TTT

I think elite flyers have paid for their upgrade. Many times we will book a routing that is less convenient or more expensive just to add to our MQMs for the chance of an upgrade in the future.

Drat: MikeMpls beat me to it - and much more eloquently too!

graraps

Complementary to what?

vatraveler

One excellent thing about CO is that GAs are held accountable and face serious consequences for not following upgrade protocol.

dd992emo

And if he answered would you know what the hell he was talking about? You might be overestimating your ability to "scare the crap" out of someone in the military. Since you seem to think there is some prohibition about drinking alcohol in uniform, I'm guessing you don't know a lot about the chain of command. You could probably fake it, though, just to stick your nose in his business.

micstatic

This is a good thread. The point is gate agents should follow policy and clear the upgrade list prior to offering any upgrades to non-medallions. If somebody wants to offer up their seat to a soldier, more power to them. Nevertheless, that should be a personal choice. I think people have paid enough money to Delta to earn that right. A little consistency would be nice at Delta. I hope somebody there is reading this thread, and gets the idea that a memo might me in order to their applicable staff. For what it's worth. I always hate traveling in those delta stations which don't have the Delta Tv's. You have no way of cross checking the GA's to make sure they are being honest.

berlinflyer

Both. In my case, the soldier was simply sitting in the wrong seat, as did two others as well. One other soldier actually had to walk back to coach as he was apparently upgraded on board even though the boarding process wasn´t completely finished and the F pax to whom the seat belonged boarded late with me.

LibFlyer

[QUOTE=MikeMpls;11005812]Yes, they did. By earning their status, they have earned the upgrades in accordance with the terms & conditions of the FF program. It is the airline's responsibility to allocate those upgrades as stipulated. It is not the gate agents' prerogative to give them away to anyone else.[/QUOTE/]

Exactly right.

padirescu

While I will not debate whether or not the service member you refer to in your post was authorized to be traveling in uniform (there are a hundreds of regulations allowing or disallowing this), I am rather offended by your implication that a service member is not authorized to consume alcoholic beverages while in uniform! Just because a service member is in uniform does NOT mean they are actually "on duty". A perfect example of this is the Marine Corps Birthday which is celebrated every November 10th since 1775. Marines celebrate this event in various methods but most attend sponsored Birthday Balls where alcohol is provided and Marines wear their dress uniforms.

Also I would guess that your brother is probably an officer simply by the wording of your message and the fact that you would "scare the crap out of him by asking for his chain of command." First off, as a former enlisted Marine, I would have laughed at any "civilian" asking for information on my chain of command for this purpose as quite frankly it's non of your damn business to pry into whether I'm authorized to drink while in uniform. If you would like to make it your business then in the great words of Jack Nicholson, "I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand to post".

waltinsocal

Very well stated. As was stated earlier, it is entirely inappropriate for GAs to make up their own rules as they go. Delta has a stated upgrade policy which should be followed. DL is of course free to change its policy, but until it does, I expect it to be followed. As far as some of the side discussion goes, I don't think there is a person on this board that does not appreciate the job that our armed forces does. That is simply not the issue here, and any attempt to make it one is a red herring. The same goes for the discussion about whether it is or is not okay to drink in uniform. That, too, is not the main issue here. FWIW, I could care less if someone is drinking while in uniform. But then again, whether or not I care about that is also not the issue.

motytrah

If one feels strongly that military should get upgraded they're certainly free to companion upgrade them.

Most of the officers I know don't care to travel in uniform. The prospect of the upgrade isn't worth the extra hassle that goes along with being in uniform.

AtlJim

I have seen this happen a couple of times:
I have had the GA upgrade military members with elites waiting for upgrades at least 3 times.
Most disturbing is watching a GA upgrade Non rev passengers ahead of revenue passengers. I think that when they gave the GA power to upgrade passengers at their leisure, some will abuse the power.
DL should do something about this and make sure that upgrades are handed out according to their published rules.

uavking

You should've been a dogface instead, but I still tip my hat to you sir.

asnovici

This thread keeps re-emerging on various airline's forums here on FT.

My opnion is why should a soldier be upgraded and not a firefighter or a teacher or a policeman or a ... etc? All these individuals signed up for their jobs and without knowing what the soldier does in the army one can arguably say that there are other civilian profissions that can be equally or even more dangerous and demanding.

Not only I would not support giving my FC seat I paid for in full to a soldier, I would also not give out my upgraded FC seat either. Where does one draw a line on who is more worthy of an upgrade/FC seat, soldier, firefighter, a cop, etc... Would a teacher deserve that seat more? I certainly think so (for many reasons).
Bottomline is: GA's should follow the protocol for upgrades. If somebody wants to give up their seats to whoever they want (soldier, cop, the Pope), they are more then welcome to do it, but to EXPECT somebody to give up their seat is just plain wrong.

padirescu

I agree with the premise that rules are rules and should be followed however I am a little torn on this issue as a former Marine and now a PM for the past 5 years. To your point of the companion upgrade, there are a few problems with that option.

Companion upgrades have to be the biggest joke when it comes to upgrade likelihood. First, the companion have to be on the exact same itinerary which presents an issue when the military member and the person requesting the companion upgrade are making different connections. Second, the upgrade status for both the companion and the medallion member requesting it is the lower of the two travelers (i.e. if the companion has no status both are put at the bottom of the list). I have tried unsuccessfully well over 20 times to get my wife a companion upgrade when we travel together so this is essentially a vapor perk for medallion members. The third problem according to "The Rules" is "Both passengers must be ticketed, and upgrades must be requested at least three hours before the scheduled departure of the flight.

Regarding the general topic of military members getting complimentary upgrades. As someone who was upgraded periodically by GA's back during the first gulf war, I have to say the feeling of appreciation for serving my country was something I'll never forget (especially on a long haul back from Hawaii). I think a good compromise on Delta's part would be to establish guidelines on service member upgrades that not only take care of those that serve but also doesn't disenfranchise those of us who keep the airlines running.

My suggestion would be that Delta incorporates 1 FC upgrade seat for military members traveling in uniform for every 3-5 Medallion members on the upgrade list. Based on the military principle of troop welfare, the lowest ranking military member traveling in uniform should have priority for those FC seats. This would provide a structured method of showing our appreciation for the sacrifices our military members are making while at the same time still providing a reasonable quantity of FC upgrade seats for medallion members.

Of course, hopefully there are many other PM members out there like me who periodically give their FC upgrade to services members as a sign of personal appreciation.

asnovici

Why??? Where are the allocated seats for firefighters? Where are the alloocated seats for police officers? Where are the allocated seats for teachers? Would you suggest that thier contributions and sacrifices to the country and our communitis are less then soldiers' somehow? Is this a communist country and DL is a state-run airline? In USSR they DID have allocated seats for military personnel on airplanes, on Aeroflot, when it was state-run.