May 24, 2017, 7:48 am
Last edit by: gooselee
How post-purchase upgrades work: Based on Delta's announcement 24 May, anyone who purchases a ticket for coach can purchase a Comfort+ or First Class upgrade. No mention was made of Delta One. Upgrades are available as of 24 May via phone or web; app functionality is pending according to the airline. No mention of relative cost was provided.
Some further details here:Delta to Offer A Variety of Ways to Upgrade Tickets After Purchase
Link to Delta's press release: http://news.delta.com/delta-expands-...age-upgrades-0
Link to Delta.com page about the changes: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...-upgrades.html
Partial T&Cs, emphases mine:
Terms and Conditions:
The advertised price is not an offer and is subject to change. No contract exists until you receive confirmation that payment was received and processed. Upgrades may only be purchased for Delta- or Delta Connection- operated flights and are not available for Award Tickets and certain discounted and exception fares. Additional eligibility restrictions may apply at Delta's sole discretion. All passengers within the confirmation number must be upgraded to Main Cabin, Delta Comfort+ TM, or First/Delta One fare classes. Fare rules of your initial reservation will apply regardless of whether rules that would otherwise apply to the fare class of your upgraded ticket are less restrictive, i.e. changeability/refundability. Upgraded tickets are eligible for additional mileage, Medallion Qualification Miles and Medallion Qualification Dollars accruals due to the selection of Delta Comfort+ TM or First/Delta One and associated fare classes, and the increase in base fare or carrier imposed surcharges paid in connection with your upgrade.
Some further details here:Delta to Offer A Variety of Ways to Upgrade Tickets After Purchase
Link to Delta's press release: http://news.delta.com/delta-expands-...age-upgrades-0
Link to Delta.com page about the changes: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...-upgrades.html
Partial T&Cs, emphases mine:
Terms and Conditions:
The advertised price is not an offer and is subject to change. No contract exists until you receive confirmation that payment was received and processed. Upgrades may only be purchased for Delta- or Delta Connection- operated flights and are not available for Award Tickets and certain discounted and exception fares. Additional eligibility restrictions may apply at Delta's sole discretion. All passengers within the confirmation number must be upgraded to Main Cabin, Delta Comfort+ TM, or First/Delta One fare classes. Fare rules of your initial reservation will apply regardless of whether rules that would otherwise apply to the fare class of your upgraded ticket are less restrictive, i.e. changeability/refundability. Upgraded tickets are eligible for additional mileage, Medallion Qualification Miles and Medallion Qualification Dollars accruals due to the selection of Delta Comfort+ TM or First/Delta One and associated fare classes, and the increase in base fare or carrier imposed surcharges paid in connection with your upgrade.
Delta Adding Post-Purchase Comfort+, FC Upgrade Purchases
May 24, 2017, 5:41 pm
#61
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My reading of this is that if you "opt out" you are not opting out from being upgraded but instead you are opting out from being automatically re-seated, even though your ticket would still be cleared for upgrade. When you are cleared during the upgrade window, and you have also "opted out," you are then able to go into the seat map and either:
1) Remain in your current seat (Y or C+)/class of service (even though you've been upgraded)
or
2) manually select a new seat in the upgraded class you have been cleared into.
If this did not lower my priority I would actually like this a lot, because there are certain C+ seats that I prefer over certain F seats, and there are times I only want to be upgraded if I can remain with someone I am traveling with on a separate pnr, etc. In other words, there are times when I only want the upgrade on a flight if certain other parameters are met.
What is not clear is what will happen when someone is upgraded and does not select a seat in F: When does that inventory become available for others to use? At the gate? If a DM is upgraded 5 days out but has opted out, and does not move, can an FO have that inventory at 24 hours, or does the DM retain that inventory throughout the window until the gate?
Or maybe I'm misunderstanding this?
1) Remain in your current seat (Y or C+)/class of service (even though you've been upgraded)
or
2) manually select a new seat in the upgraded class you have been cleared into.
If this did not lower my priority I would actually like this a lot, because there are certain C+ seats that I prefer over certain F seats, and there are times I only want to be upgraded if I can remain with someone I am traveling with on a separate pnr, etc. In other words, there are times when I only want the upgrade on a flight if certain other parameters are met.
What is not clear is what will happen when someone is upgraded and does not select a seat in F: When does that inventory become available for others to use? At the gate? If a DM is upgraded 5 days out but has opted out, and does not move, can an FO have that inventory at 24 hours, or does the DM retain that inventory throughout the window until the gate?
Or maybe I'm misunderstanding this?
Either this wasn't fully thought through, or the marketing comms folks at DL are as confused as the rest of us. Maybe both.
May 24, 2017, 7:00 pm
#62
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: MID
Programs: Delta Skymiles Lifetime Silver, Delta MM, Lifetime Marriott Plat, Lifetime Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 366
I assume this is the product I purchased a few weeks ago to upgrade to First thinking it was the normal FCM only to find it doesn't qualify for the 150% MQM bonus. Hopefully Delta is being upfront about this.
May 24, 2017, 7:08 pm
#63
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: ATL
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt LT DM, Wyndham DM, Hertz PC, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,038
At OLCI? Or before? If before should have been 150% MQMs. At OLCI it's essentially RU Fare.
May 24, 2017, 7:53 pm
#65
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Is this a RT upgrade offer for FC on the domestic segments and D1 on the TATL flights?
May 24, 2017, 10:41 pm
#67
Join Date: Nov 2015
Programs: DL, Marriott & IHG Platty; HH Diamonte
Posts: 861
I think this is a great change for gold medallion, but probably not for PM and DM. Given I have some credit cards that include travel incidental reimbursements such as seat upgrades, i can once again use them or pay with points for the upgrade after i book my ticket that is reimbursed by my company.
May 25, 2017, 6:42 am
#68
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: MID
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Posts: 366
I don't remember how far in advance but it was multiple days. I called the Diamond line and they told me this was a brand new product they were rolling out and it didn't qualify for the 150%. However, I just went in to look at my account and they have since apparently changed their minds and they gave me the 150% for the date in question. So either they decided they had messed up or they decided to change the policy of the new product.
May 25, 2017, 6:47 am
#69
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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I don't remember how far in advance but it was multiple days. I called the Diamond line and they told me this was a brand new product they were rolling out and it didn't qualify for the 150%. However, I just went in to look at my account and they have since apparently changed their minds and they gave me the 150% for the date in question. So either they decided they had messed up or they decided to change the policy of the new product.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...l#post28086608
... which specifically mentions the extra MQMs.
May 25, 2017, 7:42 am
#70
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
I'm confused about this language here (emphasis mine):
You will both be eligible for a Complimentary Medallion Upgrade as long as the companion is a SkyMiles Member. Medallion Members traveling with one companion will clear for Complimentary Upgrades based on the Status of the higher-tiered Member, upgrades will be available no more than 24 hours prior to departure.
Seems to suggest a partial undoing of the new companion upgrade priority. For first class this would hardly make any difference since it's rare for F upgrades to clear more than 24 hours in advance these days anyway, but for C+ upgrades if you can only get upgraded with a companion 24 hours out, then I would be very annoyed. (I know there are others who disliked the new companion upgrade policy and would like this change, though.)
May 25, 2017, 7:43 am
#71
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: JAX
Programs: Delta DM, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 317
I think this is a great change for gold medallion, but probably not for PM and DM. Given I have some credit cards that include travel incidental reimbursements such as seat upgrades, i can once again use them or pay with points for the upgrade after i book my ticket that is reimbursed by my company.
Plus, the ability to buy up per segment is nice. One thing I've always had a hard time with being based in JAX is paying for the upgrade for the 45 minute JAX-ATL flight so I can sit in first on say, ATL-SAN. Just felt like a waste to me. Looking at my booked itineraries, the price JAX-ATL is always more than the price ATL-XXX, despite the fact ATL-XXX is always the longer flight. It's a limited sample size at the moment, and there are no internationals booked at present, but it's definitely helpful for me.
May 25, 2017, 7:49 am
#72
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: JAX
Programs: Delta DM, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 317
I'm confused about this language here (emphasis mine):
You will both be eligible for a Complimentary Medallion Upgrade as long as the companion is a SkyMiles Member. Medallion Members traveling with one companion will clear for Complimentary Upgrades based on the Status of the higher-tiered Member, upgrades will be available no more than 24 hours prior to departure.
Seems to suggest a partial undoing of the new companion upgrade priority. For first class this would hardly make any difference since it's rare for F upgrades to clear more than 24 hours in advance these days anyway, but for C+ upgrades if you can only get upgraded with a companion 24 hours out, then I would be very annoyed. (I know there are others who disliked the new companion upgrade policy and would like this change, though.)Good call out - that's annoying as I read it. I will say, my companion and I were upgraded from C+ to F overnight Tuesday night (when this was going in). That would be at the start of the DM window, as the flight is Monday. Now, this change may have rolled out a couple hours after my upgrade processed, so I don't know if my experience is an accurate data point.
May 25, 2017, 9:19 am
#75
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
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Posts: 10,745
I'm confused about this language here (emphasis mine):
You will both be eligible for a Complimentary Medallion Upgrade as long as the companion is a SkyMiles Member. Medallion Members traveling with one companion will clear for Complimentary Upgrades based on the Status of the higher-tiered Member, upgrades will be available no more than 24 hours prior to departure.
Seems to suggest a partial undoing of the new companion upgrade priority. For first class this would hardly make any difference since it's rare for F upgrades to clear more than 24 hours in advance these days anyway, but for C+ upgrades if you can only get upgraded with a companion 24 hours out, then I would be very annoyed. (I know there are others who disliked the new companion upgrade policy and would like this change, though.)