Buying first class is great until something goes wrong...
Feb 14, 2019, 1:16 pm
#31
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I have a medical condition that makes it almost impossible to sit in an economy seat so I need a business or first class seat. I've never had a cancelled flight as yet but obviously if it were to happen I'd have to insist on a business/first seat on next available flight and if because of upgrading someone with status caused me to not get said seat there would be h*ll to pay.
Feb 14, 2019, 1:16 pm
#32
Join Date: Mar 2010
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You are correct, that if you get rebooked onto a different flight where FC is not available and you get confirmed onto the flight, then you will have priority over others in your medallion tear. Atlanta is a station that "zeros out" all flights in FC for the day if they show heavy loads in coach. In my case, reservation could not confirm a FC seat until the next day because all remaining flights for that day showed 0/0 (avail/auth). Standby passengers take a back seat to any confirmed passenger even when holding a FC ticket. That was my point.
So perhaps the right policy is that paid F pax should be confirmed, at least in Y, on new routing during irrops, even if that causes an oversell?
Feb 14, 2019, 1:21 pm
#33
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That is why I call, as soon as there is any credible indication that my scheduled flight will likely not go out, or that I will miss a connection, and ask to be protected on the next available flight.
On a paid FC ticket (cash or coupon-paid), if there is a FC seat available, my experience has been that the telephone agents will confirm it for you.
On a paid FC ticket (cash or coupon-paid), if there is a FC seat available, my experience has been that the telephone agents will confirm it for you.
Feb 14, 2019, 1:24 pm
#34
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But there is one F/J seat kept open (at least on A330/767 flights, not sure about smaller aircraft) until time of boarding (not reflected in seatmap, seatmap showing all full), that is available for F/J purchase or irrops/standby/SDC (with seat assignment at gate).
So IME in case of an F/J pax needing to get on at the last minute (<24 hours out), unless the flight is less than full, the first passenger to get on the list may be able to get on, but not more than one, not unless some F/J pax are no shows. Meaning one will confirm into the blocked seat, but not more than one.
Saying this based on several experiences where it's proven to be case, and having it been so confirmed by the GAs as well.
So IME in case of an F/J pax needing to get on at the last minute (<24 hours out), unless the flight is less than full, the first passenger to get on the list may be able to get on, but not more than one, not unless some F/J pax are no shows. Meaning one will confirm into the blocked seat, but not more than one.
Saying this based on several experiences where it's proven to be case, and having it been so confirmed by the GAs as well.
Feb 14, 2019, 4:07 pm
#35
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That is for the one seat that is held back from upgrades, but not necessarily from sales. Past that you can go on standby only, but pretty much it's impossible to clear unless there are some F/J no shows.
This, though, is on 767 and A330 routes. For smaller single-aisle aircraft short hop flights it may be different..
Feb 14, 2019, 4:59 pm
#36
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There needs to be a separate first class standby list. This would be for people who purchased F tickets and either encountered irrops or an F passenger that wants to stands for a different flight. Irrops has higher priority. This list would be cleared before the upgrade list.
Feb 15, 2019, 3:14 am
#37
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Buying first class tickets on Delta is great and has some advantages when trying to go SDC until something goes wrong during your travel like it happened to me today. I was on a my way from Chicago via Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale. The first flight had a mechanical delay which caused me to misconnect in Atlanta. All later flights (I was on the 11am ATL-FLL) were sold out. My options were to take a standby downgrade or to stay the night (paid for by Delta - Hotel, Food, etc). I picked the first option and was listed as standby on the next flight. While first class had checked in full, shortly after I was cleared into coach, the agent upgraded 2 confirmed passengers from coach to first class which was in accordance with their policies. Delta would rather upgrade a coach passenger from the upgrade list, than honor a first class ticket and confirm me as seats became available. Now they had to refund the fare difference and also issued me a travel voucher. If I would have chosen the first class seat on the next day, Delta would have rather paid for hotel & meals than accommodating me in the ticketed class of service. Bottom line: First class tickets are great until something goes wrong. So why should I pay the premium, only to end up in coach.....?
Feb 15, 2019, 5:19 am
#38
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Seriously though it makes zero sense, RUC by default moves you to the top of the list so why cant DL create a faux RUC for people in this situation who have a paid F ticket that needs a seat. They can just make this behind the scenes code higher than anything in terms of upgrades.
Feb 15, 2019, 7:26 am
#39
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Well, I guess their view is that if coach is oversold, then they shouldn't be adding new passengers onto the flight, especially if they can upgrade coach passengers into empty FC seats. I suppose it comes down to which is typically larger -- voluntary/involuntary denied boarding comp vs. downgrade comp. But IMO they really should treat the FC cabin separately, otherwise it diminishes the value of paying for FC in the first place.
Feb 15, 2019, 9:28 am
#40
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Standby is exactly that... it's standby. Deal with all the confirmed pax for that flight first, regardless of their fare. If everyone checks in for an oversold flight, and paid F standbys start taking seats ahead of comp UG then their's going to be even more IDBs in Y. IRROPs suck, but buying F doesn't give you the right to pass your inconveniences off to someone else who wasn't IRROPed.
Feb 15, 2019, 1:01 pm
#41
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I've been on both sides of this -- once got upgraded at the gate, then paged and downgraded for an IRROPs accommodation. I also just this week got IRROPed out of an F seat, and was "forced" to fly standby in Y vs overnight stay and arrive the following afternoon.
The difference is that in the first case they were able to confirm whoever on the flight, whereas in the second case it wasn't clear until boarding ended whether I'd even get on the plane.
Suboptimal, but I get it, and I'm not overly bothered by this (I did get my $200 downgrade comp and they promised the fare difference refund is forthcoming, which helps)
The problem with this, as noted above and in the other replies, is that if the plane is already completely full with confirmed pax, you don't know until the boarding cutoff whether there are any no-shows and whether the standby pax will even get a seat. Then in order to give standby F passengers priority on the upgrade list you'd have to hold all of the upgradeable F seats until the end of boarding and then battlefield-upgrade everybody. That could become impractical if it's more than 1-2 seats.
The difference is that in the first case they were able to confirm whoever on the flight, whereas in the second case it wasn't clear until boarding ended whether I'd even get on the plane.
Suboptimal, but I get it, and I'm not overly bothered by this (I did get my $200 downgrade comp and they promised the fare difference refund is forthcoming, which helps
)Seriously though it makes zero sense, RUC by default moves you to the top of the list so why cant DL create a faux RUC for people in this situation who have a paid F ticket that needs a seat. They can just make this behind the scenes code higher than anything in terms of upgrades.
Feb 15, 2019, 1:11 pm
#42
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Why would F get special treatment? If Delta isn't willing to sell a $1500 one-way Y ticket (their usual last seat before oversale price for a domestic ticket), they won't be willing to put an F passenger on the flight.
F passengers aren't that special. If they provided that treatment to F passengers, I should expect the same treatment as a Y passenger that pays more for my flights (especially on a per mile/segment basis) than most F passengers.
Maybe you could talk about that kind of stuff for international J travelers that miss their domestic connection. Certainly not for a standard domestic Y pax.
Feb 15, 2019, 2:08 pm
#43
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Standby is exactly that... it's standby. Deal with all the confirmed pax for that flight first, regardless of their fare. If everyone checks in for an oversold flight, and paid F standbys start taking seats ahead of comp UG then their's going to be even more IDBs in Y. IRROPs suck, but buying F doesn't give you the right to pass your inconveniences off to someone else who wasn't IRROPed.
All this moaning, but standing by means AFTER everything is said and done is there anything left they will accommodate you. The notion that anyone on standby should be ahead of anyone confirmed on the flight for anything is completely ludicrous. Nobody is forcing anyone to standby.
Feb 15, 2019, 2:58 pm
#44
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That must be frustrating, OP. I wonder whether this was a Y-UP fare and whether that's treated differently than, say, full-fare F or J.
Feb 15, 2019, 3:38 pm
#45
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