Delta Air Lines led the industry in eliminating first class upgrades. Twenty years ago 90% of first class seats went to upgrades and awards. Ten years ago it was about half. Now only around 12% of seats are left for SkyMiles elite members. And that means on many routes and flights there are no upgrades at all.
Other airlines have copied Delta, monetizing their first class cabins for ‘tens of dollars’ – they will sell once a year coach passengers an upgrade for $26 or $40 rather than giving it free to a $30,000 a year customer.
The real innovation at Delta though is convincing flyers that extra legroom economy seats are an upgrade (“The biggest trick the devil in Atlanta ever played ws convincing flyers he doesn’t exist”). They even run an upgrade process to get into those seats.
Meanwhile, Marriott stopped promising ‘Suite Upgrade Awards’ to top elites. They renamed these certificates ‘Nightly Upgrade Awards’ to normalize the idea that an upgrade isn’t to a suite. A ‘high floor’ is somehow an upgrade.
And the masses of travelers fall for it – it works – so these programs keep devaluing. And they’ll continue doing so as long as it doesn’t cost them co-brand credit card spending (although it probably is).
Here’s the formula.
I was checking into a hotel a few months ago and the guy in front of me says:
I’m a member. I’d like my free upgrade.
Lady says you “got it sir, we will get you a room on the 4th floor.”
He’s super satisfied.
Then he says he also gets a free warm cookie.
So she hands him a…
— StripMallGuy (@realEstateTrent) January 4, 2026
Tell people they are getting something which is not offered to the general public. It can be just a bottle of water.
Tell people they are getting an upgrade, something better than what they paid for. It doesn’t actually matter if it is better, they’re made to feel special. You know when your hotel key card packet has to say “you’ve been upgraded” that you really haven’t been upgraded.
And you know what?
Guy is straight balling out w that free water and cookie
— John Andreini (@jandreini1) January 4, 2026
New York radio personality Dan Ingraham talked years ago about VIP memberships on his program. They’d send cards saying the listener was entitled. To what it wasn’t clear.
Members like the idea of ‘membership.’ American Express prints “member since” on the front of their cards, but doesn’t actually recognize membership milestones in a meaningful way (the original Centurion lounge password was ‘member of’ and the second was ‘member since’).
And they like the idea of status even more. Tell them they’re special and there’s value, even without delivering anything of value. It’s sad, and I do think there has to be some minimum amount of benefit paired with it for the statement to feel real. But it can be a bottle of water and a cookie. And if that hotel was a Doubletree, everyone’s getting the cookie.
The days of consumer lucrative loyalty programs are long gone. It’s all about how profitable are you as a customer. Flying 100K miles a year doesn’t guarantee an airline your fares are profitable.
Economy plus is great for tall people but you’re still packed up next to your seat mate. Ok if they’re a family member or friend.
I think the place where we’re really seeing this theory being played out is over at Hilton. Diamond Reserve??? As far as I can tell the advantage to staying 80 nights and spending $18K is: one upgrade per year; access to a premium lounge (spoiler alert: looks like there are only four (4) of these in the entire U.S.); and a guaranteed 4 PM checkout which I think in all my years of travel I may have needed twice! BUT…the real benefit to this whole new specious elite-level is…you get to tell people you’re a Diamond Reserve!!!
I travel for work very frequently and mostly stay at Marriott properties. When I’m there for a night or 2 by myself, I don’t care about or need to be in a suite. More importantly to be is a room near the elevator and breakfast.
As a Delta Diamond and a Marriott Platinum, I’m not fooled by the utter devaluation I have seen in the last 20 years. I just don’t have a better option. 95-98% of my travel spend is Business and Im based in ATL. Im going to fly Delta because its the most convenient and non stop. I’m not switching to another airline that makes it harder for me to fly quickly for some marginally better perks or upgrades. My company has a contract with Marriott for most events and they have saturated every city with entry level to premium Hotels making them unavoidable. I still stay with Hyatt whenever its my choice and get Globalist but I can’t avoid 40-50 nights with Marriott. The airlines & Hotels know this and know that the business traveler is probably still going to spend with them because there isnt another viable option that works without some sacrifice. When I finally hang up the corp travel I will go free agent but that wont sway their decisions. Hell the average traveler who has a credit card and travels 3-4 times a year or less is probably happier now because they can get 1st class for $100 vs they had no chance before.
They can do this because their isnt enough competition in the US market anymore to offer another alternative.
I enjoy researching the room types beforehand, so when a hotel ‘upgrades’ us, I know whether it’s just a ploy, or a legitimate enhancement. Specific properties get so creative with Superior, Deluxe, Premier, etc. yet those mean nothing. Is it a Suite? Better view? Higher floor? Tub? The details matter. What’s the specific savings between the room you paid for and what you received. Otherwise, they’ll call whatever they give you an ‘upgrade,’ even if it’s a literal downgrade.
Airlines are less complicated. Regular economy to extra legroom (Comfort+) is hardly an upgrade. Economy to recliner or lie-flat is.
To give Delta some credit, their “extra legroom” (i.e., Comfort+) seats also come with their own earlier boarding group as well as free alcohol. You don’t get those perks on United with their expensive economy plus seats.
My son and I had driven to Mobile, AL, and were at the Hilton. They had a couple of bottles of water if you were of a certain status. I was not. I’m 84, and frequent travel days are behind me. However, Costco was down the road, and a case of 40 bottles of water was $4.
I read with amusement how companies, airlines, hotels, etc., want your money but don’t genuinely want to offer any perks.
I’ve lost more points with hotels and airlines for non-use than I care to think about.
I remember when the companies seemed very courteous and pleased that I was a customer. If I wrote a letter, they were very courteous in their reply. A few months ago, I wrote to an airline and, six months later, I still haven’t received a response.
@nycityny lol. Enjoy your “upgrades”.
A friend of mine loves to post on facebook about his Delta upgrades. Latest was him in a middle seat so happy to be upgraded to c+ or whatever lol
I am Titanium with Marriott, EP with American. With Marriott, I get TONS of upgrades to bona fide suites (especially outside of ther US) and 4pm check-out is a godsend. With American, it is true that I get fewer comped upgrades than in the past, but I do use about 10 SWUs for free upgrades to Business on international long hauls a year. Among other things.
Best article written in years. Delta and Marriott have been so effective in convincing folks they’re premiums and get taken care of. Meanwhile what they’re providing is on par if not worse then peers. Comfort + upgrades make me laugh. AA Main Cabin Extra is taken for granted because people don’t consider those upgrades like delta has. Many of Deltas planes are retrofit, the lounges are quite overcrowded, an d the points- oh my- they’re devalued worse then anyone.
As a Hyatt Globalist using a suite upgrade award at HR in London, I was told I was getting a double upgrade at check-in. Well, it was on the top floor and it was a corner room so I guess that’s a “double upgrade”? However, the difference in size of this room and a standard one was an extra long hall between the door and the bed with a slanted desk and, call me crazy, I’d expect a door between the bedroom and the rest with a double upgrade.
Other Hyatt upgrades on this trip where I burned 3 SUAs were the Lindner Hamburg where I had a nice top floor corner room as well with a good living area and bedroom. Great breakfast for a 150 EUR/night hotel. However, there wasn’t a door between the BR and living room nor was there a door between the BR and the bathroom which had a separate WC with a door. Unfortunately, there was only one light switch for the entire bathroom including the toilet area. It was an issue traveling as a couple. Also, stayed at GH Berlin which was a great two room suite with a door AND a door to the bathroom. Hurrah! Great hotel breakfast and good enough for Europe lounge spread.
Anyway, all that allowed me to make Globalist again keeping me on the hamster wheel.
Love the Kaiser Sose reference although he’s not as evil as Delta.
To paraphrase from Jerry MGuire: “Show me the upgrade!”
Elite programs are mostly about fee avoidance now. For airlines this means avoiding checked bag fees, early boarding fees, seat rez fees. For hotels this means a free breakfast (maybe) a free bottle of water (maybe) but no free parking or waived resort fees.
@Boraxo — Good point. Less change fees, bag fees, etc. (By the way, how was Zork Fest?)
The next time I check into a Marriott property, I expect the desk clerk to say, “Congratulations. You’ve been upgraded. As an exclusive Bonvoy Ambassador Elite bonus, here is a complimentary roll of two-ply toilet paper for your suite.”
Having been in this game 30 years, I look back and it’s astonishing how it’s grown.
Just one example, back in around 2004-5, there were maybe 20 of us, located at Flyertalk, discussing the Southwest Companion Pass and how good a deal it was.
Now there are Facebook groups dedicated to the CP that have hundreds of thousands of members. Plus untold blog readers, etc.
Things HAD to change. Drastically.
@toomanybooks — Is your point that we should not discuss any of it, or take part in ‘the game’ anymore? Because, I don’t think that’s the way, either. Instead, there should be better baseline protections for consumers to ensure that these programs do not get hella devalued without adequate notice.