Upgrading a seat selection on Delta

Prices for international upgrades (even for comfort plus) is pretty steep and depends on the flight and route. I remember doing a flight research last year before the increase in fares and the flights to Rome were ridiculous expensive, so I imagine the upgrade on that route is pricey too.

Did the app ask you to upgrade your whole trip or did you click on just that segment? Sometimes I find it easier to look at it on the browser and not the app. If you have miles, you can always look at the cost in miles for the upgrade (which I have done in the past). But I don't imagine price to go down, unfortunately.

Those seats get fully booked. My husband is platinum and he always gets free upgrade to comfort+ on international flights when he books main cabin (automatic after purchase). And if economy gets oversold, they move people up to those seats if there is any available.

Some people in the forum have had luck getting lower prices but you have to keep checking frequently. There is no way to predict if the cost will come down and I suspect pricing is based on current situation (fuel prices, etc). FWIW I've never seen an upgrade price that low, but I fly from the west coast.

Joy, I just clicked on that trip segment; the app did not ask about upgrading whole trip. I looked at changing the whole trip to Delta Comfort and it was about $550, but I would have to change my flight times and have shorter layovers which I didn’t want to do. Unfortunately I do not have many Delta miles. Thanks for responding.

Since there are still many open seats on comfort+, I would keep checking next few days to see if price goes down.

Earlier this year, I bought a ticket for my trip to Krakow in September. And I just got message from Delta that flight time has changed and I have now a shorter connection than I wanted. I'm looking at alternative options to change for free. I'm just saying that your original flight may have some changes as they adjust schedules. So good to keep checking anyway to make sure all is the same (sometimes I don't get email from Delta letting me know of a change, but I did this time).

I bought my ticket at comfort+, but the same itinerary is significant more expensive now. So if had bought main, upgrade would be pricey. But flights to Rome are some of the most expensive on Delta I think. Good luck!

Flying from the west coast to Rome on Delta premium comfort is $4,000+ (pre gas hikes about $3400) so it all sounds like a bargain to me.

Sometimes, non-US airlines have an option to bid on seat upgrades fairly far in advance
of the flight. For Delta, my guess is at best, you might get an option to upgrade for a bit
less than what you're seeing now at check-in time.

Just to be sure, I would verify the cancellation policies/charge for your existing ticket.
If, for instance, it's fully refundable, you may find at some point that buying a new ticket
in Delta Comfort is less than the cost of upgrading. Not likely, but you'll never know
unless you check. And in this game, checking frequently is the name of the game. But
do it on off times (like, Tuesday morning) where there may be a bit of dropoff in demand.

We fly internationally on Delta usually 2 times a year. I find you get better deals 10-12 months out especially if using miles. For example our flight in April 2026 we purchased main cabin in May 2025 and I checked the upgrade prices weekly. I was able to get upgraded to Premium Select for $250 for the leg Zürich to JFK and $69 for comfort plus Atl to Munich (unfortunately that flight premium select was $1200). Never saw those kind of prices again. Just got more expensive the closer the flight.

I recommend you look every single day without fail.

I upgraded from Comfort to Delta One for my April trip and literally looked every day. Some days it was $3600!! Or $2600. I finally caught the outbound international leg from Seattle to Paris for about $790 and grabbed it. A few weeks later I saw the inbound international leg for $890 and grabbed it.

So be persistent!

I 100% agree with what Pam said and have had similar experiences. I am currently looking to upgrade our September Premium Select tickets to Delta One and I check daily for a price change. Since booking the tickets, the upgrade price has fluctuated a few thousand dollars for two tickets.

I know the world and economy are different right now, but on a previous trip I waited to see the price I wanted and upgraded 2 tickets for less than a thousand dollars. I may not see a price I want, but until we depart, I will check prices daily; sometimes more than once.

I am currently looking to upgrade our September Premium Select tickets to Delta One and I check daily for a price change.

My flight in September on Delta, SEA-AMS, it does not give me option to upgrade to Premium Select from Comfort+. It shows "greyed out" but I can tell which ones are available (with X) versus occupied. Most seats have X so they are blocking those for paying customers I assume. I check everyday since I am hopeful to move to bulkhead on Comfort+ if one becomes available. It is my routine to check every morning and night for any new/better seat.

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I’ll be checking twice a day with fingers crossed. I’m not very hopeful, though. The price to upgrade the seat on the overnight flight is now more than $800!

@Joy - "It shows "greyed out" but I can tell which ones are available (with X) versus occupied.". In my persistent daily looking at my flights often there were days when no upgrade was offered. EVERY seat was grayed out. Some days I was only offered the upgrade from Comfort to Select. Somedays both Delta One and Select. There seriously is NO pattern.

@Kathy - There is no rhyme or reason to pricing as far as I could tell. One day I looked and it seriously was $6000. I figured they were doing some behind the scenes computer upgrades and didn't want anyone to upgrade, lol. It literally was up one day and down the next time I looked. I do recommend keeping a tab open so you can just click in and see what they are showing today. I've been told that Delta updates flight schedules on Saturdays. For this reason I stopped checking on Saturday mornings but then I decided to do it Saturday afternoons figuring they might be located in Atlanta and would be done by early afternoon. I think I might have gotten my first good price on a Saturday afternoon. I was afraid it was a computer glitch it was so inexpensive so I grabbed it before they could detect it, hahaha! Fingers crossed for you! ALSO...be sure to look on holiday weekends! Like 4th of July!

@PAM - For this reason I stopped checking on Saturday mornings but then I decided to do it Saturday afternoons figuring they might be located in Atlanta and would be done by early afternoon. I think I might have gotten my first good price on a Saturday afternoon. I was afraid it was a computer glitch it was so inexpensive so I grabbed it before they could detect it, hahaha!

I think the same happened to me when I booked my multi-city flight earlier this year. I got a steal deal for my return segment. I bought through Delta website but return on KLM direct flight on Premium Economy for AMS-SFO. So I grabbed it. I couldn't believe how cheap it was. It was only $200 more than a flight on Comfort+ on Delta with connection in Seattle. Next day, the same KLM flight/itinerary was coming out $1000 more. And I just looked at my receipt and I bought my original ticket on a Saturday evening!

@Joy! That is so interesting! So it looks like sometimes there might be deals to be had if you catch them at a change point! My original Comfort + RT ticket Spokane (end of the line airport, lol) to Paris and return was $793 which for me was a steal. I've never gotten anything like that from Spokane. With that low price I was willing to go for the Delta One. BTW, the day I purchased at that price, the Delta One fare was at the $4000-6000 mark (don't remember but WAY high) or around there. Crazy.

I got an upgrade to Delta Comfort two years ago when I flew to Heathrow from MSP for $150, but that was two years ago. I haven't seen anything like it since.

That said, it does go up and down, so I would definitely keep checking. It certainly wouldn't hurt, and there's always a possibility of grabbing something.

And, Delta is deploying new plane configurations with a larger first class. I think the order on additional/reconfigurated Delta One is delayed, so this is their temporary fix. I wonder if that is impacting availability and cost for upgrades for some routes to/from ATL. Here is one of the articles on the subject: https://simpleflying.com/delta-air-lines-new-airbus-a321neos-44-first-class-seats-only-1-lavatory/