2018 Upgrade Success (Or Lack Thereof)

Old Dec 16, 2018, 2:49 pm
  #451  
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Another week another failure:

- 12/12 DL 1666 RDU-ATL A-321: PM on a V Fare: #11 of 45

Now 55.76 (29/52). I'm on a four flight losing streak, all between RDU and ATL
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 4:22 pm
  #452  
 
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BWI-SEA last week; out via DTW and back via MSP. I thought the 757-300s in and out of SEA would be an easy upgrade to F, but I did not come close in either direction. Was I in a dream world to begin with?
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 4:43 pm
  #453  
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Originally Posted by Dalewood
BWI-SEA last week; out via DTW and back via MSP. I thought the 757-300s in and out of SEA would be an easy upgrade to F, but I did not come close in either direction. Was I in a dream world to begin with?
I never once cleared on SEA-DTW/DTW-SEA as a DM or PM in three years of regularly flying the route when I lived in SEA. Closest I came was I did clear an RUC in advance one-way. If I didn't buy up on SEA-DTW/DTW-SEA, I was riding in Y/C+.
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 7:57 pm
  #454  
 
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I just made GM, but as FO I was upgraded to F on 3 flights
1. MIA-JFK, Wednesday AM, cleared at window
2. MSP-JFK, day after Thanksgiving, cleared at gate
3. JFK-MIA, day after Thanksgiving, cleared after boarding
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 9:34 pm
  #455  
 
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Awful rate as a DM out of LGA/JFK this year. Out of 100 flights, I bought F/J on 20 (18 of those own money FWIW), and bought Y on 8 that were not upgrade eligible. On the remaining 72, I cleared into first on 29. On several of the remaining 43, I didnt even get C+. On top of that, only one of four GUCs cleared. I get that its unpopular, but Im kind of looking forward to seeing how effective Deltas efforts to thin the herd are.
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Old Dec 17, 2018, 8:06 am
  #456  
 
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Originally Posted by acrophobia
Awful rate as a DM out of LGA/JFK this year. Out of 100 flights, I bought F/J on 20 (18 of those own money FWIW), and bought Y on 8 that were not upgrade eligible. On the remaining 72, I cleared into first on 29. On several of the remaining 43, I didnt even get C+. On top of that, only one of four GUCs cleared. I get that its unpopular, but Im kind of looking forward to seeing how effective Deltas efforts to thin the herd are.
Not going to happen next year. all you have to do is call in and moan and they are "waiving" the 250K and letting DM's back in at 25K of spend. Interesting to see if the 250K waiver sticks for 2020.
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Old Dec 17, 2018, 8:19 am
  #457  
 
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My first domestic flights of a Platinum challenge were 4/4 for an upgrade.

12/7-MCI-MSP - cleared at window
12/7 MSP-MDW - cleared at window
12/9 MDW-MSP - cleared at 72 hours
12/9 MSP-MDW - cleared at window

I was upgraded on tomorrow's MCI-ATL but ended up buying up on ATL-ORD.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 9:26 am
  #458  
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Originally Posted by ATOBTTR
I never once cleared on SEA-DTW/DTW-SEA as a DM or PM in three years of regularly flying the route when I lived in SEA. Closest I came was I did clear an RUC in advance one-way. If I didn't buy up on SEA-DTW/DTW-SEA, I was riding in Y/C+.
Amazing I cleared SEA-DTW on a Friday as a FO back in March, 2015. It was a crazy fluke of an upgrade and one of my best as a FO.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 11:35 am
  #459  
 
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Finished my DL flying for the year last week. 72 upgrade eligible segments total and finished with:
10/47 as a GM 21%
13/25 as a PM 52%, including one successful RUC
23/72 Total 32%
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 11:44 am
  #460  
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Originally Posted by CMK10
Amazing I cleared SEA-DTW on a Friday as a FO back in March, 2015. It was a crazy fluke of an upgrade and one of my best as a FO.
I did DTW-LAX on a Friday evening on a 777 way back in or around 2012 as an FO and cleared (was part of a mileage run so I could hit GM for the first time). Probably one of my best upgrades. ^ Not sure why but the flight was empty (Friday evening in mid-October). Even after clearing as an FO that day, F/J was still only about half full. I did clear SEA-ATL twice in 2015 when DL still had the "Y" fare priority and I was traveling on a GSA fare, which put me at the top of the list.

One route I saw a reversal in trends on was SEA-SLC/SLC-SEA. In 2015/2016, I rarely cleared on that route, even as a PM (unless I had the "Y" fare). But in late 2016, I began doing very well on that route and even continued doing well this year despite dropping back to PM, clearing most of the time. I guess as DL expanded in SEA and began offering more nonstops from SEA, fewer Medallions going to/from SEA were needing to route via SLC but I cannot actually say why I saw better trends.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 12:22 pm
  #461  
 
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Finished up my flying year on 12/13. (Will restart on 1/1, so I'm not wasting any time.)

Whole year 37 upgrades to F out of 65 eligible flights or 57%. (Started the year as GM, and moved up to PM)
As a PM, had 31 upgrades to F out of 47 eligible flights or 66%.

Generally not bad. I think it helps that I'm based in DC, and most of my flying is leisure trips, so I'm not always flying at the most difficult times. Should hit DM early in 2019, so I may get even better results for next year.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 12:37 pm
  #462  
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12/20 DL 6263 DCA-RDU CR7 PM on an H Fare: Upgraded at T-120

Final Numbers for 2018:
As FO: 0/2 (0.00%)
As GM: 15/27 (55.56%)
As PM: 15/24 (62.50%)

Overall: 30/53 (56.60%)
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 1:07 pm
  #463  
 
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As FO:

F upgrades
1/1 DTW-GRR
7/4 BOS-DTW

C+ upgrades
3/4 MDW-MSP
3/4 MSP-JFK
3/12 MSP-MDW
7/1 DTW-BOS
7/4 DTW-AZO
9/29 MSP-DEN
10/2 DEN-DTW

Upgrade requested, didn't clear
7/1 AZO-DTW

Not upgrade eligible/not requested
3/4 JFK-DUB (exit row)
3/12 DUB-AMS (KLM operated), AMS-MSP (exit row)
4/5 outbound, 4/8 return AZO-DTW-MSP-AZO (E fare)
9/29 LAN-MSP (CR2)
10/2 DTW-LAN (CR2)
10/5 outbound, 10/7 return SBN-MSP-SBN (E fare)

Segments remaining for the year:
12/29 AZO-MSP-SLC-SFO

Last edited by JoelThomas; Dec 20, 2018 at 1:20 pm Reason: corrected dates
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 1:37 pm
  #464  
 
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Originally Posted by BusTrav8yrs
Not going to happen next year. all you have to do is call in and moan and they are "waiving" the 250K and letting DM's back in at 25K of spend. Interesting to see if the 250K waiver sticks for 2020.
Who do you call?
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 1:48 pm
  #465  
 
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I'm through flying for 2018. I bought quite a few FCM fares this year; I found that often it was only $125-200 above cheap coach to get such fares on the return to the DC area from a western destination. I also used a number of RUCs and GUCs to get up front also. I would say that I was probably 55-60% for the year on those flights that I took a chance on.

I did not sit in regular Y the entire year; I never did worse than C+. The proof of this is that I still have 8 unused free drink e-chits in my Delta wallet.

While I had a number of flights where I got the last upgrade seat, the best upgrade of the year was ATL-SFO two Fridays ago, where I was #3 for 1 F seat 40 minutes before departure; when I got to the gate the GIDS was showing that they had given my exit row seat away to someone else, and then the next flash showed that I was sitting in 1A. There were two no shows for F.
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