MSPeconomist

There was a very nice brief period after the plus nine policy ended when it was relatively easy to be confident about being able to get a good C+ seat. Now DL is giving many of these seats to spouses and other companions who have *not* earned them as an elite benefit.

pvn

Do you have any data on improvement in availability when that ended? I mean going from "up to 9 people on any PNR" to "only 1 person on the exact same PNR only" really sounds like the end of the world.

NobleHouse

I think there a nuanced distinction between "upgrade" and access to C+. IIRC, prior to turning C+ into it's own fare class, a benefit as a PM/DM was that you would have access to C+ seats at time of booking, award ticket or otherwise. Now that C- to C+ is considered a different fare class and correspondingly an upgrade, the ability to choose C+ if you're a DM/PM and traveling on an award ticket with a sky miles member is no longer available and you're listed as "upgrade ineligible".

However, @scruffair, to your point, you are correct in terms of upgrades from Y to F with SM companions prior to the C+ fare class rule change.

MSPeconomist

Any such data would be proprietary.

TTT

IME, once C+ went to an upgrade class it was hard to get a good seat within 14 days of travel.

I never had an issue when it was +9 and a seat add-on.

I really don't think the change to +1 on same PNR is going to be as catastrophic as you seem to and the policy seems a reasonable compromise. There is an argument to be made that the companion of a high-level elite (presuming spouse/SO in many cases) does deserve some of the benefit as they have to "take care of things" while the Medallion is traveling. I know my spouse has certainly sacrificed some when I am away.

jdrtravel

Utter nonsense. "Earning" has absolutely nothing to do with this, these are not boy scout badges. Delta has just changed the benefit. Now medallions have the benefit of bringing a companion at their level, a benefit we lacked before. No medallion is entitled to those seats. Delta could decide to hand them out only to people with purple and blue hair tomorrow, and that would be entirely their right.

TTT

^

MSPeconomist

One data point, but I'm looking at domestic business travel for the very end of this month and I have no flexibility on flights or times. It's a route that shouldn't be elite heavy and where I would expect FC upgrades as well as C+ seats to be easy to get as a DM. I'm looking at the last decent C+ seat in one direction and a preferred seat for the other direction. Fare class availability looks excellent to very good on these flights.

pvn

I'm not asking if you can share it, I'm asking if your opinion up above was based on actual data you've seen or just feels.

jdrtravel

def. just feels.

appleguru

You can only get companion benefits if you can your companion are on the same PNR. Linking does not work.

This is intentional (and good IMO).

mnredfox

True. If you read my posts up thread this is exactly what is happening. So to summarize:

1. Yes, you and companion can get C+/FC UG's on award tickets and they do clear at time of higher medallion if they are also a medallion. The reason for this is that if the companion is not a medallion they are not UG eligible on award tickets (by themselves). This will put both you and your companion as "not complimentary upgrade eligible". I confirmed this by gifting my companion FO and when their status changed we both had upgrade requested on our PNR.

2. Companions are getting UG to C+ (I have no experience yet with FC but it should work as it says requested for us) and FC for all revenue tickets.

3. Though early reports indicate that unchecking and rechecking works - mine autocleared overnight. So seems like advice would be to check and uncheck but not worry too much as it appears to be working.

4. There still is mass confusion amongst agents. Some agents I've talked to within last 24 hours have no idea a soft roll-out is occurring. Some agents have incorrectly stated that for award tickets it clears at the lower companion. Some agents have said to me that award tickets are completely ineligible (may be technically correct but as implemented by IT it is working).

My guess (and hope) is that DL implements this for all award classes (i.e. including award fare classes). This will eliminate the issue seen in #1.

scruffair

As I understand it the current system will still be in place... You can split the reservation and still get a non-status companion on the list at 24 hours.

Agree but that has nothing to do with this companion change. that's a general C+ complaint.

BenA

Yup. ^ The only time they may be willing to make an exception is if you were originally booked on the same PNR, and the reservation has been divided for some reason by Delta.

(Previously, split PNRs were used to separate upgrade priorities, but now there's no reason to do that... so this should describe very, very few reservations going forward other than ones that have encountered some sort of technical problem.)

scruffair

Wrong. You can split and the medallion member will be eligible.