This is what the DM line told me as well- area of travel, not aircraft/class/type seat.

Either got lucky twice, the rules have change (which is possible), or as happens frequently with DL no one knows for sure but makes it up.

Regardless NSA is used to show that only routes with D1 service require GUC/don't get free upgrades. The replies received so far under cut that well established policy by saying it's only per area.

I flew KEF-JFK last week - no comp medallion upgrades. 4/16 seats went to NRSAs or GUCs at the gate. I actually think the front cabin was being sold as first (this was part of a KEF-JFK-LAX trip that i originally booked at 135k pts for front cabin and then couldn't resist downgrading at 30k pts for eco, and I recall the "mixed cabin" moniker).

Also, just a warning that KEF is a complete CF in the morning; Icelandair in particular seems to be short of ticket counter space. Give yourself a bit of extra time if you need to check a bike/skis/oversize bag as you need to maneuver around these crowds.

Normally I trust FT over a random phone agent who may or may not be familiar with the policy. Have definitely been given inaccurate info on the phone before.

Given the divergent opinions here I contacted DL on Twitter and as has been posted upthread, no complimentary upgrades on this route.

Response from DL below.

--

Thanks for your patience while I researched your concerns. JFK to KEF is considered Transatlantic. Complimentary Medallion Upgrades to Premium cabin are not offered unless you have a Global Certificate. If you space is not available to upgrade, you may be wait-listed for the upgrade. I hope this clears up some of your questions. Thank you for tweeting us today. *NW

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...s.html#regions

Here is a link to chart. Notice if sold as FC a RUC is eligible to be used. I talked with a nice DM line supervisor and she said the basic answer is no one really knows. However she agreed that it should be eligible I'm her opinion based on chart and the fact non-D1 routes to South America qualify. In fact she brought up South America without me mentioning it.

It's rather silly that flights to KEF aren't upgrade eligible. Who is seriously paying that much for a quick JFK-KEF hop? If a cabin is regularly being filled with non-revs, that should give DL a clue that F/J is not a hot commodity on that route.

My interpretation is that you have to be eligible from the first chart (geographic) in order to move on to the second chart. So non-D1 to northern S America qualifies for RUC because it passes both tests, but KEF does not qualify for RUC because it fails the geography portion. But yeah, it's not particularly clear in any case.

OpUp perhaps? aka Operational Upgrade, when the flight is oversold they bump some pax to J, usually starting with elites.

Whoops missed this:

You sure you didn't use GUC? Either way, nice work. When we went there were open seats in first both directions, which really hurt to see.

+1000- Last year arriving 3 hours prior to departure wasn't enough (but they held the flight for another 50 people behind us).

Pretty sure that ATL/MSP/JFK-HNL require GUCs to upgrade and aren't marketed as D1 flights.

Didn't think about those. Of course those routes also get amenity kits which isn't included on non D1 routes, but don't get lounge access.

Might've been mentioned in here, but the other odd thing is route is being sold in biz buckets J/C/D/I/Z, but says 'First' instead of Business.

Nothing odd there. The fare buckets have nothing to do with type of service. DFW-ATL has a flight that uses JCDZ buckets because it shares a number with DFW-LHR. LAX-MEX use JCDZ buckets but is only Domestic First.

Yes, but I think when you book on the website it still says 'business' for those domestic routes. Normally if the bucket is FPAG it says first, and JCDIZ says business or D1.