Delta Silver and Gold Medallion Program does not want you to know the truth!
03 Apr 2010 at 06:11 pm
Two Delta agents admitted that Silver and Gold Medallion Tier Members have the various privileges like a lottery. The Delta Medallion Program is authentic only in 40% following to the statistics and not effective as tier rewards program shows.
60% Silver Medallion Members often got trapped and did not get any upgrade or a priority list for priority seats.
Often Silver Medallion Members got bad news that their names are on a waiting list #25 or #47 or #78 for upgrade or a priority seat per one flight. It means that 70-80 Silver and Gold Medallion Members are chasing and begging for upgrade on a single seat or flight.
Two Delta agents laughed and announced that Medallion program is like a lottery and works not for all Medallion members.
Only Diamond and Platinum Medallion members often get lucky -80% chances are falling on them.
I was a Silver Medallion member in past for 3 years and got one time upgrade and that’s all. I flew 78 times on Delta over 3 years and only ONE time got upgrade to business class. It is a lottery! 
Don’t chase for Silver or Gold Medallion membership. It is not worth!
Delta Medallion Program does not want you to know the truth!
Young on 05 Apr 2010 at 7:07 pm #
Yeah, we flew on Delta to/from South Africa. What guess? We are Gold members and they did not allow us to upgrade to Business Class. The business class seats were available and empty cabin. OMG!
We asked an agent and the agent rejected our request for upgrade with our miles or cash. We entered into business class and nobody was there. Business Class flight attendant Susan asked us: Welcome to Business Class! Are we business class passengers and do we have seats #? OMG!
Not only Silver Medallion members suffer there. Delta is worthless for Gold members too!
South African Airways offers non-stop flight from IAD (Washington D.C.) to JNB.
Grab a ride with Emirates or South African Airways to South Africa!
John Deng on 30 Apr 2010 at 2:18 am #
YeaH! I Prefer Asian flights more than US flight, ESP. DELTA AIRLINES!!! BOOOOO FOR ALL THE AIRLINERS IN UNITED STATES!!!
Mr LG on 14 May 2010 at 1:17 pm #
I’m a PM on Delta and I earn it, why should you get an upgrade over me when I fly 4 times the amount on Delta that you do? It all depends on the market my friend, i.e. ATL to TPA I never get upgraded because of the amount of PM and DM that fly that market.
Michael on 01 Jun 2010 at 12:06 pm #
It’s all about doing your homework. I fly to NYC twice a month and, as a Silver Medallion until last week, I get upgraded 100% of the time on my flights. Here’s what I do.
First, I only fly into JFK because it seems less Medallion members do.
Second, I open the seating chart on the flight I want and see how many FC/BE seats are available and how many priority seats are taken. I choose a flight that has lots of both open.
Third, I watch the class. You can often L+ class seats if you search for “Discounted”, instead of lowest price, for the same amount as T class. The higher the class, the more chance you have of getting upgraded. Delta upgrades revenue first, then Medallion status.
WCN on 03 Jun 2010 at 5:13 pm #
That is indeed an extensive method of landing yourself an upgrade, Michael. However, I personally travel with a focus more on where I am going, so I seldom exercise my options of choosing other nearby airports.
I was PM last year and GM this year, and almost every flight I take between SFO and DTW/JFK/ATL got me upgraded. I mostly take evening flights and on non-weekends. I don’t even feel a difference when I downgraded to GM this year.
Basically, my verdict is: This is not really a lottery, it is a competition. If you do your homework to choose a less crowded flight, you have good chances. Of course Delta is not going to show you your “likelihood for upgrade success” on your booking page, but just as LG and Michael pointed out, many other factors weigh in, and you can still get upgraded if you are smart and does not happen to be travelling on those overly popular flights.
Jones on 19 Jun 2010 at 4:21 am #
I have so far been upgraded 100% of the time on my Delta flights. I fly several times a year between CHI/NYC, and also got upgrades on my flights between CHI and the Dominican Republic, as well as CHI and Puerto Rico. I am only a Silver member, and have had no upgraded issues. Of course, this can be due to the same research that the two people above me mentioned – clearly, you won’t get upgraded on a flight where the first class cabin is almost full.
Additionally, why would they upgrade a Gold member on an international flight to South Africa? No airline does free upgrades overseas, especially if you’re not platinum. If you read your rules, you clearly see that free upgrades are for domestic flights, Canada (depending on the airline), and some parts of the Caribbean. South Africa has never been included in the equation.
Jones on 19 Jun 2010 at 4:38 am #
…That is… unless you purchase a full fare Y class ticket. Then you could probably get a SA upgrade. But you can expect that on a discounted ticket. That nonsensical.
SG on 30 Jul 2010 at 10:03 am #
I was a PM the last few years, but am just SM now. The difference in upgrades is night and day. However, I don’t really care about getting one on a 2 hr flight to NYC. It always bugged me how they’d let BC seats go empty on the Tokyo or Shanghai route and not upgrade medallions or let PM’s use their certificates without buying a Y fare.