How to Get Upgraded on an Alaska Airlines Award Ticket as a Delta Medallion

Now that Delta Air Lines has completed gutted their Skymiles program and lost my Gold Medallion status a few days, I have depleted my miles and no longer fly them. That doesn’t mean that all my memories of being a Gold Medallion and the benefits I’ve reaped went away though.

One of the coolest things about being a Delta Medallion Gold or higher is the ability to upgrade on award tickets on flights operated by Delta. That’s how I got upgraded to Business Class on my trips to Guatemala City, San Pedro Sula, and San Salvador.

Did you know you can upgrade on award tickets even when flying on Alaska Airlines?

This is an unpublished benefit that’s not in the Gold, Platinum, and Diamond Medallion handbook. As long as you add your Delta Gold+ Medallion number to your Alaska Airlines Award Ticket reservation, you can upgrade to First Class provided there’s availability.

The only catch is that you can only upgrade 24 hours before the scheduled departure and you have to do it online. For example, I used 10,000 British Airways Avios to book an Alaska Airlines award ticket from Los Angeles to Mexico City (LAX-MEX).

24 hours prior to scheduled departure for my Alaska flight, I went online to check-in and clicked on the “Upgrades Available” button.

Then, I selected the flight to upgrade. Note the upgrade cost was ‘Complimentary’.

I was able to choose a confirmed seat from the First Class cabin.

I chose Seat 1A and clicked on “Check-In” to complete the process and printed my boarding pass.

Even though I’m not a Delta Gold Medallion anymore, this trick to upgrade on award tickets was surprisingly useful and hopefully you can use it too.