I can confirm that the UK air passenger duty is the same for Main Cabin as it is for Comfort+ - but Premium Select pays a premium.

My experience pre COVID and in 2022 as a DM, with 80% of my flights being noon- midnight sun, mon, thur, or fri, I got maybe 1 in 10 upgrades to first, and these were often on a late night DCA-ATL that had a pretty low load factor. I swear on DCA flights Diamond was the most popular boarding zone.

This year with flying a short hop in a CRJ-900, I�m about 30% on the CRJ as a S/G/PM- but usually (60%) no beverage or snack, but a modestly wider seat, with limited overhead bins. And about 25% of the � upgraded seat emails� don�t result in a F seat at time of boarding.

People who don�t fly commuter routes, and fly on tue/ wed probally have better luck.

Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong, but if there are 10 DMs on the list on average and the UG probability is 10%, then on average there will be a 1DM upgrade per flight so if you're always on the top of the list, there's a pretty good chance you're going to be upgraded most of the time.

Well I think it's obvious that some change was intended, but airlines have been known to use wording that conveys a different meaning than intended.

When I first read it, I just assumed it meant that if you accepted an upgrade offer after your initial purchase, then that would be considered in the upgrade calculus whereas it might not have before.
(Though I can't say for sure whetherit wasn't.)

I'll note that this language still exists on the page, and it isn't noted that this is no longer true in 2024, where other bullet points have been marked as no longer applying.

Same experience for me as a Plat out of DCA. I'm 100% on the JFK route (in fact I've never missed an upgrade since 2017) but on the ATL flights I'm only in the front cabin if 1) I pay, 2) I use a RUC, 3) I fly on a business trip outside the US or 4) I fly on a short business trip booked in economy and get upgraded due to corporate status.

😂😂😂😂


I expect you�re going to be disappointed

Fares for C+ are frequently up to twice the amount of Main. They're rarely something like 20%-30% more.

I have frequently paid for C+ and in over two years I have never been upgraded to F. It has irked me that Plats and Diamonds who paid way less got to be ahead in the UG pecking order. Even during 2022 when I had *earned* Gold status by flying/paying the normal requirements in 2021, Plats and Diamonds who not only paid just for Main on a T or V fare, but might have spent zero dollars on DL in 2021 got to be upgraded ahead of me.

It's a fair change.

The original "rule" was that you had to buy a minimum of a K fare to get upgraded, but there was no capacity control on the upgrades. Buy the K fare, have the right status, and you were upgraded right away (no waiting for an upgrade window). I remember buying a K fare to HNL for around $450 during a fare sale and upgrading it.

Anything below K was not upgradeable. At one point, that meant L, but as you note, there were more and more sub-K discount fares added over the years: L, U, T, X, V come to mind.

The problem for DL from a competitive standpoint back in the day was that other carriers would allow upgrades from any fare (although I don't think it was at the time of booking) and there was pressure on DL to liberalize the upgrade policy. So, we eventually migrated to the all-fare-eligible model, but it was with time windows and upgrade inventory restrictions. It was actually much nicer when you could buy the more expensive K fare and upgrade on the spot.

I'm a little unclear on the concept that fare class won't be considered given the language under "What to Know About Upgrade Priority" states:

Members at the same Medallion Tier will be cleared in order of fare class groupings for paid tickets, Award Tickets and Pay with Miles tickets, with higher fare classes among all ticket types holding higher priority.

https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...%20the%20order

Are they maintaining the same approach to clearly by fare class today but just making the language unnecessarily confusing?

Yes I noticed that this language is still there and brought it up upthread. Other bullet points in the list have been marked as not applying in 2024, but there's no disclaimer on this one.

This is basically what I think. I'm not sure they intended for this to be a wholesale overhaul of the upgrade order, but were thinking they were clarifying something, and instead muddied the waters further.

My home airport has always had very heavy paid FC for half the year, so I've practiced WFBF for a long time. In theory the new hierarchy might help with upgrades during the summer months, but DL tends to run smaller equipment with fewer FC seats available during the off-season. Will definitely be worth experimenting a bit when the new system goes into effect though!

There are 2 tables on the page. The first is until December 31, 2023; the second says it takes effect January 1, 2024.

I think the wording of the chart is unambiguous. It used to say fare class, not it says cabin, they are different things.

The ambiguity is created by the text not in the chart which keeps the fare class language.

So, my best guess (and I do mean guess): Someone was paying attention when compiling the chart, as someone paying attention is how the language changed. The portion that says fare class could have been missed when they were making the change to the chart.

On the other hand doing away with fare class as a factor is a major change, difficult to imagine that they wanted to do that. Keeping fare class as a factor encourages people to pay higher fares.

We may have to wait until January 2-24 to find out.

I fly paid F, but I already have my LUTVX fare booked for Jan. to find out for myself. I'm sure there will be data points shared here but there's nothing like testing the new rules on my regular route, day, and time.

So if someone gets upgraded before/instead of you, "excuse me sir, what is the fare class of your ticket?"