nbourbaki

A few weeks ago I booked travel for an internal meeting in Paris. I asked the Delta rep which flights could I use points to upgrade and I was told Saturday out Saturday return both had availbility for a points upgrade. A Saturday return wasn't convenient since I would have an extra day in Paris, but I had no chance of an upgrade on the Friday flight I was told so Saturday it was. I called my corporate travel office and reserved a B class fare for Saturday to Saturday CVG->CDG->CVG. When I called Delta back within the hour now only the outbound could be confirmed, but as a Platinum Medallion on a B fare I'm told that I would be a priority waitlist. Anyway, today in Paris I'm told I needed to wait for the uniformed Delta rep to ask if my waitlist cleared and when she arrives 20 minutes before boarding I'm told that Business is full and Delta wouldn't be able to accomodate my request. Three quarters through the flight I tell one of the flight attendants what happened and she tell me that there are plenty of seats in Business. She tells the head flight attendant and I'm told to report the problem to Customer Service. So after clearing customs and getting my bags I seek out the Customer Service manager in Cinci. She tells me that Delta only clear 12 seats in business for point upgrades and I wasn't one of the 12. We appreciate your business and have a nice day. Is this right? Delta would rather have a seat fly empty in business than accomodate a 7 year Platinum on a B fare? Tell me this ain't true!

zman

Bankrupt airline, CDG service, what do u expect?

DLfan

This has ALWAYS been true and has not changed since the bankruptcy filing nor is it unique to CDG as zman has implied. I'm surprised you didn't know this, but DL does not clear upgrades on day of departure. They do however, sometimes accomodate employees and op-ups in BE on day of departure. Jeff Robertson was questioned about this unpopular policy during a live chat session here on FT. He basically explained that clearing day of departure upgrades would dilute DL's chance to sell the seats at full fare, which actually makes some sense, even if I don't like it.

RobertS975

There are many, many threads dealing with the unwillingness of DL to process day of departure upgrades. Never, never buy a YBM fare with the promise or hope of an upgrade... only pay that fare if the upgrade can be confirmed.

Honestly, there are dozens of threads about this already. Remember, non-revs are not being "upgraded" since they are standby for the flight in the first place. They can be cleared off the standby list directly in BE far more easily than a PM can be upgraded same day of departure on a flight that is not oversold. That is how the DL computer is programmed!

nbourbaki

Thanks for all of the responses. Since this was my first time using points to upgrade an international flight on Delta, this is all news to me. I received my year end Skymiles spending breakdown and last year I spent $40,000 with Delta. It wont happen again.

Spiff

This point cannot be stressed enough.

CelticFlyer

I'm a bit confused. If you are a PM you should have received 6 PMUs which can be used to upgrade YBM international flights. The rules for using miles are the same as those for using PMUs. Had you already used your PMUs for the year?

nbourbaki

No I still have the PMUs I received in Dec of '04, but I haven't received my new credentials from Delta for '06. Could the PMUs be used where upgrading with points won't? I'm obviously clueless on upgrading international flights.

CelticFlyer

PMUs use the same inventory for international BE as SkyMiles (i.e. Z inventory). PMUs have a validity date and that may have passed on those that you received in Dec 04. In general, since PMUs have a limited lifespan it is preferable to use those rather than miles for international upgrades where possible.

indufan

If there was one thing that he was no doubt honest about, it was this. Delta has a business to run and has to make decisions that don't benefit the consumer from time to time, just like every other business does.

deltajfk

On behalf of Delta,

I would like to apologize to you, as you know there are many factors which are taken into consideration about upgrades, and sometimes everything does not work out the way that you would like it to.

Once again I'm very sorry about your mishap and we hope to see you aboard soon :-)

Traveller

Welcome to the DL board deltajkf. I doubt that you will be seeing nbourbaki soon (see below). Delta looses 40k a year because they won't upgrade an international ticket on day of departure even though BE goes out with empty seats.

RobertS975

Deltajfk, welcome to our friendly forum. I infer from your post that you are a DL employee stationed at JFK. I hope that you are able to shed insight from time to time from your vantage point, but please do not give any info online that could shed light as to your actual identity as the airline has frowned upon that in the past. However, over the years, we have had some valuable info provided to our group by various DL employees.

Again, we welcome your participation.

RobertS975

But the DL policies would seem to be counter-productive in terms of generating revenue... the FF does not buy a YBM fare at three times the cost of the lowest coach fare because he cannot confirm an upgrade, seats go out either empty or with non-revenue pax seated in them. Or worse, you get a pissed off high spender who feels that he has been treated unfairly.

I have been in the OP's shoes. My wife and I (a PM and a GM) took a relatively short notice trip to NCE a few years ago requiring a B fare... no upgrades available in advance... at the gate in NCE, the GA held us back hoping for an oversell that would allow us to receive operational upgrades, but sadly that did not turn out. Non-revs were being cleared off the standby list into BE, but the DL computer heirarchy does not allow that to be done for medallions at the gate for either PMUs or mileage.

lexman

[QUOTE=indufan] Delta has a business to run ....

Agreed! Right into the ground. What #@&*% idiots they are. Anybody who has ever run his or her own business successfully knows when to make things right for their best customers. The staggering stupidity at Delta from top to bottom, year after year, is stunning.

lex