Story Time! My Basic Economy to Delta One Journey

Story time! This past week, as I was seated in 41J on my way to TPE, enjoying my unlimited legroom while simultaneously trying to avoid the smell of pizza and breakfast twists, I got to thinking of the positive experiences that I have had on Delta over the years.

A few weeks back, I had flown HND > LAX > PHX. This is a route that I had flown 3 times round trip over the last 12 months (main or C+). I booked this particular flight as a BASIC ECONOMY award flight as it was cheap (points wise), and booked it 48 hours beforehand. I fully know what I am getting into with basic economy, and never have had an issue getting a window or aisle seat when the seat selection window opens up. If I end up in the middle for 12 hours, then that’s my problem

My return flight to LAX was delayed 12+ hours. I needed to be back home so I headed to HND to see what I could do to get home. The customer service check in agent asked if I wanted to try and get back to PHX via SEA instead. I said why not. She rebooks me with a MAIN CABIN ticket back home to PHX via SEA. Cool, 2 more hours to wait, but works for me.

I get to the gate and ask if there were any upgrades available from MAIN CABIN to C+ (now that I was in made cabin). I had my automatic upgrade turned on, but nothing has went through yet. Gate agent says yes, and gives me a C+ aisle seat.

In the 5 hours that I spent waiting, I noticed a few PS middle seats open up. I go up to the gate and ask the gate agent if I could pay the difference in fare and upgrade to one of middle PS seats. I was asked about five times if I was sure about that decision. I said yes, given that I can actually sleep in PS vs main/ C+. She ends up moving me for a total of $0. I don’t know why.

About an hour before my flight, I still hadn’t received an updated boarding pass. I go up to the gate agent and was told that I would be taken care of.

THEN, I end up being moved to DELTA ONE to SEA and then DELTA ONE (domestic) from SEA to LAX.

I missed my original LAX > PHX flight since I needed to take a side trip to SEA, and there were no more PHX flights for the day. I ended up booking a last second Southwest flight home from there.

A few things:

1. I never expect for this to happen again.
2. I’m only Silver (book a decent amount of basic economy short flights… 1-1.5 hours)
3. I fully know what I’m getting myself into when booking basic economy.
4. I regularly book basic economy as my company will pay a cash incentive for me to NOT fly FC domestic or Delta One international.