Good news.
At the suggestion of a couple in this thread I played agent roulette. My phone call took 2 minutes and 33 seconds start to finish.

The call went like this.
Me: Yes I'd like to change to an earlier flight. Can you help.
DL: Sure, looks like there are a lot of seats available it won't be a problem. Would you like an aisle?
Me: Aisle is perfect thanks.
DL: Sounds good. You're booked. Do you need any help with hotel or car rental.
Me: No thanks, have a great weekend.

That easy. No mention of the agent bending rules. No mention of fare buckets. No mention of $50 fees waived or otherwise. Just "would you like an aisle" - now that's a call to applaud. Thanks DL agent.

Not sure if P fare opened up or if the agent just really understood the situation.
In the end I got what I think most people think was reasonable treatment. I think this shows me that DL policy allows them to be flexible (which I appreciate). I don't ask them to be flexible very often, but I'm grateful they were flexible this time.

Perhaps my "can someone with a brain comment" was the real problem here:) But to my defense it wasn't said until it was clear I wasn't getting the SDC.

Now I get to use the Precheck line, get to sit up front, and get to get to a shotgun wedding (that is happening at 9am tomorrow).

Thanks FTers for the recommendation.

Incidentally, all 3 SLC-JFK flights this afternoon were/are showing as F bucket only even though plenty of unassigned seats. Your flight is still showing F9P0 for inventory.

Enjoy the shotgun wedding!

Yup. And most includes Continental, TWA, Eastern & Braniff. The empty seat issue doesn't work here. OP has purchased a seat from A-B on Day X. If he shifts that seat through SDC, there is now an empty seat on a later flight. If the carrier can't sell that for at least as much as it sold to OP, it has cannibalized its fullly flexible brand for $0 in opportunity.

I've been talking about this very scenario from the start.

By the fare bucket list, if you had bought a V fare, you would have been able to change AND most likely had gotten the upgrade as well.

Now you're stuck trying and SDS, which as we know, means flying in Coach.

So to recap: If you'd simply purchased in Coach, you'd be in First by now. But since you bought in First, you may end up in Coach.

Makes perrrrrrrfect sense!

Thanks for the info (I change flights so rarely that there is no really need for me to have an EF account)

+1 - had I not found an agent willing to help I would have certainly paid for first and sat in couch on a flight that clearly if I had a V fare I would have been sitting up front.

In situations like this you should generally be able to find someone to take care of you, if not on the phone for certain at the airport. Occasionally you may need to ask twice.

Yep, so the moral of the story is...

Want First? Don't buy First.

I used to buy First (A/P) quite frequently in the past, but due to the new SDC policy I've stopped.

Incidentally, AA has been this way for a couple of years. I book P fares quite often on AA, just to keep up my EQP status. P fares are rarely available on days I travel and city pairs, so I am quite stuck with the flights I book unless I want to pay a penalty. And there is no "F is available so let's give it to them" mentality.

Oh, I don't disagree, and this is one of the bigger reasons I expect next year to shift domestic flying to B6 (still waiting on J pricing, but EMS @ 37-38" is better than EC @ 35") and international to whoever has reasonably priced W/J fares.

'hope we don't jinx this (draw too much attention by corp) but things like this often seem to resolve itself with a simple callback or two.

Further observation is that callbacks possibly route to different rez centers and thus agents more adept and/or accustomed to working with elites than general call center personnel.

There is no hard evidence of course but do this a number of times over years and certain patterns do tend to emerge....

Safe travels and enjoy your flight!

Hey, Leo Mullin, is that you? :cool:
(don't recall customer hostile working out that well for DL in the past, either.)

But you can standby for F on AA, which can make a big difference in situations like the OP's.

Using Delta Assist I was initially told that I couldn't SDC today (for a 2 hour earlier Sunday flight) because I had to request the SDC the same day as my departure. They ended up kindly "making a 1-time exception", which I appreciated, but am I incorrect in my understanding that we can SDC (to a flight w/in +-3 hours) at any time if there are open seats in the same fare bucket?




Me: Hi, is it possible to for me to SDC to ... (the rest is the actual cut/paste conversation w/o names)

Delta Assist: Yes, it's available at the moment. However, availability is subject to change. You can request the change @ midnight. It just needs to be on the day of your departure.

Me: Are there no openings currently? Don't the SDC terms of service now allow changes anytime prior to the flight assuming there are openings?

Delta Assist: There are openings. However, our policy hasn't updated just yet. The update will allow passengers to request the change 24 hours prior. Currently, Same Day Travel changes must be made on the same day. Sorry for the confusion.

Me: XX was was able to make a change for me last week at greater than 24 hours. Thank you for trying though. I appreciate your help.

Delta Assist: I see. I do see he made an exception. I can make this 1-time exception to change it right now for you b/c of the misinformation. Sorry. Let me know if you'd like me to do so. Also, I wouldn't be able to guarantee the upgrade. You'll be put back on the upgrade list.

(Miraculously, I was actually cleared for the upgrade as soon as the change was made. I've only cleared for an upgrade at this flight time once in the past year).

SDC is Broken
 

You can only do any flight changes starting at midnight at the departure location.