ethernal

I am getting sick of this. Upgrades clear nearly two hours before the flight in some cases. A flight cleared at least 95 minutes prior to departure today. It was a 739. I was #1 for 3 and I received the dreaded 01A seat on a 739 despite two other seats being available.

Before I knew the upgrades would clear so early - I made an effort to get to the gate early and left my house half an hour early (got there at T-65 instead of T-40 like normal) to say I did not want 01A. Unfortunately I ended up in this seat anyways. The gate agent refused to swap me with another person who got upgraded, so she placed me back in my original seat on coach (19C). What a joke.

flyerCO

Generally this happens when a flight is overbooked.

Regardless DL, and all airlines I know of, clear front to back, left to right. Not like this is something new, or odd.

ethernal

Yes, this was the excuse the gate agent used. But every flight I am on seems to be overbooked. I mean that somewhat seriously. Same day changes have become impossible because every flight is sold out. I've even had issues booking flights as early as a Thursday/Friday before a Sunday or Monday departure.

I am not sure why it would matter. It only takes them about 3 minutes to clear upgrades and standbys (as I was watching them do it as it happened on the app). When I got to the gate, there was no one in line and the gate agent was chatting with a colleague about non-work topics.

And yes, I know they load front to back, left to right. That is why I try to get to the gate early. Because that means that the person #1 on the list gets the worst seat, and I like to avoid that.

flyerCO

I think they also do it to make it easier to know how over plane is. Once they've upgraded passengers and assigned seats to those without one, they know clearly how many they're looking at being over. They can then plan accordingly.
Of course means they can let the GA be a bit late if their previous flight gets delayed. Always better to get done now what you know must be done. Otherwise when it gets to later you might be short on time.

ethernal

You're joking right?

There is literally a number on their Deltamatic screens that tell them how overbooked/oversold the flight is regardless of whether or not they have processed upgrades. The computer doesn't have to upgrade people to know how many total seats there are versus how many total number of confirmed butts there are to fill those seats.

jdrtravel

It's like counting with your fingers.

apodo77

1A is not so horrible I would move back to coach. Seems a bit of an overreaction to me but I am only 5' 8" tall.

ethernal

1A is terrible and moving back to coach is a no-brainer assuming it is a good coach seat. I am 6' 4".

MarkCron

I've seen the upgrades clear around 2 hours before flight on a couple flights lately as well. Maybe 10-15 % of flights.

jdrtravel

To be fair, DL makes no promise about waiting to clear upgrades, do they? I believe they have stated that they will try to do it at least 40 minutes before departure. If coach is oversold and the problem can be solved by processing upgrades, I see no reason for them not to. I also think most people would take 1A over a coach seat. I happen to be more in your camp, where I prefer an aisle seat no matter what, including an aisle in coach over a window in F, but I don't think DL did anything wrong here.

ajthegreat

While I'm significantly shorter than you at 6'3.75 I guess I'm the minority who prefers this seat

ethernal

Per customer care, policy is to clear them at T-45. This makes 100% intuitive sense as this is the check-in deadline for most major airports. I have missed upgrades in the past due to late ticket purchases (T-80 or so) that I have not checked in for yet. Even ignoring seat preference, there is a good reason not to clear upgrades until closer to departure.

MSPeconomist

ethernal

The number appears accurate (although I believe that agents may have additional information around "likely missed connections" or the like before people are formally offloaded and therefore reflected in the seats available page).