MSCOTT8

Did some research and couldn't come up with a solid answer.

Say a medallion is traveling with a companion on their reservation, if the member is 6/6 on the upgrade list and the companion is 7/6, how does delta generally handle this?

hnewman

I have been called to the podium and asked what do I want to do on multiple occasions and other times I approach the gate agent and them know when they are not busy.

vincentharris

Two options:

Hand the upgrade off to your significant other if you want to enjoy your life when you land OR

Take the upgrade, and send them to the back. Make sure to get loaded on Woodford so when you land the ensuing yelling is easier to tolerate

vincentharris

Joking aside I was on a flight recently where I got the upgrade at 24 hours out from departure. At that time I was still an FO which means they EXHAUSTED the list before giving me the upgrade.

I guess every medallion on the flight got the upgrade because we were about to leave the ground with one empty FC seat when I assume the ladies significant other in one seat in FC asked if her significant other could get the seat since she was in this situation. She was 1 for 1 he was 2 for 1 on the upgrade list. GA verified this, they went to the back, and brought him up.

Amazingly this couple did not ask people to switch around to sit next to each other either. They were adults, and could sit a few rows away from each other for a few hours....

pmichelazzo

Also its leave the teeth inside the mouth

ryanfinger

I'm an aisle person so I always make sure my wife selects the aisle and I select the middle seat in case we get separated because of an UG.

kpbadger

On one (Medallion light but paid F heavy) flight my son and I were #1 and #2 together, and my wife was #3 on her own. There was 1 seat left at the gate. I declined the upgrade on behalf of myself and son, so it fell to my wife. LOL.

ryanfinger

Also, I can't prove this to be true but...

Delta seems to open seats (except at the window) 1 at a time. If traveling with a companion and we don't get upgraded at the window I find that my only chance is at the gate.. When 1 seat opens I think you are skipped to the next medallion. U only get upgraded if they actually open 2 seats...

My wife is gold so at times when only a small number of seats are available I have opted to split the PNR and at least get 1 UG to clear. Especially on medallion heavy routes.

Perhaps my observation is wrong....

SDQBound

I think your observation is not wrong, but it varies depending on the load of the economy cabin and the likehood of selling seats in the frond cabin.

GRALISTAIR

This is my experience.

MSCOTT8

My curiosity mostly had to do with it going down to the gate.

From the sounds of it, some gate agents are polite enough to get on the loud speaker to find out what YOU want. That is the way I think it should be, but you also have to be at the gate for that to work out.

bgriff

This is critical ... make sure that whichever seat the two of you have left in coach (regardless of which of you actually sits in it) is a decent one.

It may just be that seats are so rarely open at the window at all any more that they tend to only appear one at a time because most often there are 0 seats, and the next-most-common outcome is that there is only 1 seat.

dilbertsdaddy

Aisles across on 3X3.

On 2X3 make sure the #1 UG has the window so you keep the aisle in the event of 1 UG.

jrl767

I'm almost 100% confident that the default is that there must be two seats available in order to upgrade the Medallion member and companion together: if you separate the records, the companion reverts to the spot on the list where they would have been on their own ... in OP's example (presuming the companion is a lower Medallion level or a general member), splitting the record would drop companion to far below #7 if OP is #6 as a DM

~2010 my wife (general member) and I (GM at the time) experienced an almost identical situation, being #4 and #5 of 9 for 4 seats ... iirc maybe a 2-hr flight on a Sat afternoon; we had 5A and 5C on an old A320, so "F-lite" in terms of legroom, and an empty middle seat between us ... I didn't separate the records, so the UGs went to 1,2,3, and 6

btonkid12345

Key point: if only 1 of you can clear at the gate, but you are booked on the same rez/PNR now, the gate agent will have to SPLIT YOUR RECORDS to only clear 1 upgrade.

This is irrelevant if its the last segment of your trip - but if its your first - your companion could lose the upgrades on the other segments/definitely lose sharing your status on the list for subsequent segments.

Seriously, imagine havinga 4 segment RT, and you split on segment 1. All the other upgrades grantedin advance on the other 3 segments, BOOM gone for the companion. It is a nightmare to deal with when you land, if it happens, so just keep this in mind.