BenA

scubadu

I don't mean to seem rude, but seriously? What in the world would make you think that? If one spends any time at all on the AA,UA, or DL forums, there does not seem to be any evidence, whatsoever, that elite benefits/upgrades are any easier on any one of the three vs. the other...

Regards

TheMadBrewer

It very much depends. I've chosen GUCs since they were first offered and I've never had one not clear weeks before the flight -- if not soon after booking. The trips I use them on are all LAX-XXX-EU. The closest I've come to a miss was I was flying LAX-JFK-PRG and JFK-PRG cleared at application but LAX-JFK didn't. That morning I was #2 for 0 so it didn't look good. Then the flight went MX and I would miss my connection and was re-routed LAX-CDG-PRG. A couple of other times flying thru JFK the LAX-JFK leg went to the gate.

I'm dropping to PM and I am most sad about losing the GUCs.

mikeef

Figured it couldn't be any worse, since AA hands out CK at a rate far higher than DL does 360.

Sadly, FT is not a very good sampling size for what happens in the real world. I'm told that we tend to get a bit obsessive about miles and upgrades.

Mike

FBplatinum

I did not know if the route I take (to PVG from ATL, DTW or SEA) are more easy to use the GUC.
But on all flight I want to use them, it is always clear (even on my next flight in end Jan/Feb it is already clear).

On my side, I come from Flying Blue and I am VERY satisfy with the Skymiles program. I estimate the value of the Diamond choice benefit at +- 10K usd (for me)

scubadu

Oh, I agree with that but the exceedingly long upgrade lists that you can generally see with your own eyes on the gate monitor (or app) at the airport have nothing to do with the sample size of FT.

The world is rapidly moving to a want first/premium, buy first/premium model. Delta has made abundantly clear, in writing I believe (e.g. investor presentations) their intent to continue shifting the mix of paid vs. upgrade (and I don't mean shifting in our favor)

Regards

FF524

scubadu

Nor should you have that ability. I fly both for business (occasionally) and pleasure (mostly), but I don't expect my employer to put me upfront, excepting some occasional circumstances.

Regards

gooselee

DL doesn't need just road warriors buying the UGs, though. If they get 2 or 3 twice-a-year vacationers to bite on every flight, that's a consistent 2 or 3 fewer UG spots on every flight.

Don't underestimate the number of people out there who consistently pay $29/person on their DL Gold Amex to use the SkyClub for an hour before their ATL-TPA flight. These are the same people who are most likely to drop $79 on a one-way FC upgrade on that same flight.

flyerUSA

I don't *understand* those people. You just aren't getting $29 value out of that club unless you are there for hours and hours. DL has a good scheme going.

gooselee

I don't either. But they exist, and in great numbers.

scubadu

This depends greatly on what you value and whether $29 is a large or vanishingly small amount of money to someone, accounting for income/net worth.

Not everyone uses airport lounges just to try maximize alcohol/food intake in a given period of time.

Regards

Chris92009

When will DL do the downgrades from DM to PM for everyone from last years changes? I am guessing Feb 2019?

mikeef

Side note: I work for a large corporation whose policy is that they'll pay for the lowest logical airfare and, if I want to upgrade, I can pay for it myself. Perfectly reasonable. What's odd is that, after 7+ years with the company, I have yet to figure out the mechanism to do so, i.e., buy the ticket and write a check, buy it on the corporate site and then go back to Delta for the upgrade, etc. I know it sounds odd, but nobody in the company can tell me the proper way to book it. It's kind of like the YBYL policy; nobody knows what it really is.

It depends, I guess, on what you value. It would probably be fair to say that the marginal cost of the average additional passenger is well below $29, but a person who needs a quiet room to do a meeting or finds some enjoyment in the free food, drink and relative peace, might be happy to pay.

Mike

ATOBTTR

Depends on the club. In ATL, SEA, etc. one could easily get $29 in value in just an hour or so especially if they go to one of the bigger clubs with a larger food selection (New B, E, or F in ATL, the newest club at SEA, etc.). Otherwise one could easily spend near that amount on a meal and a drink or two in a terminal restaurant especially with airport terminal prices. One could make the argument that you could get a better quality meal (food) for $29 at an airport restaurant versus the buffet at the club, but one can offset some of that by having a couple drinks which would be priced pretty high in those restaurants. So to each their own based on what they value. I think one could easily get a $29 value with about ~1 hour in a SkyClub. That's less than the consensus on FT when it comes to FCM buy-ups which is often ~$0.01/minute of flight time (ie. some on FT see a good value for a buy-up if the buy-up for a 4 hour flight is around $240).

Keep in mind that some of that buy-up for a non-status pax on economy tickets buys things that we're often used to getting complimentary because of our status that they otherwise wouldn't get or would have to pay for with their economy ticket. If a non-status passenger is planning to check bags, $79 becomes a lot less of a premium for F when F would include checked bags that is now $30 for the first bag and $40 for the second. So if a passenger has a choice of $79 for FC and getting "Free" bags or paying $70 at check-in for two bags, it becomes a bit of a no-brainer. The past couple trips my parents have been on to HI, they've bought F for the island hopper flights on HA. It's not that they needed F for a flight that is ~15-20 minutes takeoff to touchdown but they saw that the premium for FC over Economy was basically the same as what two checked bags would have costs anyway, so why wouldn't they buy-up at that point?