Comfort + to First upgrade
 

Hello all,

If I am flying on a paid W ticket do I have a higher chance of a upgrade to F than those who have higher status than me but on main cabin tickets?

I am a Silver Medallion

Thanks

You should have a higher priority than other Silver Medallions, but GM, PM and DMs will have higher upgrade priority than you.

Unknown... we don't have the specific priority for how paid W is counted.

We need two intrepid FlyerTalkers to do an experiment. Both of the same status, DL Reserve, and spend waiver status. They buy tickets with identical underlying Y inventory but one in C+ and one not. Compare where they land on the upgrade list. We can finally know :)

Agreed. However, wouldn't it be true that OP would be behind any GM/PM/DM? I think your point is true within all FOs, how the upgrade-requesting FOs are sequenced. OP was asking about FO vs GM/PM/DM...

No. All golds, platinums, and diamonds will be ahead of you. We don't know exactly how paid W is treated, but medallion level is considered before fare class anyway so it doesn't matter.

Four flights earlier this week: MCI-SLC-OAK and OAK-SLC-MCI. I'm a Silver, with Delta CC and MQD waiver earned. On all four flights, I paid for Comfort Plus on a W fare. For upgrades I was ~18th in line for 1-3 available first class seats.

I should note, I received an offer for a first class upgrade MCI-SLC for only $45 at check in. I didn't take it.

Yes thats correct they would still be grouped within the silver category. Buying C+ doesn't get you ahead of DM/PM/GM.

A FO with a FULL Y fare is likely to be ahead of a W "fare."

Well, maybe, we're all just guessing at how W ranks compared to main cabin fare buckets.

That's why I said "is likely to be." I'm basing my statement on the reasoning that (1) DL *might* use the class of the underlying fare code for W "fares" and (2) most W fares in practice cost considerably less that FULL Y.