Upgrade not honored - no reason
 

I have a complaint into DL corp for this one, but want to solicit feedback from the community.

Booked SRQ-ATL-SAT and back on a last minute trip - booked 1 day out and was in SAT for only 16 hrs. Purchased H fare out of SRQ as it's my home airport (note: flying out of TPA would have been $60 cheaper).

Used a regional to UP to first - no confirmed seats available, so was wait listed on SRQ-ATL and ATL-SAT. Confirmed that I was #1 on the UP list at check-in and <3 hours from scheduled departure.

Day of departure, receive an alert that flight was delayed by 30 mins, then 60 mins then 4 hours - missing my connection and putting the entire trip in jeopardy.

Naturally, I called in and the SM desk agent re-routed my outbound TPA-ATL-SAT (the same route that was $60 cheaper) for an even exchange 90 mins before the TPA flight took off under IROPS. He also re-applied my regional cert and I was able to check in with a current seat of 29D and showing #1 of 49 on the UP list with 5 open seats -- SM agent was also able to see that there were 5 OPEN (not unassigned) seats available.

Still driving to the airport (45 mins from wheels up) I looked for other open seats close up front - none. I re-verified I was still on the UP list and was still #1 of 49...

I ran through TPA and made it to the gate just as they were pre-boarding. The cleared list showed 5 CLEARED upgrades, with me NOT BEING ONE.

I asked for a red coat and she said "they didn't book my ticket correctly, because I paid H fare but was showing a Y-fare"... naturally, I commented that both a Y-fare and a regional UP cert would trump other platinums and the UP cert would trump diamonds without a cert applied. The red coat said "I'm not going to upgrade you, plus all the seats are now full".... Naturally I was less than pleased with this comment.

Having no time to figure this out since the flight was boarding, I flew in 29D. I was upgraded on the ATL-SAT leg via my cert which now renders my cert "closed".

On the way back, I contacted the DL corp and spoke with a supervisor that said my ticket clearly was IROPS w/ a regional and that I was checked in with noted on my PNR of why it was rebooked. The DL corp supervisor acknowledged that "something really wrong" happened to me and she was going to escalate this and have a manager call me back next week..

Did I miss something here?

ADDITIONAL INFO:
1. SM supervisors initially offered my 10k miles as an "apology" - I declined them, advised would take up with Corp.
2. Due to the last minute of the rebook (<2 hrs from wheels up), no one could have applied a REGIONAL or GLOBAL UP to their PNR.

I would have felt that 10K miles for a mess up on the upgrade for a 90-minute flight was reasonable compensation.

What do you think Delta should do?

^^ I totally agree

Yet another case of employees thinking they know better than the upgrade list. I honestly trust that the Red Coat involved will be talked to about this if you gave a name.

I think that OP should have a new RCU issued for future use, since OP was unfairly denied an upgrade on a portion of the trip and yet still lost the RCU.

Even if the Redcoat admitted that the OP was wrongly skipped, I don't think he or she would have "un-upgraded" someone. That just annoys another elite.

I'd take the offered 10k miles, and then write in later to ask for my RUC back. If I could get both, then I'd be satisfied. I'd be less concerned about what happens to the Redcoat because at the end of the day, he or she is Delta's problem.

As a aside, the name "Redcoat" is a little strange for a customer-forward assistance person. First thing that comes to mind is a British nasty with a musket and bayonet.

I'm not sure what else the redcoat could have done in this situation

The same thing that has happened to many of us, including myself: page #5 on the list, apologize for the inconvenience but tell them another passenger has showed up who needs their seat, and hand them a new boarding pass for their seat in Y.

Well, that's fine if the original seat is still available. But chances are the original seat has been given away and the only available seat is 29d.

The the GA/redcoat should have taken the last upgrade back, gave them a ticket in Y and gave the OP the FC seat. I have seen this exact scenario happen on more than one occassion when a mistake is made.

Her job maybe?

^

You guys are OK with taking someone who was giving a F boarding pass, has boarded the plane and taken their seat, and yanking them off and sending them to the back?

Does this redcoat have red hair?

Delta is the one that's OK with it and has no problem doing it -

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...-upgraded.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...owngraded.html

But you seem to believe agents never go rogue or bend rules :rolleyes: