n1hl1

I am just wondering if Delta has the equivalent of an AUP program that British Airways / OneWorld has. With BA I can same day upgrade into business (club world) on a single leg international flight, at a discounted rate. As a rough example, at time of booking business from US to Europe might be 8K USD, but you can get prem eco for somewhere around 2K, and then upgrade the overnight for 1K (3K total) or do the same thing again on the way back for 4K fare total. There of course has to be availability, which there almost always is, since BA only upgrades when they are rolling the cabins or there is a high tier voucher (similar to GUP for diamond elites). This can also only be done at the airport on the same day of the flight, and only on your next leg leaving that airport.

I can see Delta does do cash upgrades online anytime after purchase, but it's just a fare difference (as expected). Does Delta offer a similar at airport upgrade scheme like BA? If anyone is aware that they do, what is the availability of it typically like?

Thanks

DLHubber

Delta does not offer this.

xliioper

The online seat upgrade offers are not based on fare difference. They can be close to fare diff, but they can also be pretty far apart (either more or less than fare diff). Pricing seems to largely go up on down with underlying fare bucket availability on flight.

ND76

KLM did at one time; I don't know whether they still do. In December 2014 I was on a BUD-AMS-ATL-DCA routing; when I got to AMS and used a kiosk in Crown Lounge 25, I got an offer to upgrade to J for 289 Euros, which I grabbed. It turned out to be a great flight.

I'm on a AMS-BOS-CLE itinerary in May. Delta currently wants $788.43 (or 78,900 SkyMiles) to UG to Premium Select; since they let me UG on the JFK-LHR flight on this trip for 29,900 SMs (I could have paid $299.00), I thought this was a ripoff.

flyerCO

As noted, DL doesn't offer set price upgrades. What you pay for one flight has no bearing on another.

mmoser2

It seems there is at least one outlier. On multiple occasions I have asked the check in counter at GRU about upgrades and three times I have been able to use miles to upgrade to D1. Each time was around 60k miles for the upgrade. When I called to try to do it prior to check in I would get answers that varied from not available to well over 200k miles for the same upgrade.

With that being said, I've attempted this at multiple other airports, so it would appear GRU is the exception rather than the rule.

xliioper

60K is the old MUA rate for H/Q/K fares from South America from the MUA thread WIKI. MUAs aren't supposed to me offered in the Americas region any more (and, as noted, they are supposed to require a K or higher fare class).