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Welcome to a weekly feature on the Eye of the Flyer blog. Each week this series covers in a “rookie” way either a Delta or travel related theme and attempts to break down to a basic level each topic. You can read up on all the previous posts HERE. Now on to this week’s feature.
Today I wanted to knock out in one place a bunch of bits that I often get asked about and wanted a post to cover all the common ones. I am sure you, as a loyal reader, know them all but let’s see if that is the case. If you know them all – you get a gold star today! If not, you are welcome.
The first one is something you really want to see, that is, if you care about getting more upgrades. We know Delta has not only continued in the coming medallion year the perk that Delta AMEX Reserve card holders (personal or business) will be riding up front more than those who do not hold that card. But that is only if the Delta system correctly shows you have it. The first and second slides (see arrows) show you what you want to see. If you don’t, time to contact Delta!
Next, and please everyone check this one, see if you have some digital HOOU or “Have One On Us” coupons in your account. I would also NOT take the ridiculous advice from Delta when you are going to fly a CRJ and simply print a few of these to hand to an FA (or do a screen shot of the redeemed coupon works too). Also, please note the expiration date on these may not be what we are used to on other HOOUs that is the 31DEC each year.
OK this next one is a softball toss but still so important (to most of us). You know every site you ever go to normally orders flights from cheapest to most expensive at the bottom. Not Delta. They default to the “Best Match” price (whatever that is) and if you just pick the top flight it may cost you more than you needed to pay for whatever date you need to fly.
This next one is important. I am this year opting out of C+ seats more and more in favor of exit row. We have seen that there is, CONFIRMED, Delta IT issues that can keep you out of a 1st class upgrade if you are in C+. Now I have not spent a great amount of time in the exit rows since my upgrades have cleared almost every flight this year. Oh, and when you do not auto check this and make sure when booking it stays unchecked you will only get the email from Delta telling you that your medallion upgrade has cleared when it really has cleared to 1st class. Nice right?
The next one is so important if you are part of TSA PreCheck. While you are at it make sure your name on your passport, your drivers license and your info you have entered on Delta.com all match and put in your KTN or known travel number for PreCheck here in your My Delta under the Basic Info tab.
So how did you do. Did you know all of these. Is all the info correct and up to date? Did you find some HOOUs you did not know you had? Let me know in the comments below or if you have any other questions. – René
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I rather like C+ seating and normally pay for the upgrade for a few personal reasons. My question is as a Gold Medallion should I even worry about paying for C+ or just select a exit row and in most cases get the C+ upgrade?
@MikeDemo – I would not pay period. And, when inside the gold window, make sure there are more than middle seats open before you request it.
I had an interesting experience on a regional flight 2 months ago. I was number 1 on the upgrade list and there were 3 seats left. One of the seats was in row 1, this was a regional jet, and since I’m 6’5″ I was hoping to not end up in the one first class bulkhead seat since there’d be no legroom and the other 2 seats were also aisles but not in the first row. As soon as they cleared my upgrade I saw I was in 1B (I have aisle set in my preferences). I was right next to the counter, and there was no line so I asked the lady if she could put me in one of the other 2 first class seats if she hadn’t yet assigned them. She said she couldn’t because the other 2 passengers, who were behind me on the upgrade list, had “no bulkheads” in their preferences. I’ve never seen that as an option in my preferences so I asked her where that was and she said you have to call customer service to get it added to your preferences. Once I got back from my trip I called customer service to inquire and they said they’d never heard of this option and escalated my question to the Delta IT department who also said they were not aware of such an option. So what I still don’t know is; is this indeed some type of secret option and you have to find the right agent to add it, did both of these two passengers (who did not appear to be traveling together based on when they picked up their new boarding passes did not have any interactions with each other) coincidentally call customer service in advance to have a comment added to their flight for no bulkhead, or was the gate agent just making that up because she didn’t want to reassign my seat for some reason. In the end I asked her to move me back to my original C+ seat since it was in the first row of comfort and only a curtain divider so ultimately I had more legroom than first class. Anything you’re aware of related to this option?
@Chris – We are often warned about bulkheads that we may have to move depending on a number of factors that will all but force the airline to assign those seats to someone. I am not aware of any in system data for or against no bulkheads. Clearly in “My Delta” our choices are limited and does not really seem to do much good anyway. It is funny that middle seat is not an option ;-0 #SideGrade
I was patting myself on my back because all of my info was correctly checked as per your instructions. That rarely happens for me. Then I saw that I missed the quick giveaway because I didn’t get your email until after the giveaway was ended. So, I’ll be satisfied with knowing I’m up to date and I won’t have to ask if you can share your HOOU coupons . . .
@Sarah – There will be more. Keep checking the blog MANY TIMES A DAY as I am giving away other neat stuff too…. #JustSaying
I am a Delta Diamond, have been for the past 3 years.
I checked my wallet and I have no HOOU vouchers.
Any advice?
@Paul – The digital ones just started this year. You may not have had any issued yet. Did you get a DM paper pack this year?
I am a platinum Million Miller and my Amex is a Platinum Delta, Does this negatively affect my upgrade priority?
@Ward – Only the Reserve card has an impact (in a good way).
Thanks for reminding me about pre-check. It chaps my hide how often the pre-check status does not make it onto my boarding pass despite being in my profile and matching the passport name exactly.