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What am I missing?


Suzanne123
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Last October, I booked one way flights from Anchorage to Harrisburg for a May cruise.  I bought Delta Comfort+ seats for $577 pp.  Today, Comfort + is $483.  Fair enough,  prices go up and down, and I’m still satisfied with the price I paid.  I got the flight and the seats I wanted.

 

Here’s what I don’t understand.  The price for first class on my flight is $881pp if I were to book it today.  On “my flights” on the Delta app, they are offering to upgrade me to first class for an additional $1,579 pp.  Why wouldn’t the price to upgrade be the difference between what I paid or even the current comfort+ price and $881?  Where are they getting this crazy $577 plus $1,579 pp price for an $881 seat that anyone can book?

 

 I’m going to pass on the two thousand dollar “attentive service and greater personal space” from Anchorage in the middle of the night. 

 

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10 hours ago, Suzanne123 said:

Here’s what I don’t understand.  The price for first class on my flight is $881pp if I were to book it today.  On “my flights” on the Delta app, they are offering to upgrade me to first class for an additional $1,579 pp.  Why wouldn’t the price to upgrade be the difference between what I paid or even the current comfort+ price and $881?

 

I don't know enough about Delta's systems to give you any reliable answers.

 

But my first (possibly wild) guess is that the $881 fare is not a first class fare, but an economy fare of a type that comes with the right to sit in first class - I think that "instant upgrade" is a term that's sometimes been used for fares like this. That could in theory have the consequence that the rules of your current fare are such that they do not allow a change to that other economy fare. Depending on how Delta does Comfort+, it could even be that what you'd be trying to do is to downgrade from Comfort+ to that other economy fare, even though the economy fare is an instant upgrade fare that gives you the right to sit in first class.

 

It could also be that the app upgrade offer is only designed to upsell you from your current fare into a true first class fare, and that this is the reason for the price you're being offered to do that. The app might not recognise that you could get a first class seat by changing/downgrading to an(other) economy fare, and hence not make you that offer. That doesn't necessarily mean that the rules you can't make that change/downgrade, but you may have to call and ask.

 

None of this is "crazy", particularly if it comes from the position that you're actually only seeing an economy fare for $881, even though it may be an unintended consequence of the way that various systems are interacting.

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There are more than one first class fare bucket.  Each has different rules and restrictions.  It's very possible that the $881 price that shows on the website is for a discounted first class ticket, or as mentioned, a confusing fare bucket that is actually a coach ticket that automatically upgrades to First.*

Meanwhile, the upgrade price you're seeing might be a non-discounted First ticket.  You can always call the airline and ask about it.  Maybe they can get you the lower price or maybe they can't.  Much will depend on the rules and restrictions of the ticket/fare bucket that you actually purchased, which could include the ability to change your ticket by paying not only the fare difference but a change fee as well.   You have nothing to lose by calling and asking though.

 

*The catch with these tickets is that at the end of the day, what you actually bought was a coach (economy) ticket, and if there are flight disruptions or aircraft swaps that necessitate a rebooking situation, you will likely be rebooked in the class you actually bought, which is economy.

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On 2/14/2019 at 4:04 PM, Suzanne123 said:

....

 

Here’s what I don’t understand.  The price for first class on my flight is $881pp if I were to book it today.  On “my flights” on the Delta app, they are offering to upgrade me to first class for an additional $1,579 pp.  Why wouldn’t the price to upgrade be the difference between what I paid or even the current comfort+ price and $881?  Where are they getting this crazy $577 plus $1,579 pp price for an $881 seat that anyone can book?

....

 

 

The simple answer is different software within the systems are calculating the cost of the two options.  They don't have to be consistent with each other so they are not.

 

 

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