Delta Air Lines Masks Another Medallion® Downgrade as a New Fare Class Experience!

Last year on November 22nd I penned the post “Delta Air Lines is Effectively Ending Medallion®® Upgrades – Why Chase Status Any longer?” It was one of the most viewed posts of the year and a year later we see your chance at even top Diamond levels of getting a “free” first class upgrade as remote at best.

Well a year later and Delta is again kicking Medallion®s in the backside with a new fare class experience meant to now mop up the remaining free upgrade crumbs. Let me explain.

The reason Medallion®s no longer get free 1st class upgrades is that for years now Delta has been laser focused on selling them, often at ridiculously cheap prices, rather than rewarding loyal flyers with the seat up front. That has left them with the seats behind the curtain. For Platinums and above you can instantly choose, for free, a Comfort+ seat as long as you are not buying a “basic” fair class seat. Closer to departure those seats may not be available so you can wait list for an upgrade to those seats.

Let me break in here and say I have never ever valued C+ seats. Since C+ seats are the EXACT SAME SIZE as the rest of coach I see no benefit and especially so since I can, even as now a lowly Gold Medallion®, pick an exit row free that has tons more leg room than C+. But I get that some do consider a C+ seat as an upgrade and get excited when they clear their upgrade to C+.

But now Delta is trying to do to C+ what they have already done to 1st class and that is, sell them all as cheap as possible to take away the tiny upgrade crumbs you have been enjoying over the years with “Comfort Basic” fares.

Thanks Delta! 🙁

You can read all about this silly move and the restrictions with these fares on Delta.com but that is not really the point of the new fare, it is to further punish loyalty. To Delta you are only as valuable as what you pay and if you hold a Delta co-branded Amex card. That is it. They want to reward your loyalty with nothing and year by year they are getting better and better at striping away anything you once considered valuable.

My guess is there will be more things gutted like the move, like with most other airlines, to classify exit rows* as either a C+ seat or a new premium that can be sold for more since it is one of the last remaining real-estate on the jet yet to be cashed in on or only make it free for Platinum and above (*There are a few jets where C+ happens to fall within the C+ seating area).

I can not begin to tell you how happy I am that I gave up the Medallion® chase with Delta. It has been liberating and I am flying more airlines than ever at such better prices. When I do fly Delta I game it all I can (more on that later) to get some value for giving Delta my hard earned cash! – René