One of the hands-down best things Delta has going travelers is the ultra-powerful and glorious schedule change rules. Not only are the rules great, but Delta, just about every Saturday, monkeys with either the flight time or what type of aircraft or who the regional partner servicing the route will be. The result of this is we have the power to, most times at no cost, change what flights we are on, even the day of the flight (up to two days on either side). I also will mega praise Delta IT (for a change) that the online experience of getting this done can be quick and painless and very straight forward (most times).
Sure, there are exceptions to this. Actually, there are many, like if you have paid for a leg to be upgraded or used an upgrade certificate, and so on. The point is that if it is a normal ticket, award, or paid, you should be able to change your flights without human intervention.
In this case, this flight was my return flight from my absolutely ultra disappointing first (and last) ever MSC cruise. I had booked two one-way flights to and from Miami from South Bend, Indiana, connecting in Atlanta. Both flights are almost the same length in distance. I had booked both in coach and used a regional upgrade for the flights down but had run out of certs for the return and since it would be my last flight as a Diamond Medallion (likely ever again) I wanted to roll the dice on an elite upgrade.
But at some point, I was offered a buy-up to first class on the Atlanta to South Bend for just 5,900 SkyPennies each. For less than $60 I jumped on this offer as the CRJ-900 flight is much better in a larger comfortable seat. You can maybe guess what happened a few weeks later? Yup, a schedule change and since I had used miles to upgrade one of the segments I had to call to have them rebook my flights and low and behold when the ticket was reissued BOTH legs were in first class!
The result was all the legs, round trip, were in first class and all four of them were simply lovely. Preflight beverages were offered and both the regional and mainline Delta flight attendants were attentive and kind and what I had come to expect every flight with Delta pre-COVID. But despite the upgraded IFE on this old 757-200 the rest of the product is getting old.
I went to pull out the tiny extra drink tray (to put the mini waters on it) so I would have room for my PFB and the thing came all the way out in my hand as you can see. I tried to put it back but it would not seem to want to go. I showed the flight attendant and she just shook her head and shrugged and I placed the tray in the seatback pocket.
Delta really is notorious for taking very old jets and fixing up the insides to make them look much newer but stuff like this dangerous looking outlet or this screen are not OK at the prices Delta is charging.
Overall I am thrilled and have no idea exactly why I scored a free upgraded leg with the schedule change. It may have been an IT error or it may have been the phone reps error but I was happy to not have to rely on the upgrade lottery for my last flights as a Delta Diamond Medallion member! – René
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Upgrading one leg for points and getting the other tree upgraded with the schedule change is awesome! Almost certainly a glitch, but hey, it’s great when they work to the customer’s advantage.
@DLPTATL – Yeah unless we get a few more data points I see this as a one-off but who knows. I sure will test again when I can.
I booked a cheap award trip in first to SJU with a layover in ATL. We were delayed due to weather and rebooked to a later flight for the second leg from ATL-SJU. Got downgraded to main exit row because there was no availability in first. It happened to be one of these OLD 757s. Delta provided $1000 (500/each) in eCredit for that single leg downgrade… best downgrade anyone could hope for!
@Opposite – Oooohhh I would take that! Well done.
The 757s are my favorite Delta single aisle planes because the passengers usually enter from behind the first class cabin and all the “non-first” passengers are not walking through your cabin. Usually, pre-flight service is great, and often the passengers and flight attendants socialize more. Sometimes flight attendants even offer me a second drink if I finish the first one quickly. I am going to miss these planes when they are retired.
I have never seen Delta load another single aisle aircraft from the second door. However, it looks like it would be possible with the A321-200:
https://www.delta.com/us/en/aircraft/airbus/a321
Hi Rene,
Quick question, sorry not related to this post., If I purchase a $1,000 Delta ticket and use a $50 Delta gift card, and pay the remainder of $950 on an AMEX Platinum Card, will that trigger the $200 statement credit?
Thanks, guys, for all you’ve provided over the years, It’s the only blog I read every day.
@Robert – Yes it should (as long as you have Delta selected as your credit partner).
PS thanks for reading the blog every day! #ProTip visit FrequentFloaters.com now and then? 😉
Hi Rene,
Quick question, sorry it’s not related to this post.
IF i purchase a $1,000 Delta ticket using a $50 gift card, and charge the remaining $950 on my Amex Platinum card, Do you think that will trigger the $200 statement credit?
Just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed the blog over the years, You and Chris have done a great job,
Thanks,