GagaPilot

In all the years I was Silver I never received an upgrade to First. I enjoyed C+ a few times and priority seats. Plus an additional bag that is allowed with Silver for having a DL Amex card. That’s it.

As a Gold my upgrade percentage went up to about First on 10% of the flights.

Now as Platinum I am around 30%, but that data is likely skewed by COVID and the pausing of advance complimentary upgrades.

In reality I don’t count much on upgrades due to status, but rather enjoy the status for the smaller perks that come with it, and (during normal times) the priority that comes with calling in to reach an agent. Before COVID, I took many many FCM offers and just bought up to First.

firehawk

aacar - I did not purchase the ticket yet but wanted to confirm and get the details for my understanding
I have indeed traveled on first during these times and yes, it is 50% but I see from the seat availability that some of them are indeed virtually empty or have 25% occupancy.

rylan

Note that with the flight reductions, middle seats being blocked and capacity limits for pax in the cabins, the fare buckets are really screwy right now. DL has also turned off advanced upgrades for all elites, so you don't get anything until the gate, if the agent decides to process upgrades.

ryw

I think having the Amex card will bump you ahead of Silver medallions without the card in a tie-break situation. But as a Silver medallion myself, I don't expect F - though with my flight patterns it's often pretty easy to get C+ if I'm ok with a middle seat. But this is all very route-dependent too. While technically Silver upgrades can happen as early as T-24, in my experience, most of the time C+ or F upgrades end up happening closer to a few hours ahead of time or at the gate. (Though I've definitely gotten some C+ upgrades at T-24).

As a Silver in 2019, this was my upgrade experience when flying on Delta metal, all booked in economy. Most upgrades happened on shorter flights (e.g., SFO-SEA) rather than transcontinental flights:
10 Y (8 mainline, 2 regional)
12 C+ (10 mainline, 2 regional)
3 F (1 mainline, 2 regional)

Of course the reduced covid schedule throws this all out the window, but hopefully it gives you a sense of what to expect in "normal" times

firehawk

Interestingly today they are not showing seats blocked off for social distancing. Last week/week before flights they were blocked off.

MCO Flyer

I also noticed this as well. It appears this took place when they updated the seat maps through September to extend blocking off seats in Y, but they removed the F seat restrictions, effective immediately. You are now guaranteed more seat width space in Y than you are in F. It feels like at this point, DL doesn’t want anyone to purchase F with the bare bones in flight service, and no seats being blocked in F.

aacar

No, they're still capping F at 50% so that no one traveling alone will have a seatmate. I'm assuming they removed the block so couples can assign seats together.

MCO Flyer

Yes this is correct but all seats in F can now be assigned, so it’s technically possible that someone could be seated next to you. For people who don’t select a seat when booking (sometimes due to a 3rd party booking or forgetting to do so) and the computer could automatically seat them anywhere in the cabin. I don’t see how blocking F seats would prevent couples from sitting next to each other as everyone before was guaranteed a empty seat next to them regardless if they had a seat mate or not.

firehawk

Just overheard someone got an upgrade. Ugh.
and i paid full fare first. LOL

aacar

Sure, I guess such a situation might be possible but then there would be an empty pair available and you could move yourself (or the gate agent could sort it out).

As far as couples go, I can imagine that some people don't know that the unavailable seats are actually blocked and might not book if they don't think they'll be able to sit together.

MarkCron

do you still not understand where Silvers rank in the upgrade order?

firehawk

Yea I do. The guy isn't even silver. Less than silver.

xliioper

Overheard? Overheard from who? If you paid for First, why do you need an upgrade (or did you mean coach)? FYI, there are currently discounted, non-refundable Y fares (which act as fare caps) which have advance purchase requirements and are priced nowhere near the actual "full fare" refundable/no advance purchase Y fares.

MarkCron

Did you see your name on upgrade list in app or on gate monitor?

chococat

As a point of pre-Covid reference, getting an upgrade as a silver out of SEA has historically been extremely difficult. I've been on lots of flights with an upgrade waitlist of 85 people and zero medallion upgrades. Not sure what the waitlist will look like when things get back to normal, or what "normal" will actually look like, but I suspect that upgrades will be just as difficult out of SEA. Not that a comp upgrade can't ever happen as a silver, but it's probably better to temper your expectations.

And as you have observed, Delta is a revenue driven company (like most companies) and are less interested in maintaining loyalty. Somebody that is willing to pay $ to upgrade will almost always supercede a medallion hoping for a complimentary upgrade.