear, at least not to most travelers. I've had more than one DL phone agent tell me that a mileage request trumps medallion upgrades. Furthermore, one of the "published" benefits of the sky miles program is to be able to upgrade using miles, regardless of status. If the airline does not actually make this available, then there is a problem.

UA vs NW

[QUOTE=Barbella7;18733559]Does anyone know why Delta has different restrictions for mileage UGs vs SWUs? Namely the big one is that SWUs are sent to the Airport Standby List while mileage UGs are not. Does anyone have ideas or reasonings Delta would have for this?[/QUOTED]

DL might be thinking within 24 hours of departure, all BE seats that are bookable with mileage will be at high level; therefore, it is unfair for DL to only charge mileage at low level for the upgrade. Thus, it shoots this option to death. SWU is a different story then; it is being considered as a perk for DM and PM.

azeckel

There is no list for HI flights. That is to say there are no complimentary upgrades on these flights. So it's either G inventory, or book into F to begin with. You can use miles to waitlist for G, but if it hasn't cleared by T-24, then it won't and you can assume F is full.

Robert Leach

There is no complimentary Medallion list to/from Hawaii, but in my case there was an airport list for those desiring to upgrade using miles (or, I presume, SWUs -- didn't ask about that). This was in HNL.

F is not automatically full just because a G upgrade hasn't cleared by T-24. There can still be seats available even though G is still at zero.

jdrtravel

This is the most annoying of the whole thing. Maybe the real issue is just better inventory management for G and Z class is needed.

Barbella7

It seems on most routes, they never open any G/Z availability. With them not opening an availability, it is almost pointless for mileage UGs.