Got it. So they've just been really kind to me? They should probably rephrase their SDC website though, because this can be pretty misleading,

"You may request a day-of-flight change any time prior to the departure time of your original flight."

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...l-changes.html

Of course, the next line says that in late August it will be changed to 24 hours ahead of departure time. I just thought it was another Delta "improvement".

SDC is Broken
 

Yes soon we will be able to SDC 24 hours before, but knowing DL, this will probably happen August 31!

You can Same Day Standby with DL as well regardless of fare class.

Please tell us how to do this. It has been pretty widely reported that the Upgrade List will be cleared before the Standby list, meaning if your standby clears you will be placed in Y.

If you are talking about a P fare doing the Same Day Standby, I would tend to agree with you. But the person I quoted stated that AA allows standby for P fares is also correct in one regard. You get to stand-by for the flight. It's the same concept and I've been burned before waiting on a flight, thinking I was going to get an F seat and still got stuck in the back. Wasn't a huge deal, 40 min flight from OKC-DFW, but the concept still applies.

No, it's still different because on DL there is absolutely no chance of getting the F seat by policy. Even if half the F cabin goes out empty, standbys cannot get upgraded.

On routes where the forward cabin is sometimes F and sometimes J, can you sdc between the two types of flights? (for example F fare to J fare or P to C)?

Update..

Got on, 36E on MD88....wow, has to be the worst seat on the airplane, no room, no recline, light does not shine down so you can read.....

Get to ATL, stop by the midpoint phones so I can get on the list for my connection and after 10 minutes of incompetence, I'm still not listed and running out of time...I grab a redcoat who puts me on the list....I head to the connection..

I make it....again, crammed like sardine..

So I gave up FC seats on both flights and fly home in misery....but get home 2 hours early......which is great, but in retrospect not sure it was worth it

In the old days the SC would have confirmed me on both legs, probably decent seats, and been on the UG list.....and no running and arguing in ATL

Yep, exactly how DL Corp intended it to work. Gotta BLAME pax and punish GAMERS somehow, right?

If we as a collective group don't get lawmakers, media and public sentiment involved we'll only have ourselves to blame for the abuse these corp guys continue to inflict on pax/customers.

If history is any guide, DL abuses customers (see the ULT fiasco, circa 2002, where standby was also a Mullin target), customers leave in droves, DL gets in financial trouble, lawmakers step in and bail DL out. (And I know, other events in that period were driving the whole airline business under.)
DL, as a corporate entity, is free to do whatever it wants to stop gamers like me saving money by buying a routing to a destination I intend to take, but not the timing, or maybe the routing I intend to take. I am free to do whatever I want to bypass the tortured bean counter logic that tries to make what I want to do more challenging.