captaink

Had some flights back in April where I went 3/4 for upgrades as a GM, with space for more even accounting for seat blocking. Took a couple flights last weekend, and on the first flight my travel companion and I would have cleared if there was no seat blocking, but on the second (E175) we were 2 & 3 for F, with the A seats all filled with solo travelers and 1 B&C occupied by a couple traveling together. Seems silly for the RJs with 1+2 seating in F to still use the 50% cap when they could just block the B seat and accomplish the same spacing. Its not like GAs are expected to do the math themselves at boarding time - it's all programmatic and based on AC type.

ND76

I've now been on four Delta trips since the COVID cutbacks and social distancing has taken place.

The upgrade lists on my flights have mostly been 12-15 medallions on mainline jets and 3-10 medallions on the regional jets.

On one of my trips, I used the AMEX cash+miles feature to buy a confirmed F ticket (this was IAD-ATL-SMF-LAX-DTW-IAD).

I did a trip in early May BWI-MSP-SEA, and was #3 out of 6 for 4 upgrade seats on the first leg; I was #3 for 2 upgrade seats on the second leg and as a result sat in the last row of Y.

I did two trips within 10 days. On the first trip, which was IAD-DTW-ORD-DTW-IAD, I bought the ticket 2 days before departure and within an hour of purchase was upgraded to F on both legs of the outbound; I got upgraded at the gate ORD-DTW on a regional jet (which turned out to be 3+ hours onboard as a sudden t-storm caused ORD to close the ramp as the door closed on our plane); and I was the bubble boy on DTW-IAD (I did get a seat in C+), The second trip was in basic economy DCA-DTW-ORD, then Amtrak CHI-KCY, then return MCI-MSP-BWI (the only logical connection back to the DC area), getting back to my car using the MARC train to Union Station and then Metro to Huntington station. I actually enjoyed my Y seats in the rear of both RJs; I got upgraded 4 days out for MCI-MSP. The BWI flight was sold out in both F and C+ at the time I booked it. I was #5 out of 12 for 0 seats in F on a Q fare on an A319 (and #4 for 0 seats in C+).

So I'm 5/8 on upgradeable flights as a PM with the reserve card.

am13

Has anyone had issues with automatic upgrades to domestic F not clearing despite the fact they were supposed to resume June 10? I am 4D 5HR and 4D 10HR out from two legs that, as a PM, I would have expected to clear already (at least the latter...):

Leg 1
Equipment: CRJ-900
Seats in F taken: 2
# of Pax in C+: 6

Leg 2
Equipment: A321
Seats in F taken: 2
# of Pax in C+: 8

Thanks for any advice/experiences you can share, this is my first flight since 3/12 so it’s new territory for me.

Daitheflu84

I'm a PM and flew 4 legs last month. Upgrades are a total crap shoot right now so I wouldn't expect anything. I was in the top 2 or 3 people on all lists and never got UG'd. I think one person on each flight got it within an hour or so of boarding and then 50% of the FC seats were kept empty. You're not missing much, however, as Delta's domestic FC service is horrifying right now.

ND76

I wouldn't call it "horrifying" (the story involving the infamous "Helen" on AA and the orange juice request would be "horrifying"). Virtually non-existent would be a better adjective. Delta's flight attendants seem to have a positive attitude and are actually quite friendly and helpful. The on-board AVOD has been working well on my mainline flights (with the exception of the 717s where there is no AVOD). The Delta overall experience right now is not horrifying, as the flights are quite comfortable with the middle seat blocked, plenty of space in the overhead bins and a fairly quiet, restful atmosphere on board. I do miss F&B service, but with a little prior planning and a couple of miniatures you can have your own libations on board.

cmd320

On flights where DL is operating their normal garbage domestic F product, I have literally zero reason to pay for F right now with the middles in C+ blocked. I can usually score a better seat in C+/Exit row than I can in F.

Daitheflu84

Whatever adjective is used, the service over the last couple months has been well below the usual DL experience. Obviously much of it is directly related to Covid, but I've seen reviews of other flights on AA and UA and the FC service seems to be better than what DL is offering. And I say that as an unashamed DL fanboy!

pharmflyer

Flew BOS-MSP-ORD yesterday. BOS-MSP was showing 3 seats open, was 6 of 9 on the list as a GM on a K fare. Ended up not getting an F or C+ upgrade at boarding (Gate agent cleared all the standbys into C+ at boarding). There must have been a lot of now shows in F because the gate agent came on board after I settled in to my exit row and moved me straight to 2D

MSP-ORD cleared 3 days before (actually like T-75 or so) - I didn't get a notification, but I noticed I could change my seat to up front on the app.

Will see what happens for ORD-LGA-BOS on Monday!

HDQDD

Flew RDU-MSP-SFO-DTW-RDU last week. (Monday/Friday). Got (battlefield) upgraded on all but the RDU-MSP flight. I don't think that's ever happened for me. This was my first trip on DL since Feb.

Service was ok (considering). Single serving stuff only. Canned Beer, mini bottles of wine and basically the buy on board meals were what they gave everyone. FAs were really great the whole way. They were offering drinks at 6:45A as we departed SFO. Little early for me.

I had a hard time making heads or tails of how many seats were available on the battlefield upgrade screens (both the GIDS and the app). I'm not sure how they're managing blocking the aisle seats, but the lists were super short as others have mentioned.

BHammy

I think that it is still relatively similar to pre-covid times: depends on route and timing.
Currently with only 1/2-2/3 the FC seats available, my families experience:

- Mrs Bhammy (DM) : CHA-ATL-SLC-MSO - only upgraded on final leg
--- return MSO-DTW-AT-CHA - upgraded only one of the segments also
- Daughter #1 (basic SM) traveling with Mrs, gets upgraded along with Mrs from SLC-MSO - they had identical itineraries, booked separate, but First was so empty, the club agent put her on the list and upgraded at gate.
- Daughter #4 (FO): CHA-ATL-BWI - gets bumped from coach to First out of ATL.
- Myself: CHA-ATL-MSO and return, upgraded 2/4 segments (one of which had no first)
--- Last week: CHA-ATL-DFW: upgraded out of ATL, no first out of CHA (got two snack bags and offering of wine/beer - chose wine)
--- return from MCO-ATL-CHA, cleared CHA a couple weeks out, MCO-ATL cleared 2 mins before boarding. (one snack bag, chose beer...warm beer

pharmflyer

To follow up on my post from Thursday:

ORD-LGA: Upgraded to C+ at the GM window; was 2 of 7 for 1 seat in FC
LGA-BOS: Upgraded to C+ at the GM window; was 3 of 8 for 0 seats in FC

ND76

I just came back from a trip DCA-DTW-PDX / rental car / SLC-DCA, on succeeding Wednesdays. the F cabin was full on all three legs prior to the gate. No upgrades were processed.

My wife and I sat in F because when we bought our tickets, we used the AMEX cash + miles feature, and for 25,000 SkyMiles each we were able to confirm upgrades to F for the coach cash price. We got double MQMs for the trip (about 8,600 each).

Pretty tough to score an upgrade when they only allowed 6, 10 and 7 pax respectively to sit in the F cabin.

CMK10

RDU-ATL this Wednesday, the 6:00 PM A-321 had an upgrade list of 16. As a PM on an X Fare I was #5 . No one cleared at the gate.

bsagator

8 flights during pandemic so far. DM MM RC.

1 paid F, it was $20 more than Y on a one way LAX-SJC

6/7 other flights upgraded
1- at 5 day window
2- at gate
1- I asked the lady at boarding if she was planning on processing upgrades. She said sure and then asked what seat I wanted. I said window on D side(best view landing at LAX). She said sorry she only had an A side. She gave me 4a. Then she upgraded the next guy on the list to 4d, who of course kept his window closed the entire flight.
1- I checked my app after boarding when i noticed a mostly empty F while seated in 10a on a 738. My app showed i was upgraded to 4A. I flagged down the FA and told her I got upgraded. She made me wait until door closed because she wanted to confirm that I was in fact upgraded.
1- pulled out of Y and upgraded to F.

And the one flight I wasn't upgraded on was an LAX-ATL redeye where they pulled two non revs out of Y instead of giving me the upgrade as I was #1 on list.

On my most recent flight, LAX-MCO, the FA announced that there were two MM on board, then came and personally thanked me for my loyalty. Excellent crew on that flight.

DenverBrian

I do wonder which is better in the current climate: An upgrade to F with a pax next to me; or a C+ seat in which the middle seat is guaranteed to be empty?