Is it worth it [$38 airline seat upgrade]

suzanne · Nov 20, 2013

For our trip to San Francisco from West Palm Beach on Delta Airlines next May we can pay $38.00 for upgraded seating from coach to seats with four inches more leg room and priority boarding. Has anyone done this? Is the extra 4 inches worth it? We get early boarding already due to DH's health. Is there any other perk that makes it worth the additional fee?

Suzanne

DeniseM · Nov 20, 2013

It is absolutely worth it - $38 is a great deal!

mbh · Nov 20, 2013

Definitely

For a cross country flight $38 is great. Do it. The last time I flew Delta cross-country and paid for the upgrade, I even got an extra snack.

DeniseM · Nov 20, 2013

With the fierce competition for carry-on space, early boarding is a huge plus, as well.

Ridewithme38 · Nov 20, 2013

I'm 6'3, the extra leg room is a blessing on a long flight. I don't fly unless i can upgrade/ get an 'exit row'

dms1709 · Nov 20, 2013

Absolutely, the ride will be so much more comfortable.

snickers104 · Nov 20, 2013

Ridewithme38 said:
I'm 6'3, the extra leg room is a blessing on a long flight. I don't fly unless i can upgrade/ get an 'exit row'

I am 6'4" and the extra leg room is a MUST!!!!

Ron98GT · Nov 20, 2013

suzanne said:
For our trip to San Francisco from West Palm Beach on Delta Airlines next May we can pay $38.00 for upgraded seating from coach to seats with four inches more leg room and priority boarding. Has anyone done this? Is the extra 4 inches worth it? We get early boarding already due to DH's health. Is there any other perk that makes it worth the additional fee?

Suzanne

I always upgrade. But the last time I flew Delta, I didn't notice any difference in leg room, visually or physically, although the seat was clearly marked 'Economy Comfort".

With US Airways, I definitely notice the difference. It helps a lot when the person in front of you folds their seat down in your face.

tashamen · Nov 21, 2013

DeniseM said:
With the fierce competition for carry-on space, early boarding is a huge plus, as well.

Well, this doesn't always work as advertised. Last week when we flew to Florida, I paid the extra $38 for two of us mainly because we had a very tight connection in Atlanta, and thought we would get out faster since the seats were in row 11. (I already get Zone 1 boarding anyway because of my Delta Amex card, so there was no added early boarding advantage.) But guess what - by the time all the Sky priority folks boarded, there was no room in the overheads for our bags that far front, and we had to put them above row 25. So - we had to wait for nearly everyone to get off the plane before we could go back and get the bags.

We did make the connection, but just barely.

suzanne · Nov 21, 2013

Thanks everyone for your help. I will go ahead and take advantage of the offer.

Suzanne

pedro47 · Nov 21, 2013

DeniseM said:
It is absolutely worth it - $38 is a great deal!

Spend the money and enjoy the flight.

timbuktu · Nov 21, 2013

Yes, Go for it....
I just upgraded for $75 each way from Phil. to Venice on US Air.
Sooooo worth it !!

Passepartout · Nov 21, 2013

We upgraded to 'economy comfort' round trip LAX-Sydney and back on Virgin Australia. It was about a 25% upcharge iirc, with no change in taxes/fees from coach. The tax/fee add-on was kind of a surprise after we've become used to all-in pricing for domestic flights. For 15 hour flights the extra room and further recline will be welcome.

Jim

dougp26364 · Nov 21, 2013

On a cross country flight I'd upgrade. We usually upgrade on flights 3 hours or longer. If the flight is less than 2 hours we don't upgrade. Fights between 2 and 3 hours it just depends on connection times and the equipment. I rarely upgrade on the smaller commuter jets.

dioxide45 · Nov 21, 2013

Are you sure the entire route was only $38 and not just a single statement? I often see on our United reservations to purchase upgrades from $XX. The price they show there is for the shortest leg of the entire itinerary. So if we are traveling CMH-ORD-HNL, it would show the price for CMH-ORD. ORD-HNL would be a much higher upgrade price.

We never pay to upgrade. We need more width if we need more room, extra legroom is not important.

riverdees05 · Nov 21, 2013

I just booked a ticket on Delta and it looked like there was an upgrade charge for each leg of the trip. Ours was a two leg each way and the cost would be $73.00 per person per direction.

MuranoJo · Nov 21, 2013

Just be really watchful if they move your itinerary to another plane and juggle the seats around so you don't end up with what you've paid for. This happened to us once. I have learned over time to regularly check in on the reservations to see if they've moved our seating with any change.

suzanne · Nov 22, 2013

Thanks for the info. I will double check that the $38.00 fee is for the entire trip. The price popped up for the upgrade when I was purchasing our tickets on the Delta site. Our flight is West Palm Beach to Atlanta then change planes for the flight to San Francisco. It also said I could do the upgrade at any time prior to our flight.

Suzanne

tashamen · Nov 22, 2013

suzanne said:
I will double check that the $38.00 fee is for the entire trip. Our flight is West Palm Beach to Atlanta then change planes for the flight to San Francisco.

It also said I could do the upgrade at any time prior to our flight.

There will be a price for each segment of the trip, and it depends on the distance, so it is likely more than $38.

Also, those seats can go fast, so if you plan to do the upgrade I would do it sooner rather than later.

Luanne · Nov 22, 2013

tashamen said:
There will be a price for each segment of the trip, and it depends on the distance, so it is likely more than $38.

Also, those seats can go fast, so if you plan to do the upgrade I would do it sooner rather than later.

In cases like this I'll usually just pay the fee for the longer segment of the trip.

suzanne · Nov 22, 2013

I checked with Delta. The fee is $9.00 per each flight. The $38.00 fee is for the round trip flight for each of us. Total for entire trip for the two of us would be $76.00. Since the Atlanta leg is just short flight I may do as Luanne suggested and just pay the upgrade fee for the Atlanta to San Francisco and return San Francisco to Atlanta flights. Thanks again for every ones help.

Suzanne

czar · Nov 23, 2013

Worth checking first class prices

Just a suggestion - it's worth checking first class ticket prices. I just booked tickets (super late!) for a trip after Christmas and the coach direct flight was only $128 less than first class. The upgrade charge for economy comfort was $80/RT. So for $48 more, we get first class tickets - maybe not worth it for the small perks but definitely worth it for the leg room and bonus miles. (50% mileage bonus for the extra $50). If you fly frequently, you'll also get status more quickly.

It's not terribly common, but I've done this a few times, to SFO, Bermuda, Geneva, and a couple other times when the difference in fair was minimal.

lvhmbh · Nov 25, 2013

Be careful when booking US Airways "Choice Seats". They do NOT offer any more leg room than the regular economy. They let you do Zone 2 boarding which we get anyway if we use our US Airways credit card.

Ron98GT · Nov 25, 2013

lvhmbh said:
Be careful when booking US Airways "Choice Seats". They do NOT offer any more leg room than the regular economy. They let you do Zone 2 boarding which we get anyway if we use our US Airways credit card.

Every time I fly with U S Airways I pay extra for the "Choice Seats" and notice a distinct difference (physically and visually) between those seats and the standard coach seats. Maybe not as much on the smaller shuttles, but definitely on the cross country flights.

But Delta is another story. I don't notice any difference with their Quality Comfort seats.

Another Issue. After a plane gets in the air, people move around into empty seats. With US Airways, the Flight Attendants won't let someone move to an upgraded seat unless they paid for it. But on Delta, I've had people move from a standard coach seat to the seat next to me, which shouldn't be the case.

I liked Delta when we flew to Italy, but I haven't been happy with their domestic USA service, at least not the times we have flown between Las Vegas and Florida.

lvhmbh · Nov 26, 2013

I was actually quoting from the US Airways website re their "choice" seats.

Is it worth it [$38 airline seat upgrade]

suzanne

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