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Using Regional Upgrades on Delta (pre 2/1/2022)

Old Oct 15, 2016, 9:00 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Utskicat
FEB 1, 2022 New GUC/RUC Inventory Rules

*****GUC*****

Flight has First Class
MC/C+ = Purchased
First = Last Seat J (Old Policy = OY)

Flight has DPS only
MC/C+ = Purchased
DPS = Last Seat (GUC=P / RUC=G) (Old Policy = RY)

Flight has D1 with no DPS
MC/C+ = Purchased
D1 = Z (Old Policy = OY)

Flight has D1 with DPS
MC/C+ = Purchased
DPS = Last Seat (GUC=P / RUC=G) (Old Policy = RY)
D1 = OY @ T-24h15m

Flight has D1 with DPS
DPS = Purchased
D1 = Z (Old Policy = OY)

Note: If GUC applied to domestic flight, it has better inventory than RUC (better chance for D1 transcon or to Hawaii)

*****RUC*****

Flight has First Class
MC/C+ = Purchased
First = Z (Old Policy = OY)

Flight has D1 with no DPS
MC/C+ = Purchased
D1 = OY (no change in old policy = OY)

New Delta.com Upgrade Availability Indicators that appeared 2/1/22 and what they mean

Dom D1 Tag meaning:
Global Upgrade Certificate Available = GUC in Z (OY = 0 for RUC)
Upgrade Certificate Available = GUC in Z /or/ RUC in OY both available

Dom F Tag meaning:
Global Upgrade Certificate Available = GUC in Last Seat J (Z = 0 for RUC)
Upgrade Certificate Available = GUC in last seat J /or/ RUC in Z both available

Example D1 Flights from JFK - LAX (flight numbers are fictitious)

DL 01
Dom D1 flight
Actual Availability: J5 C4 D4 Z3
Hidden Availability: OY2
Website indicator: Upgrade Certificate Available
Actual decode: (2 RUC (OY) open, 3 GUC (Z) open)

DL 02
Dom D1 flight
Actual Availability: J5 C4 D4 Z3
Hidden Availability: OY0
Website indicator: Global Upgrade Certificate Available
Actual decode: (0 RUC (OY) open, 3 GUC (Z) open)

DL 03
Dom D1 flight
Actual Availability: J3 C2 D2 Z0
Hidden Availability: OY0
Website indicator: No flag - neither is available GUC (Z0) and RUC (OY0)

DL 04
Dom First flight
Actual Availability: J3 C2 D2 Z1
Hidden Availability: n/a
Website indicator: Upgrade Certificate Available
Actual decode: (1 RUC (Z) open, 3 GUC (J) open)

DL 05
Dom First flight
Actual Availability: J3 C2 D2 Z0
Hidden Availability: n/a
Website indicator: Global Upgrade Certificate Available
Actual decode: (0 RUC (Z) open, 3 GUC (J) open)

DL 06
Dom First flight
Actual Availability: J0 C0 D0 Z0
Hidden Availability: n/a
Website indicator: No flag - neither is available
Actual decode: (0 RUC (Z) open, 0 GUC (J) open)

Apparently Delta is using public inventory buckets J Z P G (and non-public bucket OY in some cases) to determine GUC/RUC availability. However once they have confirmed you the system converts the segment in your reservation to a different bucket. Here is the class mapping:


GUC Usage
MC or C+ purchased / Upgrade to DPS / P class needed / Books into RV (Clears at T-24.15 into D1 as OX if OY available)
MC or C+ purchased / Upgrade to D1 (no DPS) / Z class needed / Books into OK
DPS purchased / Upgrade to D1 / Z class needed / Books into OK
MC or C+ purchased / Upgrade to FC (no D1/DPS) / J class needed / Books into OV

RUC Usage
MC or C+ purchased / Upgrade to DPS / G class needed / Books into RX (Clears at T-24.15 into D1 as OX if OY available)
MC or C+ purchased / Upgrade to D1 (no DPS) / OY class needed / Books into OX
DPS purchased / Upgrade to D1 / OY class needed / Books into OX
MC or C+ purchased / Upgrade to FC (no D1/DPS) / Z class needed / Books into OL

PRE FEB 1, 2022 WIKI
More information and discussion about using same-day change after applying regional upgrades can be found in this thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/1709826-sdc-while-using-regional-upgrade-certificates-ruc-definitive-thread.html
  • The clock begins ticking on RUC expiration when you make your choice benefit selection, so it's possible to time your selection when there is a specific need to use them.
  • You can select your 2017 choice benefit as soon as DL recognizes your Plat status. Certificates expire 12 months from date of issue. 2019 choice benefits (earned based on how much one flew in 2018) must be selected by Jan 31, 2020.
  • If you select certificates as your choice benefit late in your Medallion tenure, it will still be valid after your status expires -- so for example if you earn Platinum Medallion in 2018, which is valid through Jan 31, 2020, but then only earn Silver Medallion in 2019, which becomes effective Feb 1, 2020 when your Platinum Medallion status expires, RUCs selected in January 2020 would be valid through January 2021 and could be used once you were only a Silver Medallion member, giving you a much higher upgrade list position on those flights where you attempt to use them.
  • If you request to use a RUC on a flight and do not receive the upgrade, it is returned to your account for future use, but check your account to make sure.
  • RUC may be redeemed for the named Medallion member and up to one travel companion traveling on the same flight (the companion officially no longer needs to be in the same reservation, though that rule was not actually enforced even when it was the official rule). The named member and the companion will each require a separate certificate.

While the RUC process is almost entirely opaque, there are a couple of "hints" of a correctly applied waitlist.

1a) When viewing a waitlisted segment on the DL.com web site (not the app), there may be two seat maps for the same flight. The first seat map shows the coach seat you are currently in, and the second seat map for the same flight says "you may not select seats for this flight" or something like that. This second seat map corresponds to a part of the waitlist process, and indicates that at least one step of the multi-step process to add an RUC waitlist was actually done. Unfortunately, this does NOT indicate that the other manual steps of the RUC waitlist process were successfully completed by the agent (i.e. even if you see the second seat map, there still could be something wrong. There is simply no way for the customer to tell.)

1b) The status for a waitlisted segment should say something like "Upgrade Waitlisted"

2) Assuming the waitlist does not clear prior to check-in, the second hint is the upgrade waitlist. If the RUC waitlist request was coded correctly, you should show up at or very near the top of the upgrade waitlist that you can see on DL.com or the app. If you find yourself at your "usual" spot on the upgrade waitlist, this is a clue that the RUC waitlist request was not coded correctly.

3) The RUC is a form of "payment". Until the RUC clears, it remains "unused" so a waitlisted RUC will still show in your wallet as "open".

You may also wish to peruse the wiki for the GUC success thread as some of the considerations/logistics are similar between RUCs and GUCs.


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Using Regional Upgrades on Delta (pre 2/1/2022)

Old Dec 2, 2016, 12:05 pm
  #676  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New York, western US
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Posts: 4,246
Originally Posted by bretthexum
Starting to get mildly annoyed with my RUC's. This is now the 4th time in a row this year I haven't gotten upgraded trying to use them. FCM really is starting to kill these. #1 on the list isn't any good with zero seats available. I hope they don't expire.
I feel your pain, but they do expire, one year from date of issue. Or are you saying that you hope you get to use them before they expire?
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Old Dec 2, 2016, 12:47 pm
  #677  
 
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Originally Posted by TrojanTraveler
I feel your pain, but they do expire, one year from date of issue. Or are you saying that you hope you get to use them before they expire?
Correct yes... hoping I can use them
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Old Dec 7, 2016, 6:59 am
  #678  
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I tried to upgrade an upcoming flight and no upgrades were available, so I decided to get on the waitlist. On my reservation the only change I can see is that Upgrade status now shows "Waitlisted" instead of "Requested". Nothing else is evident on my reservation (for example, no duplicate segment). Should I assume everything is fine?
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Old Dec 7, 2016, 7:05 am
  #679  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Originally Posted by SDQBound
I tried to upgrade an upcoming flight and no upgrades were available, so I decided to get on the waitlist. On my reservation the only change I can see is that Upgrade status now shows "Waitlisted" instead of "Requested". Nothing else is evident on my reservation (for example, no duplicate segment). Should I assume everything is fine?
I am currently on a waitlist for JFK-LAX, using an RUC. My record says Upgrade Status: Upgrade Waitlisted. I do not show any duplicate segments in my reservation...I don't think that they do that anymore. I also have what some on here call the "ghost" seat maps on my reservation (when I click on the seats), which displays seats in D1 but one cannot select them. Because DL agents have done these incorrectly in the past, I have called DL twice and have been told both times that everything is coded correctly and as it should be.
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Old Dec 7, 2016, 7:35 am
  #680  
 
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Posts: 1,257
We are on waitlist to use our RUC's for upgrade JFK-SFO. Currently shows both original seating and a separate wait list seat chart. 17 seats currently available in D1; only 17 seats occupied in W+. Keep thinking it will clear "any day now" given the vast number of seats available but nothing seems to happen.
Return flight cleared at booking. Now 8 days out.

Interestingly, a flight this Tuesday back from San one has already cleared (complementary upgrade) at the 8 day window
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Old Dec 7, 2016, 12:21 pm
  #681  
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Thanks for the tip. I checked and indeed, I have the extra seat map.
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Old Dec 8, 2016, 9:15 am
  #682  
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Just a follow-up question (I'm new to the RUC world): I undersdand that I cannot request a complimentary upgrade while waitlisted for a RU. If 6 days before my flight I see that there are plenty of seats available and might have a shot for a complimentary upgrade, can I withdraw the RUC request and request a complimentary upgrade instead?
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Old Dec 8, 2016, 10:22 am
  #683  
 
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Originally Posted by SDQBound
Just a follow-up question (I'm new to the RUC world): I undersdand that I cannot request a complimentary upgrade while waitlisted for a RU. If 6 days before my flight I see that there are plenty of seats available and might have a shot for a complimentary upgrade, can I withdraw the RUC request and request a complimentary upgrade instead?
Yes. All you have to do is give DL a call and ask the agent to pull the cert from your itinerary.
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Old Dec 8, 2016, 12:38 pm
  #684  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
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Posts: 963
Originally Posted by Steve007NY
Interestingly, a flight this Tuesday back from San one has already cleared (complementary upgrade) at the 8 day window
Are you sure it was the complimentary upgrade and not the RUC upgrade? I've had this happen, then found out they pulled the cert, which is fine with me, but just saying that they may have already applied one on the waitlist...
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Old Dec 9, 2016, 2:08 pm
  #685  
 
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Posts: 317
Question on Companions....I'm a Diamond (offically today...yay), and I'm looking to use some RUCs R/T ATL-SEA with my wife (no status). I know I'll need 4 certs total. I'm told that I can apply them to her, as long as we're on the same flight (doesn't have to be same PNR, which is good). Assuming that we'll have to be waitlisted, am I correct that she will clear with me at the higher window?

I'd like to think that as a DM using RUCs I'd have to be at the top of the list unless another DM used an RUC as well.
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Old Dec 9, 2016, 2:27 pm
  #686  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
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scongro yes that's correct. Unless the cabin sells out in first, IRROPS, etc. Burned e twice lately
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Old Dec 12, 2016, 1:57 pm
  #687  
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I'm flying tomorrow and burned a RUC. It cleared at booking. Today I made a SDC to a later flight. The agent made the change but said the RUC wouldn't clear immediately, which I expected.

When I login to delta.dumb and look at my PNR, I see "Upgrade Status: Upgrade Waitlisted". When I click on "VIEW UPGRADE & STANDBY LIST" I see myself on the C+ upgrade list but not the FC upgrade list.



I see the same thing in the iOS app.

I called in and the agent said it's just a display issue and "you're definitely on the list."

Opinions on what will happen tomorrow? My guess is this will get straightened out at the gate.
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Old Dec 12, 2016, 2:01 pm
  #688  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
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Originally Posted by pvn
I'm flying tomorrow and burned a RUC. It cleared at booking. Today I made a SDC to a later flight. The agent made the change but said the RUC wouldn't clear immediately, which I expected.

When I login to delta.dumb and look at my PNR, I see "Upgrade Status: Upgrade Waitlisted". When I click on "VIEW UPGRADE & STANDBY LIST" I see myself on the C+ upgrade list but not the FC upgrade list.



I see the same thing in the iOS app.

I called in and the agent said it's just a display issue and "you're definitely on the list."

Opinions on what will happen tomorrow? My guess is this will get straightened out at the gate.
You were in F via RUC, then SDC to Y? So long as F>0, you should already be in F. Call now and get the SDC fixed.
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Old Dec 12, 2016, 2:03 pm
  #689  
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Originally Posted by pvn
I'm flying tomorrow and burned a RUC. It cleared at booking. Today I made a SDC to a later flight. The agent made the change but said the RUC wouldn't clear immediately, which I expected.

When I login to delta.dumb and look at my PNR, I see "Upgrade Status: Upgrade Waitlisted". When I click on "VIEW UPGRADE & STANDBY LIST" I see myself on the C+ upgrade list but not the FC upgrade list.



I see the same thing in the iOS app.

I called in and the agent said it's just a display issue and "you're definitely on the list."

Opinions on what will happen tomorrow? My guess is this will get straightened out at the gate.
You've should've been booked into F. Once cleared you don't need to reclear for SDC. That only applies for free unlimited upgrades.
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Old Dec 12, 2016, 2:50 pm
  #690  
pvn
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called in, agent said nope, you need "upgrade available" or else you have to waitlist

HUCA

new agent said "yeah, those guys were wrong" but in the meantime the F cabin had filled up on the 2nd leg.

I asked if she could rebook my 2nd leg into a different co-terminal and it worked out. F seats all the way now.
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