sydneyracquelle

Last week my adult son and I were numbers 1 and 2 on the FC UG list at the gate. Gate agent said she could only upgrade 1 of us into the 2 side-by-side FC seats as the other seat had to stay empty. So number 3 got the upgrade. Makes zero sense.

MSPeconomist

How old is the son? Under 15 requires a UM fee (IIRC $150 or $200, if DL is even doing UM service at this time) to travel in a different cabin from parent.

ND76

The silliest policy is on CRJ-900 aircraft. Why only have 6 people in F, on a 1-2 configuration? There should be 8 in that cabin, with seat C in each row empty.

flyerCO

I thought the policy allowed family to sit together. Is that only if buying F outright or did I misunderstanding.

HDQDD

I'm sure the agent just grabbed whomever was the last to be upgraded and then downgraded them (perhaps their ACI system shows when they're over Covid capacity). At the end of the day as long as you're both marked on board it doesn't really matter. Some airlines don't even do seat assignments, and even those that do, have people take other seats than they were assigned.

woodenshoe101

There is no UM fee for travel in separate cabins, but kids 5-15 still need to be enrolled in the program, presumably for awareness of the cabin crew. Unclear if the UM enrollment can be done by a gate agent, technically check-in is the last opportunity to add UM. If under 5, they have to travel in the same cabin as the adult, no matter what (not allowed as UM).

ETA: Domestic UM is currently in effect as normal, international is suspended (but international can be pretty challenging in the best of times due to routing/connection restrictions)

GrayAnderson

Honestly, DL should probably adjust the policy to something like this:
"First will generally be held to 50% of capacity. However, this may be exceeded in the event of members of the same party occupying neighboring seats. Notwithstanding this, we will not put two parties of two in the same row (though a party of four may still fill an entire row)."

(I write this noting that in theory, the 50%-of-capacity rule would mean that two parties of four in F would forcibly blank out two rows as a result. You don't have too many cases where four people book F together, but...)

Also, now I'm actually wondering...if you have two pax on separate PNRs who opt to sit together (e.g. they're allocated 2A and 2D but opt for 2A and 2B), is an FA going to have a fit over that? I'm thinking of situations where booking coordination ends up being clumsy. "Same origin/different destinations" or "Same destination/different origins" would be the obvious situation, but "Same routing, just had to book separately because of policies" also comes to mind.

MSPeconomist

AFAIK the airlines (LCCs and ULCCs) that don't do seat assignments don't have premium cabins either (WN for example), so no upgrades are possible.

MSPeconomist

Unless it's changed recently, the rule was that the UM fee would be charged for a kid in a separate cabin. Some GAs might be nice or might not have time to process the payment. YMMV.

DenverBrian

Agree with everything except... "walk of shame"? Seriously?

woodenshoe101

It's been like that for at least two years (the first time I had a reason to look up UM rules), and it is explicitly stated as a policy: https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...ce.html#cabins

sydneyracquelle

I have flown with my 3 minor children at least 100 times domestic and int’l on DL over the past 10 years. All of my upgrades (certs and comp) as DM and PM I have given to them while I have sat in C+ or MC. Never once have I been asked to pay a UM fee. Even when they were very young.

Often1

DL's seating policy in F combines safety with efficiency. No way for a GA to know whether the companion lives in your Covid "bubble," no time to figure it out and there are enough idiots out there that people would lie just to get into F.

Bottom line is that the GA made an error and it was fixed. Nothing is owed although DL might toss a few miles (if it wasn't the second complaint of the year).

The Mile Dog

It has changed from your recollection:

Children ages 5-14 traveling with a ticketed passenger 18 years or older that is sitting in a separate cabin, must be enrolled in the UMNR program. The UMNR fee, seating and routing restrictions do not apply. Travel agents should contact Delta’s UMNR phone number at 800-325-8847 for assistance enrolling the child in the UMNR program.

Source: https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...20not%20apply.

hotshot265

I actually flew this same route on 8/30. And yes the snack box has been out of what ever meat that is for a while now...I have had a couple of them without any salami or pepperoni or what ever it is suppose to be.
But anyways...I find the blocking of row 1 on some aircraft for fight attendants a little funny. I have not flown many 738 & 739 lately, but on both of my flights last Saturday from PHX to ANC, the flight attendants "socially distanced" for take off any landing, but during flight sat next to each other on the jump seat chatting...is socially distancing only a needed function on take-offs and landings?