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.
Calling your spouse to tell them you lost a confirmed upgrade because you were being cheap (and, apparently, uninformed) is not fun.
I just went through this experience and hope to spare you the same fate. (Or if you’re traveling alone, at least save you some disappointment.)
Being Cheap = The Cheap Seats?
I’ve written about setting Google Flights alerts to email you whenever a trip’s airfare changes. It’s always satisfying to see the prices increase and think, Whew, I booked at a good time! It’s even better when fares drop: you can rebook the same flight and receive an eCredit for the difference.
Months ago, my wife and I booked a quick getaway to Honolulu. Our Delta Air Lines Platinum Medallion status gave us complimentary, confirmed upgrades from Main Cabin (coach) to Comfort+ for the flight home to Los Angeles (LAX). Here’s the great part: this is on a 767-300ER whose Comfort+ section is comprised of seats usually serving as Premium Select! (These are basically domestic First Class seats.) Score!
There were about a dozen fare changes (up and down) since then. I rebooked a few times and received eCredits that we applied to other trips. Each time I rebooked, we got our same Comfort+ seats.
Cut to: a week before the trip. Much to my surprise, the airfare went down again. This time, by $20 a passenger. So, using the Fly Delta app, I rebook our original Main Cabin fare. I make sure to request the upgrades to Comfort+ and First Class (the latter of which are Delta One seats!). Mrs. Carley and I each receive $20 in Delta credit, and I go to re-select “our” seats: 20A and 20B.
Except, I can’t select our sweet Comfort+ seats. In fact, someone else is already assigned to 20A — “my” seat!
The only seats available are Main Cabin. We’re completely locked out of Comfort+.
So, I call Delta.
Back of the Line, Buddy
Here’s what happened.
As I said, I originally booked a Main Cabin ticket and received a complimentary upgrade to Comfort+. When I rebooked my Main Cabin ticket this most recent time, the number of available Comfort+ seats was significantly less than the other occasions when I rebooked. So, at least one Diamond or Platinum Medallion who requested Comfort+ upgrades was upgraded.
The seat map still shows two Comfort+ seats empty. But they aren’t available for assignment.
There’s a chance we’ll receive upgrades back into Comfort+ sometime up until departure.
Mrs. Carley and I are seated in a Main Cabin two-seat row; we’ll live. But the bigger seats in Comfort+ would’ve been a special way to end the trip. We’d rather forego that $40 total in credit and enjoy the Premium Select-style seats. (We honestly don’t care about the free alcoholic beverages in Comfort+. We can use free drink coupons in Main Cabin, and I’m pretty much “off the sauce” for this month.)
It would be nice if the Fly Delta app would tell people, “Hey, you’re gonna lose your upgrade if you rebook!” Alas, no.
What I should’ve done is call Delta and spoken to a rep. Perhaps they would’ve advised me that I’d lose the upgrade. Or maybe they could’ve reissued the tickets while somehow keeping us in Comfort+.
Final Approach
In the interest of saving $40 total, my wife and I inadvertently lost our complimentary upgrades to Comfort+ for a five-hour flight home.
Be careful with rebooking if you’re concerned about upgrades — and perhaps call the airline instead of changing something by yourself.
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.
“on a 767-300ER whose Comfort+ section is compromised of seats usually serving as Premium Select! ”
Compromised? I think you meant, “comprised.”
Thank you!
I think compromised might have been appropriate in this case! I am always wary when rebooking in case I lose my confirmed seats. It’s basically a new reservation. The same applies with confirmed RUCs and GUCs. Sorry this happened to you, I hope you get them back soon.
BTW sorry to keep bringing this up again but the checkbox is gone again to receive follow-ups and I still can’t subscribe to individual posts. I tried with a completely different e-mail address too. There really seems to be something up with your site.
chief, you could’ve let $20 go… i’d only try this to save at least $50/person
Like I said in the post: in hindsight, I totally would’ve let the $20 go.
So, the same thing ALMOST happened to me. I have a flight where I am in C+. The fare went dow, so I booked the flight again but there were zero seats in C+. I called the DM line and asked if they could move my seat assignment from the more expensive flight to the cheaper. No can do. They also tried calling global ticketing but the only way to accomplish this was to cancel #1 and hope that the seats remained available . i was not willing to risk losing the seats so I just cancelled the cheaper reservation and kepts my C+ seats.
Here is another DP. I had a flight from FLL to DTW (one of several I have booked for a cruise return.) There was zero C+ available so I booked main cabin. Out of the blue, this past “change Saturday,” I got an email that we were upgraded to C+ . My point is, I wonder if Delta IT upgraded me as soon as the seats became available. Did IT steal your seats? Of course that is giving Delta IT way more credit than it usually deserves
There are four seats still available on the seat map. Delta wouldn’t book you into 20B and 21F then you try to see about a seat swap while boarding if 22CD couldn’t be booked?
Nope.
Lesson learned: Keep your original flight, rebook a new one first, AND then AND only then cancel the old one. Afterwards, pocket the credit for a future booking. I would never do this within five days of booking because the computer could automatically award a now-empty seat to a top-level diamond elite wanting an upgrade.
Rookie mistake. When you “rebook” you are canceling your original reservation and booking a new one at a new fare. Why would you assume that you’d be able to get the upgrade as the travel date was nearing and the cabin was filling up?
Just because you see open seats on the seat map does not mean that there are going to be upgrades available or that there are seats for sale in that cabin. Often there are confirmed reservations where seat selections haven’t been made – so the cabin can be full even when there are seats unassigned.
I definitely wouldn’t have risked a change like that for $20.
Play stupid games and win stupid prizes. lol.