What the heck am I talking about, you ask? Delta has been pretty good to me on upgrades as both a Silver, and now Gold Medallion. Usually, I fly Delta for work, and almost always on a K fare, with a few Y fares here and there. With Delta, fare paid can trump status. In other words, if you’re a Silver Medallion on a Y fare you will get upgraded before a Gold Medallion on a T fare. I guess I get what they’re trying to do, reward those who pay the most, but it can seem a little convoluted compared to the way other airlines do it. In any event, I think Delta’s system is why I’ve had such good luck with Medallion upgrades. Even as a Silver Medallion, I cleared 67 percent of the time in 2010. I think that’s pretty snazzy. The last time I cleared to First Class when flying Delta on a personal trip was 2008. 🙂 You get the drift…… fare matters at Delta.
On to the story. I was actually curious to see if Gold Medallion might make just enough of a difference when traveling on a T fare. Today I’m flying BWI-ATL-RDU (yeah, I know…it’s the segments). I haven’t cleared on either segment, and last time I looked, I was number 13 of 29 for 6 available First Class seats at the gate. Yeah, that won’t be happening today. For my return on Sunday, I’m one level up from T….traveling on a U fare. Both segments cleared at the window. I wasn’t surprised that I cleared on a 757 at 8:30am Sunday morning, but I was a little surprised that my MD80 connection cleared on Sunday afternoon. Oh well, no complaints.
Up until yesterday, there were a handful of empty seats in First on each flight. In fact, coach on my 757 from BWI this morning was all but empty. That is, until the snow storm canceled hundreds of flights out of the DC area on Wednesday and Thursday. My flight this morning was packed to the gills, and so is my connection. I might’ve had a shot of clearing at the gate on either flight, but not now.
Well, I just felt like sharing. My grand experiment is giving me a 50 percent success rate at upgrading on a cheap fare with Delta. I guess that’s not so bad.
i have a delta skymiles platinum card and i received 5K MQMs when i initially got the card 2 years ago. i was told if i wanted to upgrade to a reserve card i would only get 5K MQMs because i already got 5. anyone know if this is really true? shouldn’t i get the 10k?
thanks.
Amex is notoriously uptight about this kind of thing. Others may way in, but I think the 5K MQMs per Amex policy.
I’m a Platinum and I never have a problem with upgrades on a T fare.
deltaGOLD,
If my Delta flying picks up the least little bit, I’ll look into that Reserve card. Right now I use Amex Platinum for Sky Club access (and Admirals Club too as soon as my membership runs out).
Hi MJ,
If you are going to fly Delta a bunch keep in mind that if you get the RESERVE card you go to the top of the food chain for upgrades. Also you get 10k MQM for the card and then with some MINT COINS it is simple to end up with PM for the year with the extra 30k MQM!
MJ, just wondering how you manage to book “exactly” a K fare when booking for work? When I book a non-refundable ticket through my company’s travel tool, I get booked in whatever the fare happens to be that day-T, G, M, whatever. How do you finagle a specific non-Y coach fare? Thanks!
Andrew,
Our contract has 2 fares, discount and full fare. The discount always books into K.
Linda,
Like you, my upgrade rate on AA as a Platinum is much better than Delta. I mean…I have pretty good success with Delta, but my success rate with AA has always been above 90 percent….as just a Platinum. Too bad I’m a little miffed at them at the moment. 🙂
By the way, be sure to read my other comment which includes and explanation of Delta’s upgrade process straight from Delta…. disclosure: that email was dated March 9, 2010. Something could’ve changed since then. One thing might be where Gold and up on award tickets fall into the queue.
Well, I am Platinum on American and almost always get upgraded. I did a status match with Delta this year to Gold and I have not gotten upgraded on a single flight since I became Gold. I now understand why. I was really puzzled. Now I realize it is because of the fare.
“fare paid trumps status every time”
Not true. Only full fare Y trumps status. DL domestic upgrades priority is as follows:
1) Full fare Y, by status
2) Discounted fares (including awards for Gold and higher), by status and then fare class
3) Some other people who never get upgraded… 🙂
Gene, Thanks for the reply. Ya’ know, I was reading the following email from Delta to me: “For future reference, I appreciate the opportunity to our process. Of course, any Medallion member who books a full Y fare will receive a complimentary upgrade at the time of ticket purchase. First, in each tier it is important for you to know that Medallion members with a Delta Reserve American Express credit card (IP) will be cleared prior to those members without an IP card. Second, the member will be cleared in fare class order starting with B class tickets then M,… Read more »