#2 on standby with a middle seat. 5 others got an aisle or window?
 

Maybe I assumed wrong but I thought the standby acted similar to upgrade where most of the time the #1 on the list gets the best seat. Which in this case they did since they got a comfort plus.

But I was number 2 as a diamond and I got stuck in a middle in the back. While 5 others got aisle or window, obviously not sure of their status or fare class. None of them are exit so that rules that out.

Am I just ignorant to the standby rules?

This was a last minute booking on a crowded flight so I wasn't expecting really anything. Thankfully it's a short flight but still slightly disappointed in a middle...

Were you actually booked (confirmed) onto the flight or going standby? If you're confirmed, you should be eligible for upgrades to FC or "upgrades" to C+ if available. Otherwise, GAs just tend to assign seats in the easiest way possible, although you might have done better if you had asked nicely for a window or aisle, or a seat toward the front if possible. Of course another hypothesis is that those getting windows and aisles were non revs and the GA was looking out for his/her own.

I have had this very annoying problem happen once out of ATL. I was #1 on the standby list because I was in basic economy (confirmed), and I was PM. But the gate agent started clearing many other people before me into good normal seats, and when he did clear me he put me in a middle seat in the back.

I think we both knew it wasn’t really kosher because as soon as I saw I went up to him and got moved to a bulkhead aisle. Was pretty miffed though.

Isn't the rule for basic economy fares that DL assigns seats and your seat cannot be changed?

Unless you pay for it, you are without a seat assignment until OLCI, in which case the system decides to either assign you a seat or standby you. I was standby’d for this segment, and logic follows that you would clear pax in the order of the standby list.

My point is that BE fares mean that you take the seat DL gives you, with no promises what type of seat it will be or anything about "priority" for better seats.

Sure, but (given I do not have KM) I would imagine the policy does not say that non-revs have higher priority. What DL is contractually bound to and what it should do are usually two different things.

According to concur and my Amex travel and my delta confirmation emails I was confirmed with seat 00. So I guess I was but not seat assigned? I do remember looking and didn't have an option of changing. I was and am confirmed upgraded to first on my other 3 legs of this trip. This was the only one that was wonky.

I was on the upgrade list for both F and C+. 5th for 0 seats for F and 2nd for 1 seat in C+. Again I wasn't expecting a whole lot since I booked this 3 days ago. I believe my fare was H for this leg.

I would assume that they go out of their way to make sure people who could have bought main cabin feel some pain for going with basic. I have no proof that it is built into any algorithm, but the whole point is convince people to pay for the features they want, right?

I'll never buy BE for that reason, I'm not the biggest fan of the medallion tax, but I guess some people do well to save the few bucks.

If I am understanding the OP situation correctly, I would offer the following: Standby is just that, you are hoping and praying for a seat, any seat, not an upgrade but a seat. The GA should clear and upgrade all passengers confirmed on that flight first. And only then, start clearing standbys to whatever seats are available. If the OP was on a "E" economy fare as stated, I'm not even sure how they got to standby for a different flight. My understanding is unless it is Deltas issue that cannot happen. So let's assume that. If I were the GA, I would be clearing people into seats based on the fare basis paid, not the status, especially if on an "E" fare. The OP got cleared into a seat as the #2 on the standby list because of status, but the GA assigned seats according to the fare basis (at least that's my impression). It has been my understanding that "E" fares are always relegated to the last few rows in the plane regardless of actual flight load.

Which is why I hate the "E" fares. Even the CEO of Delta said, 70% of people that look at the E fare, book up to gain the "benefits".

Standby means teo different things at DL.

1. Confirmed but waiting for a seat assignment.
2. The more commonly recognized form - not confirmed on the flight, standing by to be confirmed on flight.

My understanding is that OP had a BE fare, was confirmed on the flight, but was waiting at the gate for a seat assignment. So the OP was a case of being confirmed on the flight but not having a seat assignment meant that OP appeared on the gate standby list despite being confirmed on the flight.

DL's BE rules would apply: DL assigns seat and OP cannot change seat. This has nothing to do with status; these are the facts associated with BE fares.

Why are you two assuming OP was on a Basic Economy (E fare)? OP clearly states that they were upgraded to F on three other segments of this trip and on the upgrade list to both F and C+ on this segment. BE fares are not upgrade eligible. Sounds like OP booked a Main Cabin fare and there were no seats available on this segment for seat assignment at booking.

To answer the question, I don't think there is an official priority for which are the "best" seats to clear standby customers into. I've found many GAs just assign seats front to back. There may be an aisle seat in row 22, but if you're at the top of the list and there's a middle in row 16 they'll give you that. I'd hope a good GA would page the customer and ask what they want, but this doesn't always happen especially if time is limited. I've used this observation to formulate a strategy that if I can't get an exit row at booking (and particularly on airlines where I don't have status) I'll take a seat towards the back in the hope of an empty middle since standbys typically clear from the front...works out fairly often if the flight isn't full.

Sorry but two people in this thread seem to have reported similar stories and it's gotten mixed up. Our OP apparently did not have a basic economy ticket but dlflyer00 did.

I believe that sometimes prior to "Final call", upgrades are distributed, yet at Final Call, passengers who have preferred seats may not show and their seats are cleared for reassignment. At that point, an elite member may already have an assigned seat that is less desirable than those cleared for reassignment at the last minute.