MikeyZBT

Did anyone else notice that when checking in via the Delta App, you can now select to be on the Comfort + Upgrade list, but ONLY get upgraded if a Window/Aisle becomes available? I wonder how well that will work in practice, but first flight with that option is today, so we'll see....

Mr. Tickets

Yes, fairly old news

ethernal

Yes, this is a feature they've been deploying for the past several months. It's been available via web check-in for almost a year now as well, but they started pushing it to the mobile apps sometime around November or so of last year.

It's of limited use. Generally all window/aisle seats are already taken if you're on the upgrade list, meaning that you have to hope for two things:

• That enough people either no-show or get upgraded into F for window/aisle seats to clear AND
• The gate agents actually use the Comfort+ upgrade list instead of just clearing standbys into C+ (which happens anywhere from 50-80% of the time based on my experience)

On some routes I'm "lucky" enough to frequently be #1-#2 on the C+ upgrade list and I clear maybe 20% of the time.

rylan

Yeah I didn't think gate agents actually upgrade pax from the C+ list.

MikeyZBT

That's disappointing... are the gate agents "supposed" to follow the actual upgrade list?

ethernal

Probably on a theoretical basis yes, but in practice there's little accountability because there are enough "other factors" that prevent someone from complaining. For example, there can theoretically be...

• Pax with disabilities that get the reserved seats (e.g., on a 739 it is 10B and 10C that are blocked for pax with disabilities)
• Pax who have paid W tickets that did a same day change, had IRROPS, or did a SDC
• IRROPS for pax in F that agreed to downgrade to Y/W to get home sooner
• Other things I am probably forgetting

Since customers can't see who on the "standby" list meets the above criteria, the gate agent can do whatever they want and claim ignorance and no passenger can prove otherwise.

InfrequentFlyer2018

I can vouch for the "standby" list clearing into C+. Was caught with my flight from ROC to LGA - XXX canceling due to weather a few weeks ago. Was pleasantly surprised that we were on the standby list at number at #27&28 with 60 seats available on a rebooked ROC-ATL-XXX (FYI the plane went out full). Arrived at the airport and got the nice notification on my phone that were were seated in C+ and next to each other. Kicker is, we were on basic economy fairs and were just happy to get on the plane We didn't complain of course but I can see how this could have caused a problem.

btonkid12345

This is irrelevant to this thread - the UG list and clearing into C+ - as basic economy fares do not get upgrades or get one on the upgrade list.

What happened to you was an OPUP - you were on the standby list for a seat, and when the GA got around to assigning you seats, all that was left was C+, so you lucked out. There are multiple reports of this on various threads. But, irrelevant to this thread.

ethernal

Is it though? Perhaps if the C+ upgrade list was empty, but I've never seen a flight go out with an empty C+ upgrade list to/from ATL. It is not unlikely that the BE pax cleared directly into Y+ ahead of the medallions on the upgrade list. This directly ties to OP's question of how likely this option is to be successful for him/her.

btonkid12345

It's possible, but equally possibly the GA did process C+ UG list then had leftover seats and went to the standby list. Rochester, NY (ROC) is a small market without many medallions, and a ROC-NYC flight will regularly have Golds and Silvers clear...a far cry from anything into ATL. The staff at ROC also seem to like to follow the rules with regards to UG lists, and are generally nice and approachable.

Again, standbys clearing into C+ is different than functionality to allow C+ upgrades only to windows or aisles - the main focus of this thread.

ethernal

The person you quoted got rebooked on a flight from ROC->ATL, not NYC. I agree that ROC->LGA would likely go empty. ROC->ATL might not depending on the time of day. I agree that it is impossible to tell without more detail but the concept (standby clearing before upgrade list) is still very relevant to OP's question and something I see on 80-90% of my flights.

MCO Flyer

Due to IRROPS one time, I was in a middle regular Y seat and there where 4 seats Left in C+ but they were all middles. I got to the gate while they were boarding Zone 1 and I noticed that none of the top 4 people on the list cleared to C+ (I was #7 ) and I asked the GA why and he told me only middle seats where left (this was before the aisle/middle only option) and said that most people don’t want middles and like aisles/windows in regular Y. I told him I am already in a middle Y seat and will take a middle C+ seat. He says okay and puts me in 10D (on a 717) which made the experience a little bit more bearable.

RobOnLI

I read this thread to see what people are experiencing with the aisle/window only request being made during OLCI. I'm flying DL for the first time in a long time tomorrow and as a silver elite I'm not eligible for C+ or F upgrades on my connecting flight yet as it's 24+ hours away.

I'm starting with SEA-SLC and I declined a C+ upgrade through the website days ago when I saw only middle seats were left in C+. My exit row window for a 1hr30min flight is perfectly fine for me. During checkin it offered me the option to select C+ aisle/window only so I did that. Now I'm #1 of 1 on the upgrade list for C+ which has 8 seats open and all middle seats.

If an aisle/window opens up between now and before I go to the airport tomorrow, will I automatically be upgraded into it (assuming I'm still #1 and that the upgrade inventory bucket is opened between now and then)? Or are requests for only aisle/window upgrades processed at the gate? And does the gate agent see I only want an aisle/window or do they simply upgrade me into any seat before boarding because I'm on the upgrade list? First won't be an option on this flight as it will go out full with several golds (and maybe plats) not upgraded.

The connecting flight is an E175 so only aisle/window C+ seats offered on that flight. I'm fairly confident my upgrade to first will come through as there are 8 out of 12 open seats (and 8 for sale) and I'm #1 of 3 on the list for that one so far.

Gone are the days when DL used to process upgrades a full day ahead of the published schedule? It used to be silvers were processed at 48 hours, golds at 4 days, etc.

Thanks,
RM