International Upgrade?
Sep 12, 2013, 12:20 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 367
International Upgrade?
DISCLAIMER: I know, I know, I know. If I want F... pay for F.
I'm a Platinum Medallion traveling on a 777-200LR from ATL to JNB on a V class economy fare. Coach seat chart shows "All seats on this flight are currently occupied in your class of service". Business Elite is showing 11 seats of 45 open. Any chance I could get an operational upgrade? Any chance the gate agent would let me grab one if open? Any chance free money, unicorns, rainbows, and delicious cake would rain down from heaven into my waiting arms / mouth?
Any chance the flight is overbooked and I could take a bump to fly on KLM or Air France metal?
I'm a Platinum Medallion traveling on a 777-200LR from ATL to JNB on a V class economy fare. Coach seat chart shows "All seats on this flight are currently occupied in your class of service". Business Elite is showing 11 seats of 45 open. Any chance I could get an operational upgrade? Any chance the gate agent would let me grab one if open? Any chance free money, unicorns, rainbows, and delicious cake would rain down from heaven into my waiting arms / mouth?
Any chance the flight is overbooked and I could take a bump to fly on KLM or Air France metal?
Sep 12, 2013, 12:28 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Orlando, FL, US
Programs: DL-Dirt Medallion;US-Cast Iron Preferred; HH-Gold; Avis First
Posts: 3,617
Any chance the gate agent would let me grab one if open? Any chance free money, unicorns, rainbows, and delicious cake would rain down from heaven into my waiting arms / mouth?
Any chance the flight is overbooked and I could take a bump to fly on KLM or Air France metal?
Any chance the flight is overbooked and I could take a bump to fly on KLM or Air France metal?
Sep 12, 2013, 12:28 pm
#5
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,409
Seat maps aren't a good indicator of loads. Remember too that some seats are blocked for airport/gate assignment.
Better information is to check how many tickets, if any, DL is still willing to sell in various fare classes. You can check EF or (somewhat less precisely) try to do dummy bookings (advanced search by fare class) of various numbers of tickets at different fare classes on delta.dumb.
Better information is to check how many tickets, if any, DL is still willing to sell in various fare classes. You can check EF or (somewhat less precisely) try to do dummy bookings (advanced search by fare class) of various numbers of tickets at different fare classes on delta.dumb.
Sep 12, 2013, 12:44 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 367
Seat maps aren't a good indicator of loads. Remember too that some seats are blocked for airport/gate assignment.
Better information is to check how many tickets, if any, DL is still willing to sell in various fare classes. You can check EF or (somewhat less precisely) try to do dummy bookings (advanced search by fare class) of various numbers of tickets at different fare classes on delta.dumb.
Better information is to check how many tickets, if any, DL is still willing to sell in various fare classes. You can check EF or (somewhat less precisely) try to do dummy bookings (advanced search by fare class) of various numbers of tickets at different fare classes on delta.dumb.
J6 C3 D3 I3 Z3 Y1 B0 M0 S0 H0 Q0 K0 L0 U0 T0 X0 V0 E0
Sep 12, 2013, 12:46 pm
#7
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,409
Sep 12, 2013, 1:43 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 367
P.S. Delta.dumb is willing to sell to me 4 Y class tickets. When I jump to 5 seats, it will only sell me J class tickets.
Sep 12, 2013, 1:49 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: New York, NY, USA
Posts: 12,482
Sep 12, 2013, 2:18 pm
#10
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: MLB, MCO
Programs: Delta Plat, IHG Plat, Marriott Silver
Posts: 1,315
If the flight is Y1, a few people will most likely get an op-up. Will that be you? It depends on the mysterious op-up procedure. Most likely, if no DMs are on the flight then you'd get it.
YMMV
YMMV
Sep 12, 2013, 2:37 pm
#11
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. / Washington, DC
Programs: AA PPro/DL PLT, PPass, Marriott / Hilton Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Hertz Presidents Circle, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,630
I've encountered the situation where Y is oversold and they are willing to sell only a specific amount of J seats when there are plenty more. I've seen it twice in a short international route (JFK-SDQ) where, despite of having only 2 seats assigned on the seat map, they were only selling 3-4 seats. The day of the flight the cabin was filled with op-ups and complimentary upgrades. But of course, this is for a route where most travelers don't buy seats in J, so in OP's situation this might not be the case.
Sep 12, 2013, 5:37 pm
#14
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SAV
Programs: Atlanta's hometown airline. A bunch of hotel programs. PetSmart PetPerks.
Posts: 2,531
Sep 12, 2013, 7:39 pm
#15
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
DISCLAIMER: I know, I know, I know. If I want F... pay for F.
I'm a Platinum Medallion traveling on a 777-200LR from ATL to JNB on a V class economy fare. Coach seat chart shows "All seats on this flight are currently occupied in your class of service". Business Elite is showing 11 seats of 45 open. Any chance I could get an operational upgrade? Any chance the gate agent would let me grab one if open? Any chance free money, unicorns, rainbows, and delicious cake would rain down from heaven into my waiting arms / mouth?
Any chance the flight is overbooked and I could take a bump to fly on KLM or Air France metal?
I'm a Platinum Medallion traveling on a 777-200LR from ATL to JNB on a V class economy fare. Coach seat chart shows "All seats on this flight are currently occupied in your class of service". Business Elite is showing 11 seats of 45 open. Any chance I could get an operational upgrade? Any chance the gate agent would let me grab one if open? Any chance free money, unicorns, rainbows, and delicious cake would rain down from heaven into my waiting arms / mouth?
Any chance the flight is overbooked and I could take a bump to fly on KLM or Air France metal?
I will recommend what I did here (link below) to talk my way into an OP-UP as an FO FRA-DTW.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...rds-delta.html
Learned this a long time ago who from my dad who was an airline pilot for 30+ years.
Do keep us updated on what happens!
I look at this as the same way I look at every encounter I have in business and my personal life: If you make someone's job easier for them....good things can and will happen.
Good luck!
Last edited by 355F1; Sep 12, 2013 at 7:44 pm