Corganbr

This week I was on GRU-JFK and the flight looked full. There were several names in the standby list and as a Platinum medallion I had hopes for a OP-UP. I was surprised and angry when I saw many last minute people settling in Delta One. Then I checked the app and 8 people from standby got Delta One seats even though the status said "main cabin".

Does anyone know what happened? I want to write a complaint letter to DL but thought I should check here before I do.

LoganFlyer

If the standbys were non-revs, then they would get the Delta One seats if available.

Corganbr

Any idea if 8 non-revs is a common occurrence in that route? So non-revs have higher priority over Platinum Medallions?

LoganFlyer

No idea.

Yup. Diamonds, too. The only way op-ups happen is if there are more paying coach passengers than there are coach seats.

audidudi

Unfortunately YES! They even have priority over Diamond Medallions! They have always had priority and probably always will!

LoganFlyer

Dupe.

USCTrojan83

Non-revs are entitled to upgrades to DeltaOne, medallion upgrades to that cabin are not a stated benefit. Getting such an upgrade, if it happens, is a nice gift but don't expect it. I've seen 8-10 non-revs get DeltaOne seats on multiple flights. They get priority on international flights for open D1 seating, whereas medallions do on domestic flights. Note that using a Global Upgrade puts you above non-revs.

RRDD

Want D1? Quit current job, get new one with Delta.

Happens frequently. An FO next to me on a flight from GIG was incensed when several folks in middle seats around him were moved up to Business. He calmed down after I told him he would have to take a 50% cut in pay for the same privilege.

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Yep.

Medallion upgrades are only in effect on int'l for C+. So, there tends to be a fair share of open seats for us to get into.

As loganflyer mentioned, the op-up likely could only be possible if both W&Y were oversold.

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Sounds fair to me.

TTT

As has been stated, they were non-revs.

Medallions don't have an upgrade benefit on D1 routes so nothing for you to complain about.

lbcnu

15 non-revs were on my transcon SFO-JFK last week.

kxc262

Had 12 non-revs when I went from SEA-HKG. They basically took the whole D1 cabin.

davetravels

I flew PIT/CDG in late June (D1 award ticket). My FA friend who went with me as a non-rev was on the stand-by list (as #1 ), and eventually got the UG and sat next to me.

I, too, was surprised that, that's how non-revs appear on the stand-by list for everyone to see!

MSPeconomist

I just saw this on my international flight. No one was on the upgrade waitlist for D1, which would mean that all GUC requests had already cleared. There was a long "upgrade" wait list for C+, but it was full.

Maybe a dozen folks were listed as standby. They all cleared the standby list as "main cabin" although all but two of them were assigned D1 seats. I would assume either that the two (same last names and listed consecutively)hadn't wanted to pay the fees associated with D1 nonrev seating for their category (maybe the ZED or whatever that's based on a percentage of the fare for your cabin) or weren't eligible to ride nonrev in D1, perhaps because it was a parent traveling with a small child.

Still, I did notice the "main cabin" designation with D1 seat assignments and wonder now based on the OP here whether this is some new policy at DL to make it less obvious how many empty seats there were in D1 or how many nonrevs were in D1 on the flight. I did a double take because I've never seen the standby list look like this although I have seen similar numbers of nonrevs get into D1 seats.

ADDED: in contrast to what davetravels saw, my international flights in June and July had a few nonrevs in D1, but the app did not indicate that they were seated in the main cabin....and today the nonrevs in D1 did not get main cabin service either.

BTW, with my flight being so empty, I was surprised that more nonrevs didn't flock to it. I had expected the number of nonrevs on the standby list to at least equal the number of available D1 seats.