richardinmotion

I have several international trips coming up. I've been lucky and have been upgraded to BE recently on oversold international, but wondering if a flight has many open coach seats, will Delta still op-up medallions? Or, if the BE cabin is mostly empty, do they keep it that way?

seldon

They will absolutely fly with empty seats in BE. I've seen as many as half of the seats empty. (I've also seen it completely full.)

TTT

Op-Ups happen only when Y is oversold. Delta will (and often) does leave seats vacant in the BE cabin.

The running mantra on FT is "don't worry, they will be filled with non-revs."

plantsma

On my last flight to DUS from ATL, there were only four of us in BE. Op ups only on international routes, though I have been 33% TATL op ups for the last year or so.

CarmenOM

About a year ago I flew on a very sparsely filled flight LHR-BOS (it was the Sunday of Presidents' Day weekend). There were perhaps half a dozen pax in BE, a similar number in EC, and 40 at most in the rest of Y. Assuming the only medallions in economy were those in EC, it would not have been a big deal to upgrade all the medallions; it might even have been possible to upgrade everyone in economy. That did not happen. I should add that it was not a big disappointment as I had two seats to myself on the side of the plane plus the three middle seats when I wanted to nap.

motytrah

There was a phantom UPG program NW ran into the merger that had targeted J upgrades. IIRC it was targeted at HVCs they thought might buy J later on and was positioned more as a sample than a benefit. NW had a more advanced CRM system for customers than DL that could come up with the list to the GA.

I don't see DL doing that again, or if they did I wouldn't expect it outside NYC and perhaps SEA.

rylan

Yes as mentioned above they absolutely will and do fly with empty BE seats. Any available seats after SWUs/GUs or op-ups will go to non revs and the rest will be empty.

3Cforme

See the corrosive effect: now you expect Business for free. I'll get my bubba on... if you want Business elite, buy Business Elite.

richardinmotion

Wrong. If you read my post a bit more closely, you'll see that I stated that I had been lucky.

OHDL1

Yeah...lucky maybe...but I think 3Cforme was talking about.....
"...but wondering if a flight has many open coach seats, will Delta still op-up medallions?"

richardinmotion

I'm a new DL medallion and new to FF. It was an honest question.

Orange County Commuter

I have been in an empty BE cabin where EVERY seat in coach was full. There may have been upgrades there couldn't have been many.

bdschobel

Yup.

Bruce

HongKonger

If you were in the cabin it wasn't empty.

TripleD

You asked a good question. Sorry if someone took it wrong. I suspect the recent changes by Delta have some people on edge. I was and I am sure they did not mean it.

Delta usually does not upgrade internationally, as they want those who can pay to pay, rather than hope for or expect an upgrade. It is part of revenue maximization. Once upon a time, Delta thought giving upgrades was smart. Now the do not. On international, for the past ten years that I recall, they did not give away upgrades often.

That said, I have flown Delta BE internationally at least 200 times over the past 10 years and coach about 10. I have been upgraded on three legs - so my odds would be 15% at best. I have had luck in upgrading my wife when I have paid for a low fare coach seat for her and business for me - maybe 50%. I always give her my seat, and the FAs usually move me up if there is room - regardless of policy.

Yes, Delta will usually fly with empty BE seats, unless they can over-fill coach - in which case the BE seat will be used to add revenue at the last moment.