ATLConsultant

My first flight this year I flew from Dayton, OH to ATL and was #9 on the list of 32 people. There were 8 Diamonds ahead of me from Dayton to ATL??

Then, on my way from ATL to LAS on a Sunday afternoon, I ended up being #10 with 7 seats remaining, out of 40 passengers. I don't think I've ever been #10 on any flight last year from ATL to LAS and I was Diamond last year too (especially not on an afternoon flight). I know Delta put in a completely new software for booking/upgrades/everything -- a Diamond agent told me it went live at the beginning of 2013. I'm wondering if it is calculating upgrades based upon how Delta says it should go: 1) Y Class medallion members; 2) Diamond by fare class; 3)Diamond Award Travel; 4) Platinum by fare class; 5) Platinum Award Travel; Gold and Silver following like Diamond and Platinum. Seems like Platinums in higher fare classes are jumping over Diamonds or something.

I talked with a Diamond guy on a flight from ATL to MSP this weekend and he said he was on an ATL to MSP flight the week before and was #30 on the upgrade list. That's just insane. Something is up. I reported it to Delta online help desk that they needed to do more testing but they seemed to not care.

Just curious if other Diamonds have noticed this. And I'm a Million Miler. I thought I may get a little bump if there was a tie breaker, being a MM. haha!

emrdoc

Jan/Feb are always bad for upgrades. Diamonds coming and going overlap.

I am going to call b******t on a Diamond being #30 on an upgrade list.

dgxoxo

Yes, people notice is every January. When March 1 hits and people drop in status, your upgrade percentage will go up. Good thing the MQD-based cull is just around the corner.

javabytes

Also, there are bugs with some of the recent IT upgrades that have resulted in passengers on the standby list appearing on the upgrade list, making the list appear longer than it really is. (But at the gate, where it matters, the list is correct.)

What upgrade lists were you checking?

MR_MAMA

Snce CVG rates went so high again, many of us now have to fly out of DAY. I've done it twice this year. Also last week, bad weather in ATL cause IROPS so may be part of the issue. Those flights sell out all the time. I can't believe you are that deep on the list, I was On an L fare last week and got upgraded at the window. What type of fare are you buying?

ATLConsultant

Yeah, I've already reported that too. The upgrade list on delta.com is incorrect. It shows people in the wrong order and it shows you lower than you actually are. I figured it was standby passengers intermixed. The accurate list I've found is the one I can pull up on my iPhone. It's always right. I hope they fix this mess. So many bugs in that new GUI.

ATLConsultant

The guys said there were 104 people on the list (which I didn't think was possible...so maybe he was full of it).

ATLConsultant

The flight back from Dayton was T class, but I just didn't think 8 Diamonds would be ahead of me on DAY to ATL!

The flight from ATL to LAS was U class. I'm hoping for a better result next Friday from LAS to ATL. I'm K class for that one.

ATLConsultant

Also flying LAS to Jackson Hole this weekend and only been upgraded on the short return flight from JAC to SLC portion. Don't know how hard it is to get a Diamond upgrade from LAS to SLC. Didn't think it would be that difficult.

n7371f

Get used to it (not that I have). Going forward big bad Delta's plan is to ultimately have more Diamonds who already buy first class tickets (the new revenue requirement) that it can upsell even more upgrades to random Joe, thus upgrading even fewer so-called Medallions.

Bogeygolfer2000

How would one determine this? For example, if you are DM travelling in non-Y ticket, any traveller (regardless of status) with a "Y" ticket will be ahead of you in the upgrade list. Here is the website I use to get an idea on upgrade priority:

http://cwsi.net/mupc/

RRDD

It's still location, location, location. I'm 7 for 7 this year. Even my GM-gifted wife has been upgraded twice with me.

randidliyo

Not me. I've hit all my UG's this year and only missed two out of dozens of opportunities last year. No problems for me. I get most at the window and the rest on the battlefield.

MSPeconomist

Not any traveller on full Y, just those who are at least FO.

To respond to the OP, MM status is not even a tie breaking criteria, although having a Reserve card puts you ahead of other DMs with the same fare class.

Could there have been IROPs affecting your flights, such as bad weather that day (or the previous day) or more generally passengers from cancelled flights moved to your flight? Aircraft downsizings? For LAS flights, it's bad around the time of certain major conventions and trade shows.

trvlguy1

I'm DM....I feel it is location and time of flight. I was originally booked on a mid-day ATL-LAS flight. No 1st available to upgrade to. I was #2 on UG list. I did SDC confirm for an earlier flight and there was 53 on UG list at check in. I was #6 out of #10, so I was ok. I was stunned to see 53 on UG list to Vegas, convention time.

I also looked at several other flights to SDC to later on, they were wide open. So I agree with another poster and think its location AND time of flight.

Im flexible with my travels and am 9/9 on UG this year after 2 SDC. My 2 where I didn't make it wasn't cause I didn't make the UG cut, it was because the seats in 1st were sold out.