Upgrades
 

If I remember correctly once you board the flight you lose your spot on the upgrade list, right? If someone has documentation from Delta's site stating that it would help. Gate agents today said even though I was 1 on the list others who boarded get it first, and they would go on the plane to move them.

I believe the policy is that the GA is supposed to come on board to get those already boarded; however, this policy is not universally followed. There are many threads on this: here is one
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...-boarding.html

GA discretion IMO...

So heavily dependent on the location and the GA. Many follow the "once boarded, you lose your spot on the UG list" practice. Others, will come find whomever was #1 on the list and move them up. The best way to find out is to ask the GA, especially if you're #3 for 1 seat and everyone else is boarding...

.....and then hope the GA does what was promised.

Or you can be like the idiot I saw once... He waited until everyone was on board and then pitched a fit when he had to gate check his two carryons (neither one of which would fit under the seat)

He had asked the agent, she told him FC had checked in full, but he "knew" that someone wouldn't show up so he just stayed out there until he was "number one" on the list (He told the guy sitting near me that he was 4th originally) When they finally called him by name it was the "get on board now because we are closing the door announcement" No upgrade and no overhead space, just a DYKWIA showing us how to act like a two year old. (He ranted and raved about how as Diamond he should NEVER HAVE TO CHECK MY CARRYONS! LOL!)

This wouldn't have happened if the GA had been clear about when FC had checked in full and when FC had boarded full.

She was very clear. He was just one of those who reads on here about the things they do. She announced both checked in full and boarded but he "knew" she was lying.

(this was a small airport and the agent was very friendly. I was at the gate for the next flight and the DYKWIA was sharing his "Delta" knowledge with someone he knew who was on my flight LOL! He told his friend "they just make these announcements to make us board faster" If I had been the GA considering the way he treated her I would have gone back and found "bubba" and moved him to FC before giving the DYKWIA an upgrade! From the way he talked he's on this board somewhere.. he used the shena word, not something most of us would use without FT)

Your earlier post said that the GA had told him that FC had checked in full, not that it had boarded full. I have some sympathy for his strategy but not his attitude. And BTW I agree that the "FC has checked in full" are partly an attempt by GAs to get elites to board faster as the statement conveys almost no information regarding the likelihood of upgrades.

Send a complaint in and you will get some token SkyMiles. They will acknowledge that the GA made an error.

IMO, if you are trying to get an UG that really isn't yours anyway you can roll the dice and wait at the gate but realize you may lose overhead bin space, that's just part of the gamble. If the GA gets the person who really is entitled to it then so be it, policy or not.

I cannot recall a GA ever saying "FC has boarded full."

When looking at the Upgrade list on the screen as people board, they get removed from the list. Doesn't that imply that if you board you are "removed from the list?" If actual boarding didn't affect your place on the upgrade list, then the upgrade list shouldn't change as people board...

I had a flight last month ATL-FLL where the FA came back after we were in the air and said I was the next person on the list for an open FC seat. I know the flight had checked in full for FC and I was on the flight from the Standby List. When I got on the flight at the SkyPriority Zone there was 0 FC seats available and my name was not listed as one of the 52 people on the upgraded list. The flight actually left the gate on time with an open FC seat.

You really can't complain when you are not expecting the upgrade.

The post I quoted said that the GA had also announced, in contrast to the information in an earlier post, that FC had boarded full. I've (rarely) heard such announcements but, more importantly, one should be able to ask a GA this and receive an accurate and true answer.

I think the logic for your name falling off the upgrade and standby lists when you board is that if you've boarded, you're no longer in the gate area to look at the monitor. Information on the monitor next to your name isn't needed by anyone else, so to get all the names on a single screen and make it easier for remaining passengers in the gate area (who haven't boarded yet) to find their own names, the list is shortened when this is possible.

GAs can still see the original ordered upgrade list.

What the GA sees on the console isn't the same as what you see on the GIDS. Even though people disappear off of the GIDS, the complete list is visible to the GA, so it is easy for them to identify the next upgradable pax, even if he has boarded. On the other hand, there are many threads here stating that policy is "you board, you lose." In practice, it seems to be whatever the GA wants it to be. No one, to my knowledge, has ever officially quoted the policy from the company rule book, and the DL insiders seem to remain silent whenever this is discussed.