Random Rant / Devaluation of Diamond status
 

This is getting a bit ridiculous. As a DM, I used to be at the top 3 on the upgrade list. For today's flight, I was #1 when I checked in. Now, I am #8 on the first leg, and #6 on the second leg.(DM, 1MM, Delta Reserve, fulfilled DM requirements for the year....). How did these other people manage to get ahead on the list :(. First flight has 62 people on the upgrade list and second flight has 43. The number of available 1st class seats also shrunk so what looked like a very good upgrade chance disappeared totally.

At this time of year people are trying to use up their soon-to-be-expired GUCs and RUCs. Last week I burnt an RUC on DL Comfort for a last minute booking as F was full. It was going to expire soon anyways. But it put me at number 1 of 50+ people even as a PM on both upgrade lists.

The upgrade list only reflects those who have checked-in so far. As people check-in after you, you will naturally move down the list as DM's with a higher fare class than yours check-in (Reserve card can also be a factor -- but only after fare class). It's also a Monday morning which is probably one of the worst times for upgrades due to very high percentage of regular business travelers on these flights (such as consultants).

Here what I have done to maximize my first class flying as a lowly FO this year

1) Avoid Monday morning flights; I was able to score a battlefield upgrade by flying out Tuesday midday instead recently
2) Upgrade with Skymiles when you anticipate a long upgrade list

#2 was particularly helpful last week when the upgrade list was 40 people long from ORD to LGA and I had confirmed into F a few days prior at 9,300 miles

Good job on both counts! It's nice to have some flexibility, since Tuesday is much better than Monday morning.

It's a lot of factors here.
1. Monday morning, is probably the single busiest time of the week for business travel
2. As mentioned, it's getting to the end of the year so people are burning certificates
3. The later it is in the year the more DM's there are going to be as more and more 1st time DM's are qualifying every day, and those who won't make it haven't dropped yet
4. October historically has been a very busy business travel month. Everyone is done with vacations, and there are really only 45 or so business travel days left in the year. Not many business flights the week of Thanksgiving, or after mid-December, so if there are meetings that have to happen before EotY, it's right now.

Sounds like you're already in C+ which tells me you booked early which means low fare class. The difference on my routes on even an a H vs. M fare and is huge - I might be #15 with an H fare versus #2 or 3 with an M fare. If you're an T, L, U fare, it's highly unlikely you'll score an upgrade on a Monday AM.

Not exactly a great habit but if I am only 10 days out before travel I'll wait until T-6 when M fares kick in to help score a C+ seat at the gate. F won't happen (either 0 seats or it goes to someone with a RUC), but 10B/C is way better than 36C.

If you're going to do that you could just... go ahead and buy an M fare at 10 days out.

If they have to book through Concur or their companies travel tool, they likely don't have that option.

True, but since he's not purchasing refundable tickets in the first place, chances are that it's a violation of company policy to purposefully delay the purchase of a ticket to book a higher/more expensive fare class to get greater frequent flyer benefit (i.e., a policy that requires tickets be purchased as far in advance as possible). Personally, something I would be careful about.

I have no doubt that it is a technical violation (and certainly if I'm three+ weeks out with clear travel needs I'll definitely buy the ticket then), but if we're talking about a few days, the difference between an H and an M fare is small due to the higher corporate discount on the M fare. The difference in fare one way is usually less than $40 on a $500 ticket, which is significantly less than the $135 Comfort+ one way upcharge which is in policy (if, of course, it was available to begin with). $40 is also within the in-policy discretionary amount for airline preference when there are two eligible itineraries.

In short, I'm not too worried.

I'm surprised that you can (try to) use the same RUC for C+ and then for a second "upgrade" to FC. I know that for GUCs, if you use one for the PS upgrade, it's considered used and cannot also be used to go from PS to D1 when O class upgrade inventory later becomes available. [However, I wonder whether this would work if the ticket hadn't yet been reissued into PS.]

To clarify I used the RUC at the gate for either FC or C+ as the normal C+ automatic upgrade at booking was full due to the last minute booking. I was number 1 on both upgrade lists and I agreed to burn the certificate even if F was full since it was going to expire soon. So at the gate I was either going to go from MC to C+ or from MC to F.

This is where Skymiles FCM come very handy to upgrade if as a DM/PM an upgrade has not been received and you really want to travel in the front cabin.

A few times I've received a FCM offer for a 4hr monday flight on a route that used to be an upgrade heaving for FO but nowadays DL knows last minute FC tickets are sold. 10,900 Miles and I am confirmed up front.

I hope you at least were given a very nice aisle (or window if you prefer) seat. To burn an upgrade cert for a middle seat would hurt.