Upgrade Charge on Delta
 

Hello, We are booked on Delta Airlines from Seattle to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale on December 25, 2019, and returning the same exact route on January 6, 2020.
Originally we were booked in Comfort+ class on all legs. I was able to upgrade our Seattle to Atlanta leg for about $238 per person.
I would also like to upgrade our flight home from Atlanta, but the charge is currently $599 per person.

Does anyone know if that rate will drop at some point? Why is it so high in the other direction?

Prices in a free market economy are often driven by the laws of supply & demand.

I expect that on Christmas day there is less demand so prices are lower than on Jan 6th, when everybody who's been traveling over the 2 week holiday period is trying to get back home for the start of school, work, etc.

ditto J62. Christmas Day is a pretty light travel day (just like Thanksgiving Day) so it doesn't surprise me at all the upgrades are so cheap. I'm a little surprised there are upgrades available on the Jan 6 flight since that is the first travel day for a lot of Business travelers for almost a month. I sure wouldn't be optimistic . . .

There are actually more seats booked on the December 25th flight. Very few seats sold on the January 6th flight. I guess I'll wait & see.

Regardless of how many open seats you see on a seating chart today Delta knows that demand returning from FLA right after New Years will be high, and likely to exceed capacity. They have no incentive to give anything away right now but will happily sell you the upgrade for that price if you're willing to pay them. It's smart revenue optimization planning on their part.