Self-Upgrades

[wasCB14]

Lots of empty seats on a short domestic Delta flight today. One couple waited to board at the last minute and self-upgraded themselves to First class. The girl was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of it, but the older guy looked like he was quiet familiar with the process. I was a bit peeved, having at least paid a little more for Comfort+ but no one else seemed to care...if they even noticed...so I didn't say anything. As a non-elite I had no official claim to an upgrade. Not that short domestic First seats are anything special, but it's not a great incentive system when DL leaves First seats open for such "self-upgrades" rather than fill them with even non-elite Comfort+ revenue passengers.

I had an aisle seat next to an empty middle seat, which was nice. In this time of unusually low demand, all the elites must have been upgraded to or paid for First. Or maybe a connection was late. I didn't check if anyone was Main middle seat who might have wanted the Comfort+ middle seat empty next to me.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I've done it.

But there was only 3 of us on the flight. 😬

[Ficoproblems247]

That's interesting. I don't fly enough to even realize you could do that. I have a small Delta flight on Sunday and they're offering me comfort+ for $9. The manifest looks like half full or so. Don't think I'll even go for it because it's a CRJ 200 and there's not too much of a difference in those 4 extra seats in the front row other than some leg room. Flight will probably sub-1 hour anyway. 

[wasCB14]

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@Ficoproblems247 wrote:

That's interesting. I don't fly enough to even realize you could do that. I have a small Delta flight on Sunday and they're offering me comfort+ for $9. The manifest looks like half full or so. Don't think I'll even go for it because it's a CRJ 200 and there's not too much of a difference in those 4 extra seats in the front row other than some leg room. Flight will probably sub-1 hour anyway. 

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I don't think I've flown Delta on a CRJ 200, but if the United configuration is at all similar it would not be very spacious in Comfort+.

Today's flight was on an A319 (not sure about any variant) so First lacked any fancy seating or entertainment, but Comfort+ and First certainly had ample legroom.

[wasCB14]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

I've done it.

But there was only 3 of us on the flight. 😬

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Curious...what route flies 3 passengers? Any unusual circumstances?

With 3, it's not like anyone is otherwise being denied a potential upgrade.

Today's flight was approximately 2/3 full.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Delta LAS to LAX, Saturday morning, 7am. I jokingly asked if I could sit in first class since the plane was empty. They let me.