Delta Air Lines last year announced major changes to its Upgrade Certificate perks. The new rules took effect on February 1. Sure, we travelers expected some growing pains and minor problems when trying to redeem Regional (RUC) or Global Upgrade Certificates (GUC).
But based on chat boards I read, plus the emails, text messages, Tweets, and blog comments we receive, it seems Delta is really making some of its important customers upset.
A few problems appear tech-related. Others are because some phone reps apparently don’t know what they’re talking about.
The One-Cabin Upgrade Rule
One of the more controversial changes involved GUCs. In the olden days (January 31, 2022, and earlier), GUCs could be applied to Main Cabin tickets and used to upgrade to Delta One.
Now, GUCs get you only one cabin higher.
For example, buying Main Cabin gets you as far as Premium Select and put on the Delta One waitlist. But buying Premium Select can score you that upgrade to Delta One.
It seems some Delta reps are under the impression that also applies to Regional availability.
Multiple readers tell us they’ve been told they must purchase Comfort+ in order to receive confirmed First Class seats when using an RUC.
But a Delta corporate representative confirmed to us before February 1 that is not true. Buying a Main Cabin seat and applying an RUC does the trick just fine (inventory permitting, of course). Main Cabin and Comfort+ are considered the same thing when it comes to using Upgrade Certificates.
Yet some Delta phone reps still don’t know this.
And these are the agents handling Diamond and Platinum members — Delta’s two highest Medallion tiers.
Something tells me that after Delta hired a bunch of new phone reps to replace the ones who took early retirement packages, agents became randomly assigned to callers, regardless of status tier. I hear over and over from Medallions that they’re teaching the phone reps various Delta rules.
Technical Issues
Then FlyerTalker ryandc99 shared this seemingly ongoing situation at London Heathrow Airport.
This past week I took my first international trip since the pandemic. I was flying ATL-LHR round trip. I applied GUC’s to the outbound, post 2/1. On the outbound, it cleared me into Premium without any issue, and my upgrade to Delta One eventually did clear at the gate right before boarding.
The return is where things got really interesting. I was not waitlisted on the return for a GUC, and not in Premium Select. In Comfort plus. Here is a timeline of events:
- Approx. 4-5 hours before departure of LHR-ATL I notice that both me and my travel partner are showing as Delta One but seats not assigned. There is no way to check in and no way to pick seats, so I am thinking hmmm maybe Op-Up, just a bit early?
- Get to the airport, no issues with agent check in, agent prints to boarding passes with Delta One seats.
- Get to the VA lounge, still no issues. About 1.5 hours before departure, notice in the app we are back to our old seats. Go to the Virgin Atlantic lounge agent who lets me know that they can’t see or do anything in the DL flights including seats and suggest going to the gate.
- Get to the gate, agent quickly realizes “who we are” and said they had hoped to catch us during the check in process. She stated, and I quote: “Due to a major technical bug in the post 2/1 upgrade changes, we are seeing 2-3 cases a day where upgrades are clearing for folks that didn’t waitlist or request them, because they requested them on one way only. This just started on 2/1 and you are not the only one impacted by this today. We have pleaded with Delta to fix this issue as its causing confusion and churn for Delta Diamond Medallions.” The agent was quite nice given the scenario, but I did note that she was a VS agent. (Bold Eye of the Flyer’s)
- Luckily, she had our original seats still available for us, (Bulkhead comfort seats on the side with 2 seats). I then decided to push back a bit, never raising my voice but just simply stating this is putting Delta’s best customers in odd situations, and why is Delta doing this? She responded she agreed because they are documenting daily incidents of this happening. She also decided that since they weren’t able to catch it before check in to honor the upgrade as a 1 time courtesy, which really shocked me. I was not expecting that and fully prepared for the new boarding pass to print.
That being said, with this occurring 2-3 times a day from LHR, I am wondering if anyone else has encountered the latest upgrade issue that Delta has in the post 2/1 era?
ryandc99’s issue occurred last week — two weeks since Upgrade Doomsday.
Now, I’m not a software engineer. The closest I come is an understanding of very basic HTML. But shouldn’t a problem like this have been fixed within two weeks? Especially when it’s happening multiple times each day?
And now it seems the tech problems are extending to reservations without Upgrade Certificates attached.
FlyerTalk member WileEOne reported this problem that’s seemingly affecting multiple customers:
Checked in on the Fly Delta app on 20 Feb 22 for a 21 Feb 22 trip ORH-LGA-DAB. Medallion upgrades to first had cleared for both ORH-LGA and LGA-ATL; Medallion upgrade to Delta Comfort + for all flights had cleared soon after booking.
Noticed that I did not appear on the upgrade list for DL 1217 ATL-DAB (had sometimes seen that the upgrade list did not appear until T-24H before departure of the connecting flight.) A few hours later on 20 Feb 22 I noticed other customers on the upgrade list for ATL-DAB, so I called Delta to ensure I was on the list.
The representative indicated I was on the list even though I could not see that in the app (or delta.com). She did mention that there have been reports of other customers experiencing this issue for about a week (not everyone is experiencing this display issue, unlike some of the other reports on this forum where everyone was being impacted with upgrade-list issues). Thought I’d post in case others are seeing this since I could not find anything recent in the forum.
The representative indicated that the issue is known and has been reported; no time frame for a fix was mentioned.
(Bold Eye of the Flyer’s)
When I took my #EpicFail trip to and from Las Vegas a few weeks ago, I requested a First Class upgrade. That was reflected on the Fly Delta app and I saw my position on the upgrade list — but not the gate information display.
Final Approach
Delta offers a great product.
But making it difficult and frustrating to use helps no one.
Delta’s new Upgrade Certificate policy is causing numerous headaches for Delta passengers and airline reps. Some of the problems deal with training, others with technical issues. We can only hope Delta gets its act in order and fixes these issues sooner than later.
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I’ve had this problem numerous times. I had 12 globals to use for this calendar year. And I had them booked for flights before the deadline. Speaking to different reps will get you different answers unfortunately. I learned this the hard way. The reps that are wrong usually think they’re right. I wish they all could be om the same page. Fortunately I lucked out and used all my globals for upcoming flights. I have 10 left for 5 round-trip flights this year. Also at a great price. Definitely need my value!!!
I wonder whether there’s a problem is with the computers applying RUC’s & GUC’s as well as agents not understanding the criteria? I had a RUC that didn’t cleared for a FC seat for my flight from LAS to DTW 3/16 when I called in to apply it, despite RUC space being available when I did a search for a duplicate dummy booking. Every time I called in after that to get the upgrade,, each agent would tell me it was waitlisted & wouldn’t clear until closer to the flight. This morning, I called and escalated the call to a supervisor who reached out to revenue management and they opened up a seat for me. Which confirms that RUC space is not fare-dependent, other than not being usable on basic economy fares.
They need to stop “free” upgrades all together. If you want to sit in Delta One… PAY FOR IT!
Chris, I just want to make sure I’m not misunderstanding you. I’m loyal to Delta and I spend a lot of money annually flying with them and their airline partners. Are you opposed to high value Delta travelers like me being rewarded for our loyalty with complimentary upgrades?
Then Delta should probably become a little more competitive in the price department
It irks me to pay $3000+for my delta one seat, and see coach passengers on the upgrade lopist fir over seas flights.
Without excusing Delta in any way, as a software professional aware of the intricacies in Delta’s systems through multiple mergers, I am not surprised in any way that this problem has not been corrected in a fortnight. This lies at the nexus of amenities, marketing and revenue. There’s also a global shortage of Java developers, which strikes major players with large legacy systems especially hard. They’ll correct it eventually, vexing the most important customers until they do. As an aside, this is exactly why I have opted to keep my Reserve card but no longer strive for Medallion status. I will miss it but prefer to avoid the hassle and just purchase an upgrade when I feel it worth the money.
Thanks for the insight, Corbett!
I just want them to get the complimentary upgrades right.
My criteria is set for window seat, and more than a few times I’ve been upgraded from economy to comfort and then stuck in the middle of the plane. Thanks, I’d rather have my window than 3 more inches of legroom of in squished between two other people…
I had the same issue this month when applying RUC. As platinum, I booked SAN-ATL, and since it’s domestic I was immediately upgraded to comfort+. I called in shortly after Feb 1 to use some RUC for my family of 4. The representative put me on hold for a while as she went to ask questions. She came back and informed me that I could only be waitlisted with my RUC for our upgrade to Delta one on the 330 that does the route. My RUC would be applied if we were cleared on the wait list. I’m still confused on when my RUC will give me confirmed upgrades going forward.
If there’s confirmed upgrade available, then yes. But don’t hold your breath.
Please lose the (unnecessary) cliche ‘ that being said’ We all just read what you wrote, and it is a rejoinder which adds nothing,
I only made platinum level pre pandemic and have continued to fly enough every year during the pandemic to qualify for platinum each year of the pandemic. Last year I flew enough to qualify for diamond but my spending wasn’t enough to qualify for diamond due to the price of tickets during the pandemic. I have been extremely disappointed in my delta rewards. I have had to fly American and United a few times during this same time frame because I have flown to countries where a Delta or partner flight was not available. I have had better luck paying for a comparatively cheaper upgrade to business class ticket and had a better travel experience when forced to fly on an airline where I have lower status. I just booked another international flight with Delta and see that there are no updrades available at all. This will be my last Delta flight. They can keep my remaining regional upgrade certificates.
Frustrating that the website will show “first available with upgrade certificate” and then when you call the agent, they say no upgrade is available, they will put you on a waitlist. I’m booking months in advance. I’ve called 3 times now, even on the platinum line. When I explain that my biggest issue is that the website doesn’t show the correct information, they say, “I never go on the website”.
Ask for a supervisor.
I tried to use RUC on a BUF-DTW-LAS route. Website said there were “First class seats available with upgrade certificates”. Agent said that only one segment was available. The other segment had only GUC seats available. Kind of frustrating. Why do I need a GUC on a BUF to DTW route?
It’s an inventory thing. Space permitting, some First Class RUC upgrades can be immediately confirmed with an RUC. Once that inventory is exhausted, then only GUC can confirm immediately.