Delta Upgrade Shenanigans(?) and a Missing Check-In Agent — A Strange Day of Flying

My family and I just returned from a quick trip to the Detroit Lakes area of Minnesota’s lake country.

The weather was gross (my wife rode out her first tornado at a local casino’s sports bar) and our daughter went to urgent care with a 101-degree fever and a sore throat.

The craziness continued into our last day of travel, when we flew Delta Air Lines from Fargo (FAR) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Los Angeles (LAX).

A Quick Warning

Just a quick reminder that this site covers First World topics such as traveling in comfort, spending money on credit cards, and doing fun things like flying around the country to see football games or taking cruises around the world. We know there are far more pressing issues in the world.

Let Me Set the Stage

Here is our story’s cast of characters and their Delta SkyMiles Medallion status:

• Mrs. Carley: Platinum Medallion
• Kiddo Carley: Platinum-lite, as she was on Mrs. Carley’s reservation.
• Me: Gold Medallion (following my Reclaim My Status fail), on my own reservation.

We booked these tickets months ago, when I was conditionally a Platinum, to maximize our First Class upgrade chances. Only one fellow SkyMiles member (Basic or Medallion) can be on a Medallion’s reservation if they want a shot at a First Class upgrade.

We were upgraded on our MSP to FAR, and on our FAR to MSP legs! Flight times are only about 45 minutes and I’d never burn an upgrade certificate on hops that short. But, hey, we appreciate and enjoy any upgrades.

And Fargo is where our story begins.

Has Anyone Seen a Delta Employee?

We got to FAR just over an hour before our flight time. A traffic snag — yes, in Fargo — and a quick detour to pick up a forgotten item from the lake cabin added about 15-20 minutes to our drive. But we still arrived at Hector International Airport well before the 45-minute cutoff for checking luggage.

I wanted to get to the airport early because it’s in the middle of a big remodel — and looks great!

I would’ve had more time to explore the terminal, too — had there actually been someone working the check-in counter.

I asked an Envoy employee (Envoy is an American Airlines regional carrier) if any Delta people were in the back office. She said she’d check after she wrapped up her work. A few employees from other airlines watched us stand there like schmucks, trying to check in.

My wife and daughter went to the Delta gates to track down someone — and tell them they needed people downstairs.

I also called Delta and asked for help. A wonderful Medallion desk agent ended up calling the Fargo station herself to get someone down to the counter. Again, before the 45-minute cutoff.

A friendly agent finally showed up and checked me in. Neither the gate nor the desk was staffed by Delta agents — just subcontractors.

I made it upstairs just before our flight boarded. There were only 15 of us on the flight — and everyone boarded at once. We pushed out of FAR early.

Gold Beats Platinum for Upgrades (Plus, Bonus Delta IT Issues!)

Our A321neo from MSP to LAX had several First Class seats open throughout the day. The number bounced between six and seven, at least by my count.

Mrs. Carley and Kiddo Carley were usually in the 2-3 and 3-4 spots on the upgrade list. I was 8-9 at various times.

About an hour before departure, a notification popped up on my iPhone: I was upgraded to First Class! Cool! I went to see what seats my wife and daughter got.

They weren’t upgraded. Neither was the person in the spot ahead of them.

That’s right.

People farther down the list leapfrogged the 1, 2, and 3 spot holders.

Minneapolis Delta Shenanigans again, anyone?

Naturally, I offered my wife the upgrade. She declined.

But here’s the weird thing: when I clicked the seat map, I was in Comfort (seat 12D, my original spot). Mrs. Carley and Kiddo were in 10D and 10E — moved from 12A and 12B.

Huh?

We were up in the G18 Sky Club, so we hit the help desk and explained the situation to an agent. (I wish I’d gotten his name so I could shout him out here — he was great.)

He scanned the boarding pass on my Fly Delta app.

Here’s where things got interesting.

• Seat assignment on my Fly Delta app boarding pass: 2C.
• Seating chart and Sky Club’s computer: 12C
• Printed boarding pass he generated on the spot: Seat Request — Standby(?!)

Ah, yes. Delta IT. You’d think an airline that talks nonstop about being a premium product would have IT that’s at least a little more up to date than, say, CompuServe or Prodigy. 😉

The agent called down to the gate. They confirmed I was, in fact, upgraded to 2C — and told us to head down ASAP, especially since two First Class seats were still open. Maybe my wife and daughter could snag those somehow?

So we did. During the walk, those last two seats went to someone else. I told my wife to take my upgraded seat. Kiddo and I would slum it in a Comfort bulkhead. But we decided to sit together as a family. I’d simply offer the person in 10F my upgrade — and hope they’d believe it was a real invitation.

I asked the gate agent if she could give my upgrade to 10F so I could sit with my family. Who knows, maybe it would make their day.

“Oh, you want to be that guy who gives their upgrade away to someone?” she said. Mmmkay. That was weird. Then she said I could.

A few minutes later, I got an alert that I’d been moved to 10F.

But Wait! There’s More!

Seat 5A — a First Class seat — remained open throughout boarding. The passenger in 5B asked a flight attendant if she could move over to 5A. The FA told her a gate agent would probably upgrade her into it.

Sure enough, a Delta Red Coat walked on board and held a boarding pass. She looked at the seat, then the boarding pass, then back at coach, then walked off the plane. A minute later, the door closed without anyone being upgraded to 5A.

That said, Delta keeps an eye on each station’s departure times — so getting flights out on time is very important. Yes, more important than a First Class upgrade. (Can you imagine?! 😉 )

So, What’s the Big Deal?

Upgrades are pretty much the whole reason people chase airline status.

On the other hand, Delta is not shy about its desire to sell premium seats rather than give them away. It’s hard to blame them — they’re a business, not a charity. Fair enough.

But giving upgrades to people with lower Medallion status is troubling — and frustrating. Letting seats go out empty is also kind of a slap in the face. Not that I expect anyone in my party to get the seat. But it makes the status game even less worthwhile.

I still haven’t ruled out that the upgrade weirdness was some sort of IT issue, especially given what happened with my having two different seats and still needing a seat assignment — all at the same time. In fact, I called Delta the next day to ask if there were any breadcrumbs in our reservations and the agent didn’t see anything.

Do I know everything that happened behind the scenes that night? Of course not. Perhaps some Delta employees jump into the Comments section and explain what they think might have happened (and maybe why they hate Medallion members — that’s certainly happened before)

Final Approach

A crazy day of Delta flying started with an MIA (missing-in-action, not Miami) check-in agent and ended with apparent upgrade shenanigans.

That said: the flights were great and the cabin crews were fantastic. But we’re happier not chasing Delta status as feverishly as we once did.