Greetings, I am flying SEA-MSP-ORD on Thursday. My 11 y.o. daughter is flying the SEA-MSP portion with me. She will then get off and meet her grandma. She is silver on Delta, I am diamond. These are separate tickets. I called Delta when I booked them and asked to somehow link our reservations so either we both get upgraded or neither. The last three days I have been upgraded and not her. I call the diamond line and they move me back to coach. The last person said I should keep the upgrade and if my daughter doesn't get upgraded give it away at the gate to the person sitting next to my daughter?? Is there a way to put us both on the list at her status? Or, should I wait and talk to the gate agent in SEA. Thanks.

I'd do this in the case your daughter does not get the upgrade, but it will likely have to happen on the plane, unless you ask all 150+ other pax at the gate where they're seated . I'm quite certain no one will have a problem with exchanging seats, especially the guy you give the upgrade to.

Had a similar problem - easiest way is to de-request your upgrade and hers

Is your daughter on an award ticket? If so, she is not eligible for an upgrade, either as a companion or as a silver medallion.

Nope, she is on a paid K fare.

Can you use miles to guarantee her upgrade in advance? K fares are eligible if there is OP or RP inventory.

Otherwise take your upgrade, and ask the gate agent to rescind your upgrade if she doesn't get the upgrade at the gate. Or list her for the upgrade as your companion rather than based on her own status.

ADDED. Be sure to link the reservations.

Actually, this needs to be dealt with in advance. The daughter must travel in the same cabin with the parent or as an UM. This will get picked up and cause problems.

Either get the daughter UG now or DG the parent. Now.

The only way for DL to upgrade both or neither passengers is for them to be on the same PNR. If you are on separate PNRs, you'll each clear at your own priority and one may be upgraded without the other.

So, I tried to use my upgrade certificates or miles for her, but they said it was not available. I thought when I called right after booking the tickets that the pnrs were linked....but I found out this cannot be done if the tickets are purchased separately. At least that is what the phone agent told me. I have now declined my upgrade and will ask at the gate if upgrades are available and if so either upgrade us both or neither. Plenty of seats open still.

Linking PNRs merely means that there's a note in the system that you are flying together but does nothing in terms of ensuring the passengers fly together in cases of interrupted flights.

We often have different means of payment when traveling as a family and so can't have the same PNR. I generally leave the upgrade requests in for all of us, but adjust seating on the day of the flight if a minor and parent aren't together in the same cabin.

On five years of domestic flights, I've never had Delta's system flag a small child flying on alone on his or her own PNR as possibly being unaccompanied.

You cannot combine PNRs, and in your case you could not put both passengers on the same PNR, but you can definitely link them by calling DL. However, as mentioned above, this doesn't do very much.

Board the plane with your daughter and ask the flight attendant to negotiate the swap if you are upgraded. I doubt that a passenger sitting in a middle seat in coach will say no to a seat in first class.

No, if you're not going to be using your upgrade, tell the GA so that it can be given to the next elite on the list rather than some random kettle.

^ This.

Yes -agreed. As I said on another thread, Wednesday July 3rd I was on DL64 ATL-MAN and I got an OpUp (4A) but wanted to sit next to my wife. I thanked the GA and then politely declined and asked for my original 10A (A330) EC seat back. The GA thanked me very much for letting him know in advance and proceeded to OpUp the next elite in line (presumably) and gave me my BP fpor 10A.

As we were boarding in SKY the couple in front of us the machine beeped and spewed out his OpUp. He said, "I dont want this upgrade - nevermind, I will give it to the lucky person sat next to my wife". Said lucky person (10 HK?)was ecstatic (almost certainly a kettle) and said she had never sat in first in her life. The GA seemed displeased.

Long story short, it is best to refuse in advance to the GA can award the upgrade to the next elite , even though the random kettle thought her wildest dream had come true.