Tine Rod

As a PM for legit battlefield upgrades maybe, and for not much available space.

BUT Starting December Last year the D1 OP-UP gods have been smiling down on me for TPAC. I’ve gotten upgrades when all seats showed as unavailable , and I even started getting them on the elusive (to me) Inter-Asia connections. Hope didn’t just jinx myself by acknowledging this string of fortune .

MSPeconomist

KE has definitely been known to give OPUPs to DL elites even if KE won't permit DL elites to pick good seats (in paid business class) on their flights.

ethernal

Obviously this depends on the time. Taking an 8 AM flight on a Saturday morning there may be space available for upgrades. I'm talking about a Monday AM flight out of ATL.

And, while I don't want to call "BS" on you, I have flown ATL<->SJC probably about 100 times in the past three years - never on a fare below an H fare but including off days (Tuesday, Saturday, etc) - and I have never, ever received an upgrade before the gate.

And perhaps 15 is gratuitous, but certainly 5-7 is not unreasonable. I went from never getting gate C+ upgrades to getting them with regularity post Reserve.

sydneyracquelle

7 confirmed BE passengers would have priority over you on the standby list awaiting a seat assignment.

MSPeconomist

The problem with this is that if a passenger is listed as standby on a flight, he/she cannot simultaneously be on the upgrade list, which requires that one be confirmed onto the flight. I guess it would be possible for someone to be cleared onto the flight but awaiting a seat assignment and also on the upgrade list, but the person says that he was standby for the flight.

El Boocho

-It was PHX-LAX
-It was a revenue ticket. Usually they are K fares, but I don't recall 100%. The K fare in the LAX-PHX market is refundable and matches the WN anytime fare.
-Might have been a RT, but more likely a OW.
-Likely travel was same day or day after purchase. Certainly purchased less than a week before departure.
-Operated by good 'ole Compass, but was on 006 stock and not a codeshare.
-No one else was on the record, or linked to it, or a companion upgrade of anykind
-Probably had a C+ upgrade, though I don't remember. I say probably because if there wasn't one available I most likely would have booked a FC ticket. If neither were available I would have booked WN and made it home without the typical Compass delays.
- the 8 of 8 was on the app. I'm not sure I've ever seen it cut off. Last I checked the DCA-ATL flight I was booked on earlier this week had 88 people on the upgrade list and they all showed on the app.

-I didn't call. Just figured it was one of those outlier days. Its an hour flight. I'm sure I had a couple of drinks at the really nice skyclub in PHX and was fine however it turned out.

-PHX-LAX. I think it was a K fare

-It does seem low, but not absurdly low. Its usually a pretty easy upgrade, so I'd bet a bunch cleared before I booked.

Tedgrrrr

am I the "person" - if so, you missed my message above:

"no no you missed it. I had a confirmed seat on DL999 - SDC to a later flight because my inbound flight was delayed; and then tried to switch back to DL 999, and this time I was put on standby for DL 999. That is why I can relate to both the Upgrade list and standby list. But it's clear now that others had confirmed seats but not seats assigned and that is why I was 8th."

troyintn

I do not think it is the formula, but more just less seats. Since I use to rarely be on the list, but with FCM and selling upgrades for 100 bucks, people buying F, etc. A couple of years ago Golds coudl get upgrade on the BNA NYC flight but now I am sometimes getting it at the gate. You can buy Y for 300 or F for 350 - 400.

Schuhfly

There is something wrong with the formula or an error in Delta’s IT system (what a surprise). Whole family traveling on separate award tickets, one DM, one PM, and one GM. The PM was upgraded and the DM wasn’t. It was a 30 min phone call and they upgraded the DM manually, with a fare class OI.

They said they reported the error, but I have a feeling this is happening more frequently.

MSPeconomist

Did all three of the award tickets cost the same number of miles? (I wonder whether DL could have prioritized by ticket cost of subfare class rather than elite status first.)

btonkid12345

Even so, status is #1 factor. So a DM should always clear before a PM.

Definitely something wrong with their UG algorithm for sure.

Schuhfly

All were the same number of miles.

MSPeconomist

Should of course, but I'm trying to see whether we can diagnose what the problem is beyond the observation that it's not working right.

HaleiwaFlyer

Just adding to the data: As PM and DM, I'm usually 1-2 on the upgrade list, but this month, I've been 4-6 on the upgrade list.

Couple of cofounding factors:
1) my usual flights are HNL to SEA (even as PM, I'm usually number 1 on upgrade list), but they changed the flight schedule to HNL to LAX, thus higher likelihood of more Diamonds.
2) I've added my corporate account number into my tickets.
3) I have no co-branded Delta credit cards.

sydneyracquelle

As we get into the November-December-January period, every day more and more non-DM passengers are now becoming 2020 DMs and DL policy is to recognize this status immediately upon crossing the threshold rather than waiting until February 1. As such, many current 2019 DMs will drop off on February 1.