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2021 Upgrade Success (or lack thereof) thread

2021 Upgrade Success (or lack thereof) thread

Old Oct 24, 2021, 3:22 pm
  #391  
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Washington, DC, Chapel Hill, NC (RDU)
Programs: DL Plat (won't hit DM again) 2MM (2.5), HH Gold, PC Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 5,624
Originally Posted by zeke3
I’m reminded of the first time I hit status. I think I was upgraded to first on my next flight after reaching silver.

I really think FO and GM might be the happiest experience. We go in with little to no expectations, and are pleasantly surprised every so often.
Talk about low expectations - as a DL DM I've flown 4 RTs CDG-Asia on AF back when they had these really good S and W fares - US-CDG-Asia-CDG-another EU city-CDG-US in PE for US$2500-$2800. So you could do a week in HK for example and a week in Copenhagen on this fare and earn an enormous MQM and MQD because of the class multiplier on AF flights.
So 8 flights CDG-Asia and back. I got op-uped to AF business on 5 of them. No op ups CDG to US and vv.
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Old Oct 25, 2021, 2:13 am
  #392  
 
Join Date: Aug 2021
Posts: 131
I hope this is ok to post a question here. In Dec I'm on Aeromexico coach. Im silver and from what I read Delta medallions get upgraded on Aeromexico of course space available. My flight is ord-mex in the afternoon. Has anyone been upgraded either to plus or premier?
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Old Oct 25, 2021, 5:51 am
  #393  
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Programs: Delta PM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 381
First time ever with Status and almost had a perfect mileage run with my son.
FO-
SAV-LGA 10/23 C+ at window, F at gate
LGA-ATL 10/23 C+ at window, 8&9 for 4 F
ATL-ANC 10/23 C+ (PS cabin) at gate

The only frustrating part of the trip, hit Gold due to ANC flight, but while 2022 status posted as Gold in app, current status still showed Silver. As a result:

ANC-ATL 10/24 C+ (PS) at window, 2&3 for 2 in F, would have both cleared if Gold had updated, but son wanted to stay together, so we passed on the 1 F seat.

Hit GM current status in flight to ATL so squeeked one last upgrade to go 5/5 on the trip
ATL-SAV 4&5 for 5 C+, 16&17 for 0 in F
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Old Oct 25, 2021, 8:56 pm
  #394  
ryw
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: ATL
Programs: DL GM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,238
Originally Posted by Bretmd
There are lots of Seattle flights that go out fairly empty on a frequent basis and can be easy upgrades as a silver, especially during slower travel seasons. ORD, IAD, and BOS are some of the longer ones that come to mind, but many shorter routes like SFO and SJC also qualify. The trick is flying SEA to non-hub flights to business heavy markets. I just flew SFO-SEA on a flight that went out with 110 empty seats.
Pre-COVID, flying SFO-SEA at non-peak times was great because an upgrade was decently likely, and it was one of the exception routes that would provide a hot meal in F even though the flight is under 900 miles!
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Old Oct 29, 2021, 9:34 am
  #395  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: HHonors Diamond, Marriott Titanium (LT Gold), UA Gold (*G), DL Silver, Makers Mark Ambassador
Posts: 4,591
DFW-SLC on 10/30 F cleared at window (2 pax)
SLC-DEN on 10/30 C+ Cleared at T-20, 6/7 for 1 F

Silver Medallion
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Old Oct 30, 2021, 3:03 pm
  #396  
 
Join Date: Sep 2021
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Programs: DL Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC
Posts: 138
SLC-RNO 10/29 and RNO-SLC 10/31 both cleared to F at the window for a GM on an award ticket, however, cancelled that last minute once plans changed.

Ended up flying SLC-DEN 10/29 which cleared to C+ at the window, 10/28 for 1 in F. DEN-SLC 10/30, originally on the 6 PM flight back and cleared to F at the window, but SDCed to a mid-day flight and was 1/4 for 1 F and cleared to F at the gate.
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Old Nov 1, 2021, 5:57 pm
  #397  
 
Join Date: Aug 2021
Location: SLC, PHX
Programs: DL DM, BA Gold
Posts: 64
10/29: SLC-LAX, 8/19 for F; LAX-MCO F cleared at boarding.
10/31: MCO-SEA, F cleared at boarding; SEA-SLC F cleared at T-24 (actually very empty flight, C+ completely empty)
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Old Nov 2, 2021, 8:31 am
  #398  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: HHonors Diamond, Marriott Titanium (LT Gold), UA Gold (*G), DL Silver, Makers Mark Ambassador
Posts: 4,591
10/31: DEN-SLC, C+ cleared at window, 22-23/29 for F
10/31: SLC-DFW, C+ cleared at window, 8-9/11 for F
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Old Nov 3, 2021, 9:53 am
  #399  
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,857
11/1 DL 2600 RDU-ATL 757-200 PM on an S Fare: #5 of 28 (one upgraded after boarding)
11/1 DL 2369 ATL-MSY 757-200 PM on an S Fare: #3 of 22

Now 48.15% (13/27) on the year.
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Old Nov 3, 2021, 10:43 am
  #400  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: HHonors Diamond, Marriott Titanium (LT Gold), UA Gold (*G), DL Silver, Makers Mark Ambassador
Posts: 4,591
11/4: DFW-LAX, C+ Cleared at the window, 8/10 for F
11/4: LAX-RNO, C+ Cleared at the window, 2/2 for F
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Old Nov 3, 2021, 5:29 pm
  #401  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: VPS
Programs: IHG Diamond, Delta PM, Hilton Gold, Accor Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 7,208
PM

11/3 VPS-ATL C+ cleared at booking, F cleared at the window
11/3 ATL-GRR C+ cleared at booking, 15/38 for 1 F
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Old Nov 3, 2021, 5:36 pm
  #402  
 
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: SFO
Programs: Delta PM
Posts: 12
Silver Medallion
10/30: SFO-SEA, U Fare, Cleared into F at window. Flight had 7 empty F seats at gate and 0 on upgrade list. GA cleared 7 off standby list into F (??)
10/30: SEA-PDX, U Fare, Cleared into C+ at window. #3 of 5 for 0 F.
11/1: PDX-SLC, U Fare, Cleared into F at window. Flight went out with 1 empty F seat.
11/1: SLC-SFO, U Fare, Cleared into F at gate. #5 of 7 for 5 F. There were 0 F seats available around 8 am and 5 by boarding time at 10 pm.

Happy with the success here, but I booked a week in advance and picked flights that were mostly empty in F and C+ at booking. My partner, also Silver Medallion, booked a few minutes ahead of me and had the same results.
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Old Nov 3, 2021, 6:10 pm
  #403  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: VPS
Programs: IHG Diamond, Delta PM, Hilton Gold, Accor Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 7,208
Originally Posted by BrettSky
Silver Medallion
10/30: SFO-SEA, U Fare, Cleared into F at window. Flight had 7 empty F seats at gate and 0 on upgrade list. GA cleared 7 off standby list into F (??)
.
Likely airline employees using their standby travel benefits, who IIRC can be cleared into a premium cabin if there are going to be empty seats there.
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Old Nov 4, 2021, 10:45 am
  #404  
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Washington, DC, Chapel Hill, NC (RDU)
Programs: DL Plat (won't hit DM again) 2MM (2.5), HH Gold, PC Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 5,624
11/3 DL 465 MSP-ATL. I was 5/75(!) for 3 seats when the top 3 folks cleared and boarding began. I went ahead and boarded. As boarding was ending I looked at the app and saw that I had cleared along with 1 other person. I was getting ready to claim the assigned seat on my own when the GA came on and brought me a new boarding pass. So 2 of us got pulled from the back as boarding was ending. There were lots of uniformed crew (mostly FAs but a few pilots) on the flight - all sitting in the back.
11/3 DL 2729 ATL-RDU 12/60 for 2 seats. No luck there!
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Old Nov 4, 2021, 10:49 am
  #405  
 
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 237
Originally Posted by mot29
11/3 DL 465 MSP-ATL. I was 5/75(!) for 3 seats when the top 3 folks cleared and boarding began. I went ahead and boarded. As boarding was ending I looked at the app and saw that I had cleared along with 1 other person. I was getting ready to claim the assigned seat on my own when the GA came on and brought me a new boarding pass. So 2 of us got pulled from the back as boarding was ending. There were lots of uniformed crew (mostly FAs but a few pilots) on the flight - all sitting in the back.
11/3 DL 2729 ATL-RDU 12/60 for 2 seats. No luck there!
Are you DL Diamond? 12/60 for a diamond seems crazy!
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