pssinatl

I’ve had several chance situations where it has become clear that unlimited complimentary upgrades clear out of published priority order. Most recently was yesterday: two reservations with three pax, all on same routing, all with X fare basis. . My reservation: 1 DM, Reserve card, X class. Other res: 1 PM and 1 GM pax, both X class. All requested for RU space. Records were linked.

My travel companions both cleared for FC on DL 1554 09DEC at T-25 hrs, but I did not. Flight after they cleared was selling F9. By the time I called in with a 29 minute wait, F was completely sold out. Agent had no explanation why PM and GM would clear but DM not clear. She said because it is done by a computer, “mistakes can’t happen”.

I’ve had this situation occur before, for example when a GM coworkers clear into RU while I’m still waiting and if I call in and document the problem, supervisors normally say they have no idea and have never heard of this but clear my upgrade because the incorrect upgrade order is provable.

So so I wonder if others have had these experiences, and if it’s helpful to start a thread to try to understand why it happens and how to help Delta fix it.

please share your experience if you have one!

jk88usa

Not entirely related to yours, but I'm suspicious that check-in order still plays somewhat into priority even if they claim it doesn't. Have had a 1-2 known occasions (possible they are glitches, I'll admit) where I'm just barely higher on the list than co-travellers I know who have higher fare classes on separate reservations.

Or when I'm 30/40 on the list on a V fare like I was last week. Could there well-be 10 Silver people behind me on V or N fares? Sure, but personally I doubt it...

steelesurfer

Those could also be Starwood Elite members that are placed at the very very bottom (below FO). I wouldnt say its too hard to believe that theres 10 FOs (or Starwood) below you on lower fares, or maybe you were ticketed before them since thats the next tiebreaker.

Of course, it also depends on how big of equipment you were flying...

xliioper

Why would you link the reservations? That does not improve their upgrade priority. If you have one (and only one) companion on the exact same reservation, that will bump their priority to your level, but otherwise it does nothing. Although linking them shouldn't have done anything, I'd be hesitant to do that when there are three pax involved. Who knows, maybe in linking them the agent did something which inhibited your upgrade.

Bowgie

Another possibility is that the OP's status-related info is somehow corrupted. This was going on a few years ago when I'd never clear to First except at the gate. Eventually fixed by a tech support guy at Delta. For the OP, the symptom will be that "no upgrades" keep happening, and it isn't a "one time thing".

Last year, Plat wife and Diamond me were traveling on the same booking with one upgrade seat available at the gate. I tell GA to upgrade me, and he says, "Sorry, your companion has higher priority." I am positive he was not trying to pay me back for not being nice to my wife. She got the last upgrade ahead of me. The weirdness never happened again, so I let it go.

ironmanjt

So, I searched, and can't find definitively what is the order.

My understanding is that status is first, but then is it fare bucket? If I pay W (comfort+) will I be ahead of all those on main cabin fares with the same status?

C W

JW6130

Or you could be first in line for a rare complimentary Medallion upgrade, and not get it due to a lazy DTW gate agent who sent the flight out with a FC seat empty.

C W

gooselee

As a data point, I was recently texting with a friend who was flying ATL-DEN last week and got UG'd from #18 on the list as an FO. He was not waiting for YBYL. Nonstop flight and there were no IRROPS. Was definitely not expecting the UG and was confused when the new seat assignment spat out from the BP scanner, but he didn't ask questions.

So...there is still something opaque about UG priority, I think. Sure, it could have been that there were a few couples ahead of him who didn't want to split up for the final single FC seat, but the tinfoil hat part of me wants to say that DL sometimes does "gift" upgrades to keep people interested in the program who have perhaps not won the lottery in a while.

pvn

Did your friend look at the upgrade list? FOs have been known to get upgrades before, I wouldn't just assume there's something weird going on here.

gooselee

Yes, he was #18 on the UG list at the gate. He didn't give me a number but I was under the impression that there were far fewer than 18 seats available.

pvn

It could be as simple as a bunch of misconnects, or possibly someone fat fingered something. There's basically no reason to think there's a policy of "keeping people interested"

bubbashow

Oh...all is fair on FT when one has a complaint, no matter the relevance, reality, or knowledge of what ACTUALLY happened. Never get in the way of a DL hater that doesn't get something for which they are unwilling to pay.

wxman22

I think everyone is right. The key issue is that while Delta has given what factors affect an upgrade, they imply, but don't state what the weights are for each factor.