upgrade question
 

I am Delta gold and thought I could lock an upgrade from coach to comfort plus at time to ticket purchase. The exaxct wording howeve is that I can "select C+"

Just called Delta and they said this is not true- This just puts me on the waitlist. and only the higher levels of status get immediate upgrade.

Is this correct?

Only Platinum and Diamond get C+ at purchase. Gold is waitlisted and the eligibility window opens 3 days prior to departure, but there is still no guarantee of being upgraded.

Gold can select comfort plus seats 72 hours prior to flight time if there are seats left, so yes it is correct unless you are within 72 hours of the flight

thanks
I'll try go for the platinum

when did that come into play ? As far as I know and read, Gold complimentary upgrades may start to clear 72 hours pre-flight, but a Gold medallion can’t select one manually.

when did that come into play ? As far as I know and read, Gold complimentary upgrades may start to clear 72 hours pre-flight, but a Gold medallion can’t select one manually.

You are correct.

You need to be careful and refer to the footnote on the website (wording is unfortunately not very clear). Note that while DL does not typically hold back available C+ seats from the C+ comp upgrade bucket (SU), they definitely do with FC seats (OU bucket). Just because there are seats are still open in FC and you are within your upgrade window, does not necessarily mean there are any available for comp upgrades and that you will just be able to select one.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...662da76a34.png
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e09bb3db91.png

My flight the other day fell into the "does not typically hold back category." It was a short flight on an ERJ175, but high business traffic and high income route. At the time the window opened, F was full and there were 4 C+ seats remaining, two of which are always reserved for special needs pax. The remaining two were available for sale but I was not able to get upgraded into them. I did clear at the gate though.

American Platinums and United Golds, both which are the second tier of their status levels (aka the Delta Gold-equivalent) get their respective version of Comfort+ at booking. Not at Delta though.

Unless things have changed since I was a GM, you can select one manually if you're within the 72 hour window. I was only GM up until a couple or so years ago and that had always been the case for me at the time.

EDIT: I see a couple posts up that they held back Comfort+ seats in their case, but it seems to be a rare occurrence that this actually happens.

Be careful here. If you can qualify organically, go for it; otherwise, some high level cost benefit analysis should be performed.

Seat wise, C+ has the same seats as regular economy ith a few inches of additional legroom.

This has always been a red strike against SkyMiles in my book. That said, elite qualification requirements are now so different between programs (AA/UA entirely spend-driven ex-partners), and with rollover and Amex making DL Plat more achievable it’s really hard to directly compare levels like this.

Extra leg room offerings are also very different between these airlines. UA and AA consider exit rows as a C+ equivalent, but a Silver Medallion on DL can select an exit row seat for no additional charge.

Even with the higher level requirement for DL, I would say AA is the worst of the three in actually being able to select an extra legroom seat.

Sadly this wasn’t always the case but ever since AA densified the core of their domestic fleet, it is.