First time asking for up-grade. Does anyone have any info. Me & husband (TR) got ecom. tickets on Delta to Zuich for 9/15/07. We went on a wait list for up-grade, TR got up-grade I am still waiting! Does anyone have any experience with up-grades this is our first time, and didn't know they would up-grade one without the other
How does this work.
Called airlines and was told I still have a good chance to up-grade due to about 20 seats still available.

Would appreciate anyones experience with Delta.

I suspect the best place to get expert answers to your question will be the Delta forum at Flyertalk:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=489

It might help if you give more details, like:

- Are the tickets purchase together on the same itinerary?

- What are the elite levels of both of you?

- Whose miles are you using for the upgrade?

Airlines will release a seat or seats for upgrades all the time depending on the sales prediction. Unless you specify to the airline that it's both or nothing the airline will upgrade the first one on the waitlist. It looks like he was the next one up and they only released 1 seat for an upgrade at this time. Without the stipulation that it had to be both or you don't want 1 upgrade he got pushed up and you are probably next on the waitlist. OTOH, if you did stipulate that it has to be both of you or forget it, then with only 1 seat released both of you had been passed up to the next single upgrade request.

Either way it could work for you or against you. There is no better way/strategy to assure upgrades with miles/certs. You can only improve your chances by keeping an eye on the inventory and call every few days.

Good luck!

rkkwan,

The tickets were purchased on amx credit card (low price way in advance), when we called to see if we could be up-graded we were told we could be put on a wait list. The up-grade that my husband got cost us $500+. I didn't know that you had to request both or nothing (just thought being that they were bought at the same time and requested at the same time it was automatic)! I would have indicated that, but as it turns out we paid for the up-grade for TR (husband), because we thought mine would come through and didn't want to pass up the one. I have called a few times to see what my chances are, they say it is good, but can not confirm. Is there something I should be asking that I don't know about? I am not an elite member, I just missed the mileage amount!

If you can give me any other information I would appreciate it.
Dee

Well, I don't see there's anything you can do about it. They will not open up more upgrade inventory just because you asked.

And I don't think you want to give up that already upgraded seat either.

So, just wait and hope.

Are these mileage upgrades? If so, there has to be Z inventory for you to be able to upgrade a paid economy with miles. It looks like they opened up one Z seat and your husband got upgraded. Whether they'll open up another seat is anyone's guess. Delta can and will fly with empty business class seats even when there are passengers still on the upgrade waitlist. Good luck!

thanks for the info. I will know better next time!

"Delta can and will fly with empty business class seats even when there are passengers still on the upgrade waitlist."

...which is the stupidest, most idiotic thing I have ever seen an airline do. They have someone sitting here, ready and willing to pay them $500+ for an upgrade, but won't do it. Where is the business sense in that? One more reason I'd walk on bloody stumps before I'd give DL a dime of my $$$.

Good Luck, Dee.

Many airlines will rather fly the front cabin empty than let people upgrade. That's because even though they're now imposing a surcharge, the final cost is still significantly lower than a paid business class ticket.

They don't want travelers, particularly business travelers, to make the habit of buying coach tickets and upgrade.

You and I may not agree with their strategy, but it's not necessarily stupid. They want to you pay them $4,000 next time for a paid ticket, not $2,000 + miles.

I get your point, RK. However, more and more businesses are not "allowing" their employees to purchase other than econ fares. Additionally, if people think they might be able to spend a few hundred $$$ more to get an upgraded seat, they might be more apt to make their initial purchase. Such a practice might increase an airline's base of loyal/frequent flyers.

If they would sell the upgrades to those that are willing to pay for them, they could (and probably would) make up for at least a couple of those biz class seats that weren't sold at "normal" fare. With the financial situation of many airlines being what it is, any revenue is good revenue. Even if they wait until the last minute to allow the upgrade purchase, that's better than flying with empty seats and no revenue. How many people walk up 3 hours before a flight and purchase a biz class ticket? I dare say not very darn many.

On a DL flight I was on a few years ago (before I vowed to never fly DL), they were offering a paid upgrade at the gate for $100 or $150, I forget. Whether you could purchase the upgrade was based on your original fare class. I inquired and was denied because of my purchased fare class. Not one other person in the gate area made a move to buy the upgrade. So, rather than accept revenue from one pax, they went without. If that same situation occured on every domestic flight in a day, that's a significant amount of revenue to poo-poo. Doesn't make much sense for a company that, at the time, had just filed banko.

Again, the thing is that you're talking about the lost revenue on that particular flight because the airline doesn't want your upgrade money.

But the airline is thinking about longterm passenger behavior. They've decided for the longhaul international routes, in order to keep the current high fares, they just cannot allow people to get used to using mileage for upgrades and not paying the full value.

Actually, I did indicate a big picture look at the situation. I didn't insinuate, at all, that my one upgrade purchase would change the financial state of the airline.

I'm not disputing that the airlines would rather sell more expensive tickets. That's kind of a duh statement. But if they're flying with empty seats that they could have gotten ANY more money for, I see that as not a good business decision. If the plane takes off with 12 empty seats in biz class, and there are 12 people sitting in coach that would have gladly paid $500 to upgrade, that's a loss of $6000. If it happens everyday in a month, just on that one flight...well, you don't need a math lesson, but clearly it adds up to a pretty significant amount of money. Now apply that money to the other routes that they fly and it only multiplies.

If the seats are continually empty, clearly there aren't that many people willing to pay the biz class fare.

going_2_africa: You're still ignoring the part I explained to you about changing customer behavior.

So what if they leave $6,000 on the table because they leave 12 seats open. Because if they change the policy to fill all seats with upgrades, some of the 24 passengers who paid $4,000 for the BE seats will <b>in the future</b> NOT pay that fare and will instead buy coach and upgrade. [In the future doesn't mean this month or this quarter. It means for EVER.]

You don't have to agree with the maths or the philosophy. But just acknowledge what the airline is thinking would be enough for me to stop arguing the same point over and over.

Its very similar to the reason that the Four Seasons doesn't sell available, last minute rooms for $100.

rkkwan's statement 2 posts above is 100% on point. In fact, it was confirmed by a Delta executive over on FlyerTalk to be the case, just a few weeks ago. Check it out.

RK, you're still ignoring the part where I said I'm not disputing what you're saying.

I would, however, have to disagree with the idea that those that did purchase a BE seat would stop doing so, in order to purchase the upgrade, for a cheaper price. Those that can afford to purchase the BE seat and find enough importance in sitting in BE will continue to do so. They do not want to chance the fact that they might not get their upgrade, for whatever reason.

I'm not sure why this is becoming, in your words, an argument when I have said more than once that I'm not disagreeing with your point and/or the airline's rationale behind the policy. I have simply made the observation that, regardless of what the reasoning is, the airlines (be it DL or another) are losing a lot of revenue in the practice.

Okay, as long as understand what I'm saying that's fine.

In fact, I don't know if the airlines' math actually add up. Just trying to explain clearly what they're thinking.

Also nothing is set in stone - things can definitely change in the future, as they have changed in the past.

OK Now that we all agree! has anyone had any experience with American Airlines and their up-grades?

Aside, Airlines regularly report 70 to 75 percent occupancy! Why is seating so tight?