I Have A Love-Hate Relationship With The Same Day Confirmed Policy On Delta Airlines

I keep Gold Medallion Status at a minimum because I absolutely love their free Same Day Confirmed policy on Delta Airlines for Gold Medallions and higher. I maintain Gold Medallion status on Delta Airlines by flying on cheap mileage runs which are often found under 3 cents per mile. I’m haven’t flown much with Delta this year and have shifted most of my business to American Airlines. If I don’t re-qualify for Gold Medallion, I will sadly miss  the ability to Same Day Confirm for free on Delta Airlines. Furthermore, it still costs $75 to do the same as an American Airlines Executive Platinum.

Last month, I booked a cheap $189 mileage run on Delta.com from LAX-MTY (Monterrey, Mexico) with an 10:55 pm redeye departing Monday. My routing was LAX-DTW-ATL-MTY and my first LAX-DTW leg would arrive on Tuesday morning.

Leveraging my Gold Medallion elite status with the ability to same day confirm, I can depart much earlier on the 5am flight from LAX-DTW on Monday. This way, I can spend a night in Detroit which I have never been to.

Delta Airlines recently devalued their Same Day Confirmed policy by only allowing the same fare class. I am booked on a cheap fare class, so I was hoping for space on the earlier LAX-DTW flight. One fallback is if I don’t get to same day confirm on the 5:50 am flight, I can go on standby for free as a Gold Medallion.

Drawbacks of SDC

There are definitely drawbacks of invoking the Same Day Confirmed benefit. Let’s say my Gold Medallion upgrade cleared on the 11pm redeye flight and I want to same day confirm on the earlier 5am flight. Well, I would lose my upgrade if there was space available with the same fare class and be stuck back on the upgrade list. Chances for an upgrade are slim to none for Gold Medallions when that happens. Another drawback is if there is no space, I would have to standby. This means, I would have to get to the airport by 5am and battle like a non-rev for any coach seat with no guarantees that I would be getting on that flight.

Of couse there are several options to avoid going to the airport with no chance on getting on that earlier flight. I would check space on Expertflyer, Delta.com, and even consult with the Medallion line to see if I have the slightest chance.

Good news

The good thing about the new same day confirmed policy is that you don’t need to wait 3 hours before the scheduled flight (that you want to take) anymore. Instead, you call at midnight and if there is space for that same fare class, you can get it. If space is not available, you can call 3 hours before (old previous method) and Delta will SDC you regardless of fare class booked if space is available.

I called at midnight and the agent happily confirmed that there was V space available in my fare class for the earlier flight. To view the airport upgrade standby list, I had to check-in for my flight.

It looks like I am #5 of 12 on the upgrade list as a Gold Medallion with 4 First Class class open.

The chances for an upgrade are slim, but hopefully people will not show up for their early flight  or cancel last minute refundable first class tickets.

The new TSA Pre-Check is now printed on Delta Boarding passes if you’re eligible for the program.