If they are a "Preferred Carrier" there is almost certainly some sort of contract (likely a rebate scheme -- see below)

IME, most corporate contracts (save for very large corporations) provide savings in the form of rebates and not discounts off of fares at the time of purchase. DL keeps track of the tickets booked by a company or travel agency and then rebates (usually in airline credits but also sometimes in cash) on an annual or quarterly interval provided the account meets certain booking ($) thresholds. The company/TA can then determine how to use the rebate (my firm usually gives most of them away as incentives but I am sure a lot use them to credit future travel).

First, Concur is simply software which an employer (or perhaps an employer's enrolled corporate TA) uses to manage travel rules. As others note, it can prioritize, mandate or require justifications for certain carriers or routings. E.g., depending on the rules established by the licensee (employer), it can be set up so that the traveler sees DL itineraries first, must fly DL, or must provide a justification in a popup when not flying DL. It can also limit the use of F, require the use of Basic (E) fares and impose other restrictions. All set by the employer.

Second, If your corporate travel doesn't know, somebody at your employer does know as that person negotiated something with DL if there is any kind of a deal (discount or rebate). Presumably the CFO or somebody in that chain of command depending on size.

People tend to over-personalize what is a business transaction. It's not as though DL doesn't want the little guy's business. In fact, DL sells E fares to people who fly once every 5 years. It's simply that DL is prepared to give more perks such as free UG's to customers who spend more.

Maybe all of this is a but of desperation as the ultimate cost of maintaining free and unlimited UG's for all Medallions creates more than the system can reasonably manage and means that there are many who fly routes where they simply won't see UG's for a whole series of reasons including paid F, less capacity, and more corporate deals.

Yep - money talks.....

The company I work for (50,000+ employees) uses a corporate travel service who uses concur... But our fare restrictions are lowest priced direct/non-stop US carrier ( can code share if ticketed thru US carrier). Anything over 200.00 above lowest price requires VP approval. However.. on TPAC/TATL we are allowed M class tickets ( if pre-approved). The corp ticket priority is most welcome from my standpoint.

I personally think this has been going on for a few months. It's been awhile since I haven't been #1 on the UG list I didn't clear in advance and I meet all the criteria being discussed. Before Id at least occasionally be at least #3-4. I have Monday morning ATL-SFO and it'll be interesting to see where I fall (if no one RUC's)

Seems like this benefits having a Reserve card. If CC is ahead of corporate in the hierarchy. Unless your company gives you a corporate Reserve card or lets you book airfare with your personal Reserve card. Then you are living the dream.

I don't believe there is any requirement a ticket needs to be booked with the Reserve card to receive the benefits of holding a Reserve Card, it is noted on your SkyMiles profile.

I assume SkyBonus, the small biz program, doesn't count for the "corporate" travel

Is this true? Can anyone verify?

I've never had a problem accessing the SkyClub even when traveling for work which is booked on my Gov't Travel Card, which is a Visa. I've never been asked to show the card at the club. It's already noted in my profile.

Sky club, sure. But upgrade priority? I always assumed you actually had to use the card to get the benefit. Would love for that not to be the case though!

That wasn't the rule earlier, around the time of the merger, but then at some point the upgrade priority associated with having a Reserve card disappeared from some of the lists of benefits. It hasn't been clear whether the upgrade priority continued or not. If this benefit was dropped and now is being brought back, the rules associated with it could have changed. Personally I'd be happy if the upgrade priority only applied to the primary Reserve cardholder when the tickets have been purchased with that Reserve card.

It looks like DL changed the web site for upgrade list sometime between Thursday and today. Maybe this is part of the change/simplification

Many thanks for posting this. I am indifferent to the corp priority but am glad to see the Y-UP feature disappear as I always suspected that fairly often M and other similar fares could be nearly as much $. In other words, is whether a ticket was $700 versus $714 really enough for to justify a gold trumping a diamond? Hopefully the net result of these two changes is a noticeable increase in diamond upgrades. As my % has declined the last few years, I hope this brings it back up at least a few points.

Posted this question in another thread but trying here as well:

So if I (PM) am travelling on a Y fare with my non status companion we will be dragged down to the bottom of the list behind all those with status without companions? Is that correct? Prior to 4/30 we would have had priority behind anyone using a GUC (or a DM on a Y fare). Am I getting it?