Only 13% of Delta Air Lines domestic first class passengers are sitting there on upgrades. That includes flights on lightly-traveled routes where there aren’t many premium passengers, so on popular business and hub-to-hub routes the percentage is even much lower.
The airline has gotten very good about merchandising premium seats – and is willing to sell them very cheap, especially as upsells to infrequent flyers. They want to take a few tens of dollars from a once a year customer rather than upgrading a very frequent flyer who spends tens of thousands of dollars. Their President made this clear at last month’s investor day.
Delta is also most likely to skip processing upgrade lists at the gate of the major airlines.
Frequently gate agents won’t bother to do upgrades at the very last minute at all. If a first class passenger doesn’t show up for the flight (maybe they are connecting, and their inbound aircraft is late or they get waylaid in the bathroom in the terminal) they would be doing the work to print a new boarding pass and come on board the aircraft to move up a coach passenger – right before they’re supposed to be closing the doors. And this extra work could wind up delaying the flight a minute or two, which would get them yelled at by a manager.
Here’s one story from Sunday:
1st class seats sitting empty despite my husband putting in a regional certificate?
byu/a-a-a-ronica indelta
Just an hour later, another flyer wrote:
As if upgrades aren’t terrible enough this year, the flight I’m currently on I was number 1 on upgrade list, 2 open seats available in first and they boarded everyone and did no upgrades…
It’s from Miami to Atlanta so it’s not that long… but what’s even the point of this status if it’s so junk. Decided I’m just fully canceling my reserve card at the end of the year.
I recently pointed to one Delta gate agent who confesses that they won’t bother to check if passengers traveling together want to be split up when there’s just one first class seat available – and just skips over them instead.
A business school case on how to squander customer loyalty.
THE premium airline. BS
I pity the hub captives that have to put up with this garbage.
It’s Delta we’re talking about here, not like a company that actually cares about the people handing them money.
I find United to be very premium in this regard, seeing the GA come onto the plane 100% of the time when there’s upgrades to process. It’s so consistent I feel like GAs must get penalized more for not processing the list than they do for a gate delay, although I almost always see the door closing while catering/baggage loading or preflight checks are still happening. (Also seems United may process the upgrade list last second as a matter of policy to max chances of selling the seats, so maybe it’s just a more routine item late in the process for them.)
I’m also usually the last one on the plane – so if I’m supposed to have the upgrade, I’ll just make them give it to me at boarding. (“Make” is loosely used here, they’ve always proactively processed it, just saves them a trip down the jetbridge.) If for some reason I do board not-last, I’ll watch the upgrade list on the app, and if they process me, I’ll move myself up (again saves them the trip to Y to get me).
ONCE a couple years ago they closed the door with me on the top of the list and an empty seat and I went for it and upgraded myself. The FA questioned it, I showed them the empty seat and my position on the upgrade list on the app, they said OK and it was good. (I would NOT have argued if I’d had any pushback at all.)
This must be evidence that Delta is a premium airline?
I used to get upgrades as silver. WhenI became gold, it was a near guarantee.
The upgrade certificates from Delta are merely another promise from the airline, one which they seldom keep.
The gate agents clearly view them as a non-revenue generating activity (for which they aren’t paid, versus an on-time departure, for which they are). Any questions?
You write this:
Delta is also most likely to skip processing upgrade lists at the gate of the major airlines
What does this even mean?
This is very frustrating. Happens from time to time on American, usually on short flights where gate agents think passengers won’t care. One way around it is if you’re number one on the list (not number nine) go up and ask the gate agent are there any open seats. The answer will likely be no but ask if there’s a no show/misconnect will they come get you out of coach. Might not work all the time but at least the gate agent has promised to come get you.
Good for Delta. These upgrade whiners aren’t paying their fares anyway. Their companies are. Delta has already been paid by their company. They don’t make money off upgrades, unless they upsell coach passengers to first. Again, good for them.
This story is getting very old. If you want J or F, pay for it or pay the upgrade that you claim Delta is selling for tens of dollars to every other pax. It is smart for Delta to discount the seats so new people can try the product and desire to purchase it for their next trip. Delta’s profit margin is 13%, it doesn’t make money on Y paxs and needs to monetize the cabin space.
Relentless devaluation of miles – despite them being harder to earn in lower Medallion tiers – was tolerated. SkyPesos as the running joke.
Now they take away upgrade potential.
What is left – free bags and seat choice? Annual gift?
Hard to get his to pencil out to justify chasing status. DL won’t do sh*t to change their path until they see the credit cards impacted.
Add another item to this list – try to use your companion certificate on a flight you actually want. It is near impossible.
jesus Ass Grifting mcchrist.
Buy a first class seat if you feel entitled to one.
If you want first just buy it or pay for the upgrade (usually a reasonable cost). So sick of the OPM whiners wanting something for nothing. And don’t tell me about all you “suffer” or the “loyalty” you have. I’ve flown 8 million miles before I retired and am lifetime elite on DL, AA and UA. I remember the good old days when my upgrades were almost guaranteed. It is a new world, airlines are all monetizing premium seats and you will not be getting the upgrades so get over yourselves. Adapt or not but PLEASE quit the whining – it is sad and pathetic.
Don’t expect any courtesy or loyalty from an airline anymore. It’s a pity there is so little competition now.
Probably happened to me a half a dozen times over the years. I’m first on the upgrade list and we take off with an empty FC seat. I’ve also had the GA come to me on the plane about a half dozen times to ask if I’d like to move up to FC. I’ve had GAs stop me at the gate and ask me if I want to wait before boarding because a FC seat might come open. It is what it is. Has Delta consistently gone downhill as far as their treatment of frequent business flyers goes? Without question. It’s to the point where there is no point in chasing status because there is no benefit to it. Am I “loyal” to Delta? Depends on what you mean by loyal. Delta is convenient for me and consistently gets me where I need to go with the least amount of disruption. The “gets me where I need to go with the least amount of disruption” is key to me. What doesn’t matter to me is upgrade potential. Is it nice? Absolutely! Do I expect it? Depends on the route I’m flying. Do I think I deserve it? Absolutely not. At the end of the day, I get to where I am supposed to go and I fly in Comfort + when I only paid for Main Cabin. I am content with that. If I am bound and determined to fly FC then I need to pay for FC or not complain when I don’t get upgraded.
I am Platinum for life for Air France, on a Facebook dedicated page, I read many, many stories like this, including AF offering a last minute better price to get upgraded when you are Silver, more expensive as a Platinum . Some guys add their frequent flyer at the very last moment !
You guys that fly often is that you paying or your company? There used to be a courtesy among employees that if possible my husband ,who flew for the company, would on rare occasion get an open seat in first. They just don’t want to service another seat upfront. No one is looking for a freebie just appreciation.
I will admit that AA actually does a good job with this? There have been times when I was ‘brought forward’ and nabbed the open seat. I’ve also seen it where two people- traveling together but not on the same ticket to a work conference- where one of them got upgraded to the 1st class seat next to me. She was excited- this was her 1st time in 1st class and it was a free upgrade! (And I think *everyone* on this blog remembers that feeling? lol) But her colleague had WAYYYYY more status, so it was an unusual situation where the higher status colleague walked past her on her way to the dungeon of coach. 😉
If Delta doesn’t want to do upgrades simply get rid of them. Flyers can continue to play the upgrade lottery and usually they won’t win. Also if you’re traveling together and you’re number one and two determine if you will split up and who will go up front. Convey that to the gate agent so that the gate agent understands that he/she won’t have to take the time to have a discussion on whether you will take the upgrade or not.
What I would want to know is if there’s a no show will the system automatically update you? If that’s the case your seat should refresh or at worst show you upgraded on the app.
In my opinion, Delta owes the customer who would have otherwise been upgraded but for the gate agents willful negligence The difference in cost between the Coach seat and the first class seat. It’s only right. If they buy a $400 ticket and should have been upgraded into a $1,000 seat but we’re not because the gate agent was lazy, stupid, obnoxious or having a bad day–then that is a $600 upgrade to which the passenger was entitled and did not receive and they should be fully and fairly compensated for the value of that upgrade–unless Delta believes that the upgrade is worth less (in which case they shouldn’t rip people off for it–like they frequently do when they tell you that it includes snacks and beverages only to find out that due to some made up rule that’s not clearly communicated at the time that the ticket is purchased that there will be no refreshmenta served on the flight whatsoever. It’s amazing how they’ve managed to convince people that they care about customers and always do the right thing when in fact they frequently do the wrong thing and don’t care at all.
As an Air France Gold, I expect nothing from Sky Team partner Delta, and Delta always meets expectations.
First world problems .
You want FC, buy it.
I buy FC on UA for the comfort/space and to make sure a 1k doesn’t get upgraded. 😀
As someone who regularly buys revenue F, I’m ok with this practice. I would rather have more space up front anyway. Free upgrades should be phased out of loyalty programs altogether in favor of other value propositions such as more attentive and personalized customer services on the ground for elites.
With all the complaining about Delta I read in this site, I find it hard to understand why people continue to patronize Delta. Their cash fares are consistently higher that the other 2 US airlines and their mileage redemption costs are comical. Vote with your dollars, peeps!
It is sad that some readers interpret these anecdotal one off experiences as evidence of a systematic failure by an airline. All the complaining about Delta on this site is primarily related to the site owner holding a grudge against the airline because his previous status doesn’t appear to be worth as much as before..
They were holding the seats empty in case the following passenger showed up at the gate unannounced at the last minute with his knee pads…
DUN T
The good thing about all the hoo-haa over upgrades is that is settles the question once and for all about the wisdom of chasing “loyalty”. For us experienced flyers – those with at least three full decades of air travel experience – chasing loyalty today is the sign of a sucker. The decision is easy: If I insist on being up front, I either pay for the ticket or don’t fly at all. And if I don’t fly, there is always a car…..or a Zoom call.