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The Official “I Got Upgraded” Thread: JFK-LAX/SFO/SEA

The Official “I Got Upgraded” Thread: JFK-LAX/SFO/SEA

Old May 15, 2014, 11:58 am
  #736  
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Originally Posted by rylan
A good retort would be to write back and ask where the significant investment and premium experience are on an old beat up 757 where you don't even get any of the enhanced amenities or service, but the standard F pillow and meal.
Originally Posted by jrl767
I'm not going to poke them in the eye just yet, since my flight isn't until next week

right now the seat map shows there are three middle seats in EC remaining, and only two of 26 F seats are greyed out

maybe someone will exercise a whit of common customer service sense some time in the next 10 days ... but I'm not holding my breath
so I did OLCI a couple hours ago and discovered that they have swapped in a 24F jet ... I'm still in 21A, but this is now at the 2L door which means my laptop bag has to go in the overhead bin ... grrrrrrrrr

the (admittedly unauthoritative) seat map still shows three unclaimed coach seats (two exit row middles, and one aisle about halfway back), and we're up to six greyed out in F

GM, U fare ... I'm still not holding my breath ...

for those buying JFK-SEA tomorrow, all four flights (two with 16J, this one with 24F, and one with 26F) are being sold in C ... I checked connections from DCA/BWI/PHL/BOS/RIC and found significantly higher fares for the J birds (which is as it should be, but is actually not a consistent occurrence)
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Old May 16, 2014, 12:54 am
  #737  
 
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Originally Posted by DLATL777
Good afternoon everyone. I waded through about 10 pages of this thread but I am hoping someone can give me the quick summary here.
I am flying LAX-JFK booked into a K fare at the end of the month and I had Delta put me on the waitlist for a mileage upgrade. Now, knowing Delta, I am sure they screwed this up somehow. I am currently shown as “System wide Upgrade Requested” on the Delta site. What do I need to make sure is done correctly so they don’t ruin this for me and secondly, I assume these can clear before the gate as well? I assume if they DO NOT, I wait until the gate and then they pull the miles? DA made it seem as though it will only clear day of space available.

Thanks,
I just booked DL418 on 5/18 (last minute trip), SEA/JFK, returning DL441 on 5/21 JFK/SEA. Booked in M and S class. Called to request mileage upgrade. Outbound flight shows 11/16 seats available, return flight shows 13/26 seats available.

Mileage upgrade was available for return flight, upgraded immediately. Outbound flight was not available, was put on waitlist.

Asked the agent "does this mean I am waitlisted right up until the flight boards". Answer - Yes.

Online, outbound flight shows "Systemwide Upgrade Requested".

My guess is a)Delta realized they were losing high rev customers because of this, b)they started leaving more availability for mileage upgrades, and c)their system can't upgrade mileage upgrades at the gate, so they are coding them as SWUs in the reservation system.
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Old May 16, 2014, 5:55 am
  #738  
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The new status shows as 'systemwide upgrade requested' for any waitlisted upgrade instrument. Its not how its being coded, its just how its displayed... same for miles, regional upgrades, global upgrades, or the old swu.
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Old May 16, 2014, 6:31 am
  #739  
 
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Originally Posted by rylan
The new status shows as 'systemwide upgrade requested' for any waitlisted upgrade instrument. Its not how its being coded, its just how its displayed... same for miles, regional upgrades, global upgrades, or the old swu.
True. And I just didn't take the chance so swapped to a flight out of SFO that had the space.
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Old May 16, 2014, 7:45 am
  #740  
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441 took a 30-min delay for an inbound crew member this morning ... we're on N610DL, one of the oldest 757s in the fleet ... but at least I can put my laptop bag under 20A

when I got to the gate GIDS showed 18 seats available in F (one in Y), one name on the UG list; shortly before boarding it was 17/0 (and the UG had cleared), and there were 6 names on the standby list

I can't actually tell how many F seats are taken, but so far I've seen more maintenance people than pax turning left at the 2L door :-/

" ... Medallions, your business and loyalty are greatly appreciated by the entire Delta community" is really pretty disingenuous and almost insulting when DL dilutes the "premium BusinessElite experience" like this
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Old May 16, 2014, 6:21 pm
  #741  
 
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Originally Posted by jrl767
441 took a 30-min delay for an inbound crew member this morning ... we're on N610DL, one of the oldest 757s in the fleet ... but at least I can put my laptop bag under 20A

when I got to the gate GIDS showed 18 seats available in F (one in Y), one name on the UG list; shortly before boarding it was 17/0 (and the UG had cleared), and there were 6 names on the standby list

I can't actually tell how many F seats are taken, but so far I've seen more maintenance people than pax turning left at the 2L door :-/

" ... Medallions, your business and loyalty are greatly appreciated by the entire Delta community" is really pretty disingenuous and almost insulting when DL dilutes the "premium BusinessElite experience" like this
Exactly the same dirty rat-trap I was on the other week. Except that was a sub for a 16J flight. Hopefully you charged your laptop/tablet before boarding! (Or enjoy the drifting tracking on the VHS tape of Monument Men or Batman)
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Old May 17, 2014, 1:23 am
  #742  
 
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Originally Posted by andymo99
All waitlisted upgrades cleared. I think the cabin went out just about full.

FWIW, I flew SEA-JFK a few days earlier on a 26F seat 757. It had LOTS of empty seats and no upgrades (w/o certs).
Wife flew a 26J version SEA-JFK last Tuesday. No free upgrade and I guess not too many people motivated to pay for regular DL First class. It was the 1PM and really empty.
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Old May 17, 2014, 9:41 am
  #743  
 
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Originally Posted by lunen
I just booked DL418 on 5/18 (last minute trip), SEA/JFK, returning DL441 on 5/21 JFK/SEA. Booked in M and S class. Called to request mileage upgrade. Outbound flight shows 11/16 seats available, return flight shows 13/26 seats available.

Mileage upgrade was available for return flight, upgraded immediately. Outbound flight was not available, was put on waitlist.

Asked the agent "does this mean I am waitlisted right up until the flight boards". Answer - Yes.

Online, outbound flight shows "Systemwide Upgrade Requested".

My guess is a)Delta realized they were losing high rev customers because of this, b)they started leaving more availability for mileage upgrades, and c)their system can't upgrade mileage upgrades at the gate, so they are coding them as SWUs in the reservation system.
An update - I am now checked in for the flight, my upgrade request has been transferred to the upgrade wait list, and there are still 10 out of 16 seats still available according to the seat map. If I don't get upgraded after paying for an M fare and spending 12,500, this will be my last flight on Delta.
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Old May 17, 2014, 9:42 am
  #744  
 
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Originally Posted by pferrandi
Wife flew a 26J version SEA-JFK last Tuesday. No free upgrade and I guess not too many people motivated to pay for regular DL First class. It was the 1PM and really empty.
Can't say I blame them, but the 75X (26J) planes are far better for a TCON flight than the likes of DL610 as they have AVOD and seat power.

On Sunday/Thursday they can still get away with abusing their customers so but even on Friday/Monday, as I experiences,the 16J cabin would have been nowhere near filled with paying pax. (You know if they had actually delivered the product they sold their customers...)

I can only imagine what Tu/W/Sat flights are like!

The good news is that for non Su/X flights, mileage/cert upgrades should remain easy on the SEA route- if only it was was worth paying the difference between the low fare classes they can collect on those flights and K to use miles... You're honestly better off buying 2 cheap Y fares than paying that for the likes of DL610. The pisser is that on most days it would be cheaper!

Originally Posted by lunen
An update - I am now checked in for the flight, my upgrade request has been transferred to the upgrade wait list, and there are still 10 out of 16 seats still available according to the seat map. If I don't get upgraded after paying for an M fare and spending 12,500, this will be my last flight on Delta.
I doubt you need worry about not getting upgraded unless a whole heck of a lot of inbound TPAC flights take big delays and miss connections today. Considering that they want $4008 for paid F or J on your dates, I doubt too many people will come purchase tickets.

The big question is will they leave a "757-200" on your outbound, or will you board to find something lesser! Good luck.

Last edited by mother-; May 17, 2014 at 9:52 am
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Old May 17, 2014, 2:02 pm
  #745  
 
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Used an old SWU on DL414 today SFO-JFK. I was #1 of 1 on the upgrade wait list. I cleared sometime between T-2hr and T-1hr, with 5 BE seats open (according to the app.)

BE was full when we left. While this is BE, there's really no room to put a drink without using the fold out table.
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Old May 18, 2014, 8:17 am
  #746  
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DL is using the 75S on JFK - SEA tomorrow, the 7:15 AM flight, then the return, SEA - JFK on the same day,
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Old May 18, 2014, 12:36 pm
  #747  
 
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Originally Posted by mother-
I doubt you need worry about not getting upgraded unless a whole heck of a lot of inbound TPAC flights take big delays and miss connections today. Considering that they want $4008 for paid F or J on your dates, I doubt too many people will come purchase tickets.

The big question is will they leave a "757-200" on your outbound, or will you board to find something lesser! Good luck.
Well, I did get the upgrade, and it is a 75E with the Sleeper Seats (not the lie flats), but it was touch and go on the upgrade.

I was on the train to the S gates at 6:15 (7AM flight) and the upgrade list on the app was still showing I was 2 of 3 on the list with 9 seats (of 16) available.

I get to the gate 10 minutes later, and I was cleared, name behind me on the list was not cleared. App showed only 1 seat available.

Get on the flight and, no lie, some Delta employee has his entire family in BE. 7 seats. A total sh** show. 3 kids ranging from 2 - 7, plus wife and it looked like other relatives (maybe older kids, couldn't tell for sure). Some of the passengers who paid the $3K for BE were clearly not amused (the 2 year old was jumping all over, refusing to sit down and buckle up for takeoff). Myself, understanding was a clusterf*** Delta has made of the situation, was amused.

This is no "exclusive experience". If I were paying for BE and realized BE would be full, I would much rather have it full of frequent fliers who had been upgraded, than what I experienced. Delta is really messing this up.

However, once people figure out you can upgrade with miles, I suspect there will be more frequent travellers up front. I personally have no problem spending 12.5K miles to upgrade, I have a ton of miles anyway.

One word of warning - you may have to call several times to get transferred to the airport upgrade list - I had to call three times before I got someone who figure it out. Don't trust them until you see you name on the list. But it clearly can be done.

As for the service, this plane did not have the lie flat pods, but the seats were fine for a day flight (nothing special for a redeye, though). The service was OK, nothing too special. The noise cancelling headphones are worthless for any frequent fliers - my Bose qc20s are far superior, so I used those. Didn't really need the pillow and duvet for a day flight - had the flight attendant cart them away.
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Old May 18, 2014, 1:28 pm
  #748  
 
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Originally Posted by lunen

Get on the flight and, no lie, some Delta employee has his entire family in BE. 7 seats. A total sh** show. 3 kids ranging from 2 - 7, plus wife and it looked like other relatives (maybe older kids, couldn't tell for sure). Some of the passengers who paid the $3K for BE were clearly not amused (the 2 year old was jumping all over, refusing to sit down and buckle up for takeoff). Myself, understanding was a clusterf*** Delta has made of the situation, was amused.
DL does not let non-revenue passengers under the age of 6 in the premium cabin. Are you sure that the 2 year old was a non-rev and not a paid passenger?

If you were talking about today's 7am SEA-JFK I can let you know that there were ZERO non-revenue standby passengers up front. Non-rev bashing in this case wouldn't be warranted as the entire BE cabin was full of paid passengers and upgrades.
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Old May 18, 2014, 3:35 pm
  #749  
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Originally Posted by RMAnalystATL
DL does not let non-revenue passengers under the age of 6 in the premium cabin. Are you sure that the 2 year old was a non-rev and not a paid passenger?

If you were talking about today's 7am SEA-JFK I can let you know that there were ZERO non-revenue standby passengers up front. Non-rev bashing in this case wouldn't be warranted as the entire BE cabin was full of paid passengers and upgrades.
thanks for that. I have seen plenty of misbahving nonrevs over the years and would not hesitate to complain to Delta in such cases.
Still remember the one red-eye from LAS where nonrevs were making a scene and I asked them to knock it off ... which they didn't appreciate and actually had to audacity to complain to the FA (they were clearly intoxidated). Thankfully the FA told them to a) shut up and b) take their seats or else she would send them back to coach and report them
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Old May 18, 2014, 4:50 pm
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Originally Posted by cfischer
thanks for that. I have seen plenty of misbahving nonrevs over the years and would not hesitate to complain to Delta in such cases.
Still remember the one red-eye from LAS where nonrevs were making a scene and I asked them to knock it off ... which they didn't appreciate and actually had to audacity to complain to the FA (they were clearly intoxidated). Thankfully the FA told them to a) shut up and b) take their seats or else she would send them back to coach and report them
I'm sure that there are some non-revs that misbehave but quite honestly in all the flying I do, I haven't really seen it. It always surprises me that on this board everyone seems to have the initial reaction if someone was misbehaving up front or didn't look like they belong that they must be a non-rev.

As I always tell new employees, flying standby is a privilege and not a right. If any non-rev is misbehaving or creating a "party" atmosphere on board, people should report that to the FA. I guarantee it stops after that and the FA may even write the employee up which could lead to pass privileges being suspended or revoked. Every non-rev should understand that we get the last of everything (seats, meal choice, priority, etc) and DL agents/FAs are primarily there to assist revenue passengers.
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