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Originally Posted by gooselee
(Post 24742318)
I may be misunderstanding what you're saying, but I book many tickets 21+ days in advance, and many other tickets <5 days in advance. The last-minute tickets are of course more expensive in general, but the difference between a coach and first class ticket always seems to be anywhere from $100 to $300 depending on route, and this difference does not seem to change the closer in I book. And, even when only P fares are available in FC, they are still substantially cheaper than a full Y fare (and even a BM fare most of the time). Could be route and schedule dependent, but IME, YBM fares are still a bit higher than discount first fares. |
Originally Posted by yohanson
(Post 24742611)
I guess I should have stated I see that for flights that have F wide open at the DM/PM window and I'm not getting the upgrade at my window. I thought I had implied that.
I was just pointing out that my experience with premium fares changing/dropping closer to departure and being cheaper than full Y fares does not match yours. If anything, I've noticed that premium cabin fares increase in a similar way to coach fares most of the time, and that full Y is generally more expensive than anything other than full F. As someone else said, the FCM offers are relatively consistent at all times on the routes I fly. It's usually $50-$200 over whatever the best coach fare is at any given time, without no extra incentive in or around the medallion UG windows. I guess the % difference decreases since both coach and FC fares are higher. We've certainly established several times in the past that our experiences come from very different markets and perspectives, so I'm assuming that's the difference. ;) |
Originally Posted by Sez_Who
(Post 24736514)
What, you are still seeing UG's? :p
AFAIK, nothing has changed except that they are fewer and fewer. This has been building for the past few years and it is now the exception that I see UG's at the early window. Much more often at the gate, especially when flying out of/to hubs. I am about 80% in advance this year another 10% at the gate and about 10% miss. |
Originally Posted by gooselee
(Post 24742695)
We've certainly established several times in the past that our experiences come from very different markets and perspectives, so I'm assuming that's the difference. ;) Lately I've been doing a lot of vacation destinations from snow bird country. |
Originally Posted by yohanson
(Post 24742070)
It's in quotes for a reason. In the past, Delta held about 50% of it's FC cabin for Medallion upgrades. They don't do that any more on many flights so I think I'm being accurate when I say "FCM Window" as it relates to Medallion upgrades and FCM. Typically the discount F fares drop near the DM/PM window from what I've noticed.
Delta used to make a lot more seats available for Medallion upgrades, figuring it wouldn't sell too many F seats at high prices at the last minute. |
Originally Posted by sethb
(Post 24742927)
Delta never held seats for Medallion upgrades. If you called a week before the flight and wanted to buy all the (unsold) seats in F they'd gladly sell them to you.
Delta used to make a lot more seats available for Medallion upgrades, figuring it wouldn't sell too many F seats at high prices at the last minute. |
Originally Posted by yohanson
(Post 24742723)
That we have! :D
Lately I've been doing a lot of vacation destinations from snow bird country. And most of my perspective is to/from major east coast business centers. And MCO for whatever reason. Wanna trade? :D |
Originally Posted by CabinCaptive
(Post 24738487)
If it's FCM (and it very well might be) then DL IT has figured out a way to have upgrades available for full Y tickets, and restrict them for Medallions. This is certainly something I have not seen in the past -- and it might just be a new practice.
The thing is that in the past one was able to see if there was upgrade availability for Medallions by choosing a full Y ticket and doing a dummy booking. If this has changed, there really is no way to determine when upgrades might be available outside of the booking window (with the hope of booking something at T-4 and getting the upgrade the next day). Thanks |
Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
(Post 24743996)
Nothing has changed. Full Y is always at the top of the upgrade list. The difference is that if upgrade space isn't available at the DM window but later becomes available, those who buy full Y at less than T-6 get the upgrades versus DMs on lower fare classes.
The upgrade cleared after I booked (later that evening between T-4 days after 5pm ET and before T-72), so it might have been that the sweep of the system had not finished for GMs while I was looking with the Y fare. |
Originally Posted by yohanson
(Post 24738545)
I can't comment on the full Y ticket upgrade availability but I assume that a full Y fare will nearly always be cheaper than the discounted F fares that Delta offers within the "FCM window".
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Originally Posted by gooselee
(Post 24743959)
:)
And most of my perspective is to/from major east coast business centers. And MCO for whatever reason. Wanna trade? :D |
well FWIW i just got upgraded today (Friday) for next Thursday's flight, so that's more than 6 days in advance.
and it's a segment for which an upgrade barely matters (SFO-LAX). |
Upgrade windows changed?
I got upgraded yesterday for next Wednesday. 4 flights on V fares. MSY-LAX-SEA-LAX-MSY.
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