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A reader contacted me the other day about an issue she had getting upgrades for her and a companion on an upcoming Delta reservation.
(Let’s call them Lucy and Ricky. Those aren’t their real names.)
Lucy is a Platinum Medallion. That means she (and a companion) are eligible to receive complimentary “upgrades” to Comfort+ shortly after booking a Delta trip. (Seat inventory permitting.)
But they weren’t upgraded to Comfort+. Delta said they’d have to pay extra to select Comfort+ seats.
Lucy said she called Delta — and a rep told her something along the lines of “You’re outside of your upgrade window for Comfort+.” But that’s incorrect. Again, Platinums and Diamonds are entitled to (space permitting) complimentary C+ upgrades right after ticketing.
(Side note: I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard about Delta phone reps giving out incorrect information. It’s sad.)
Now, most of us wouldn’t be surprised if this were some computer glitch. But in this case, it was user error.
Have any guesses about what happened?
Both Passengers Must Be SkyMiles Members
Lucy entered her SkyMiles number. But not Ricky’s.
Why?
He wasn’t enrolled in the SkyMiles program.
Companions traveling with a Medallion must be SkyMiles members if they want to take advantage of benefits such as upgrades. And their SkyMiles number must be included in the reservation.
That’s it. And it doesn’t matter if the Medallion’s companion holds Delta elite status. Just a “standard” SkyMiles membership works just fine. (Here’s a link to the SkyMiles registration page.) My daughter’s been a basic SkyMiles member since she was four days old. She’s been “Medallion lite” for almost six years — and received several upgrades while traveling with my wife or me.
Moral of the story: a Medallion must enter their companion’s SkyMiles number into a reservation if they want to be eligible for upgrades.
This is especially great if you can score a complimentary upgrade to Delta One — and receive Sky Club access during your trip!
Lucy signed up her brother for SkyMiles and they’re both in C+ for their trip. I hope they get upgraded to First Class!
“Well, Delta Just Wants More People to Sign Up for SkyMiles!”
Well, duh. While you’re at it, they’d really like it if you apply for one of their co-branded American Express cards.
Signing up for an airline’s frequent flyer program so you can enjoy your companion’s elite status benefits while traveling with them is hardly a punishment. We criticize Delta when we think they’ve earned our scorn. (We also praise them when they do something especially good.) But we hardly fault them for “making” people’s travel companions sign up for SkyMiles in exchange for some perks.
A coworker of mine groused about signing up for SkyMiles after a mutual client booked us on the same Delta PNR. I explained that I’d be happy to split the reservation so I could enjoy my upgrade, better snacks, and free drinks. I told him to send me a postcard from his cramped seat after he paid $20 for a couple of drinks. Guess who became a SkyMiles member about two minutes later? 😉 .
Use Delta’s “Saved Companions” Feature
Delta helps you save a bunch of time and hassle if you regularly travel with certain companions.
You’ll find this on a reservation’s check-out page.
You need to enter their SkyMiles once and then save them to your companion list. That drastically speeds up your booking process in the future.
Final Approach
If you’re a Medallion member and want to share your benefits with a companion, add their SkyMiles information to your reservation. And consider using Delta’s “Saved Companions” feature. It’ll make your life easier.
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 love a happy ending! Actually it’s good that I saw this because it reminded me to look at my reservation for my upcoming trip, which has just passed the earliest upgrade time, and I saw I had been upgraded to a bulkhead seat in FC. Luckily I was able to change it!
They’re not letting you use a companion cert either depending on the (Holiday travel) dates… And when I could find space to use the cert the itinerary’s were horrible departure times. If “purchasing” both tickets I found better options available for not much more than the comp cert offer. The whole things a joke. I have no status but come on!
You are absolutely right. It is a joke for companion ticket. Not like used to be anymore.
Lately I’ve been kind of down on Delta because…well, they deserve it. With what they’ve done with GUC’s and RUC’S, etc and how they’ve treated their loyal Medallion members. But, I have to give credit where credit is due. On a recent weekend I needed to fly from SMF to LAX and return on the same day. I purchased a main cabin ticket, used a companion pass for my spouse. Immediately after booking the flight, Delta automatically upgraded us to Comfort+ seats. 4 days before the flight, our return leg was upgraded to 1st class. 1 1/2hours before departure we received a txt message informing us that our tickets had change on our outbound flight to 1st class as well. Good job Delta, thanks!
Ah yes as i read it i figured the # wasn’t in there, before.looking at the screenshot had this happen before. I love Delta. I recently reached the platinum status and have the delta reserve card. I have literally zero complaints about delta, and do go out of my way to Wiley fly them.
Would this work for a silver medallion and a companion? I’m new silver and have never had status before.
Sure would!
I had the same challenge. However, this time I added all of my companions SkyMiles numbers and I was still not offered the option to upgrade. I actually think that this may be a glitch, while I don’t have platinum, I do have gold status. Qualified for an upgrade somehow.
“All” of your companions?
Once you have more than two companions on a PNR, you all revert to the lowest medallion status in the bunch. You must have had a general member in there which dragged you all down.
added my companion sky miles number after I booked and can’t upgrade anyone 🙁
Chat with or call Delta reservations. They should be able to help you.
Another reason PM/DM don’t get the automatic upgrade to C+ when it is available is because they don’t check the request upgrade box. Or if there is a voluntary/involuntary schedule/flight change they must go in and reselect the upgrade request box.
You are correct, Frankie, regarding making sure the upgrade request box is checked. I have also found that if I have been searching for flights via Google Flights, then using the link to go to Delta.com to book, the box is not always automatically checked to request the upgrade, even after logging in.
Just some advice about getting wrong information from DL. I find the platinum desk to be fantastic, BUT, if you call off hours, the calls will overflow to regular res. and they aren’t as knowledgeable as the platinum desk. If you really need something basic, it’s better than sitting on hold to change a flight, but after that, be aware. I usually ask if they are on the platinum desk and if the answer is no, I wait, if I can.
I’m DM and have booked 2 trips in the last month where one leg of my flight didn’t upgrade to C+ even though seats available, and shows the leg as MC unassigned. One trip was a purchased FC ticket with no indication that it would book as multi cabin. Delta rep agreed it was odd and they didn’t know how it happened and that I could purchase an upgrade for the leg. Gee, thanks.
it’s an year old reply but I think I see the issue and many newly minted elites will run into this.
“I added all of my companions SkyMiles numbers and I was still not offered the option to upgrade”
“all of my” is the issue. Only 1 companion on a reservation (PNR) can be upgraded, if you have more than 1 companion on a same reservation no one including the elite wil be upgraded.
Not entirely true. Once you have more than two on a PNR, everyone is reduced to the lowest medallion level in the group. So, if a DM had 4 companions on their PNR – one Diamond, three platinums, and a general member, nobody is going to get upgraded because of the general SkyMiles member.
I book my family in groups of two with the higher status flyers paired with the lower.
I remember when Delta would upgrade up to 8 travelers on the same PNR to comfort plus. Now it’s only one. I saw the other day that United still does 8 (actually 9) if you are Platinum.
Finally was able to use the companion ticket for me(DM) and my daughter (GM)… on the return flight we did get upgraded to FC!! a first for me..being able to use the Tix and get the Upgrade,..Hi 5 to Delta…
I’m glad you were able to use them!! They can be a pain!
I am desperately trying to like Delta after a horrid mess with a cancelled FC flight, so I’m glad to read some of these positive comments. I’d like to split my biz between United and Delta.
As a Delta Phone Rep I can acknowledge that yes, a lot of misinformation is given out on the phones. This is because we’re not only juggling the customer experience but also delta policies, DOT restrictions, joint venture airlines, complex and ancient ticketing systems that makes mistakes. So when we get a question like “Why is my companion and I not getting our upgrade.” It can be a multitude of reasons and we’d have to consult the online encyclopedia and make guesses at what it could be, check to see if we’re right and repeat until we find our answer. It’s a process, so be nice and PATIENT with your agent. If you come off as inpatient or aggressive they’re liable to give you some generic answer and get you off the phone.
Thank you, Jo!
I just canceled flights I booked in main cabin r/t to the UK from Boston, because after booking I saw they aren’t eligible for complimentary upgrades. I’m Platinum, and so is my husband, and our daughters are both SkyMiles members. This isn’t our first rodeo, so it should have worked. The Delta agent explained not all flights are eligible. The summary of benefits says that ALL paid tickets but basic economy are eligible. It also states that the upgrades are available “anywhere the products are sold.” If you can manage to find the terms and conditions, it does state that complimentary upgrades aren’t available on every flight. This directly contradicts the summary of benefits – it’s not some kind of a clarification. I feel lied to, and I canceled the tickets, which I had been willing to pay more for due to the perceived benefits. Without the international lounge access even now, I am losing faith that continuing to pay more for Delta tickets is worth it. Very disappointed in them.
What class were to trying to upgrade to and from what? Were you trying to use global upgrades?
Sorry about that, I misunderstood when you meant. I think you mean from main to C+. Upgrades are not always given when there are seats left, as they hold some back for people that want to buy them. I’ve seen that as a Diamond too. Can you share a link that shows where it says the upgrades are not available on every flight? I would interpret that as meaning that it would be a space issue, rather than that certain flights are not eligible at all.