A Delta Air Lines elite member reports that they were flying out of Detroit, 5 empty seats remained on the first class upgrade list (they were number one of the list and should have been upgraded), but the gate agent didn’t bother with upgrades.

I walked to the boarding door and called for the [gate agent] on the jetway, and said look, there’s 5 empties in first and 12 people on the list, are you just going to leave them hanging? Without hesitation they said “Yes,” but then said to me, “feel free to take any open seat in F.” What about the other 4 people? “Sorry,” and they walked away.

I hear from readers all the time that this happens with Delta, and I don’t hear about it the same way with United, American or Alaska Airlines.

Occasionally I will see U.S. airlines with first class seats empty with the doors close, with passengers still on the upgrade list. However, this is usually because:

• The cabin was full, but someone didn’t make the flight at the last minute. Usually this means that they misconnected.
  
• And the gate agent doesn’t come on board to bring someone up from coach, worried that the time it takes at the last minute could make the flight late by a minute or two (or they’ve simply chosen not to bother with it).

Either way, “D0” exact on-time departures is the excuse. But here, with Delta, it seems to be something different.

Readers tell me about first class cabins going out with empty seats with passengers still on the upgrade list – starting at empty seats up front that they’re entitled to.

Delta says only about 12% of their first class seats go to upgrades, while 15 years ago, 81% of first class seats went to upgrades, awards and employees.

American, Delta and United have all become adept at selling coach passengers upgrades to first class for tens of dollars, sometimes as little as $40. Delta will even sell long haul business class for as little as $299 more than coach.

For the most part, upgrades have been tough to get because (1) premium demand has grown while the supply of premium seats hasn’t kept up, and (2) airlines have shifted their merchandising to take less money for those seats from any willing buyer rather than honor frequent flyer upgrades.

However part of the reason why Delta’s upgrade percentage is so low, it seems, is because gate agents at Delta just don’t process upgrades as reliably as they do at other airlines. Last month I wrote about several instances.

1st class seats sitting empty despite my husband putting in a regional certificate?
byu/a-a-a-ronica indelta

Meanwhile, 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.

And 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.

Delta promises unlimited complimentary upgrades into available first class seats. At the corporate level they hate upgrades and maybe that flows down to the rank and file?