Delta Passenger Gets a Free Comfort+ Upgrade on a Seven-Hour Flight With Free Drinks. Then She Gets Upset and Leaves: ‘Give Me My Old Seat’
The free drinks aren’t helping
A free flight upgrade usually sounds like good news. You get a little more space and a few extra perks without paying for them. But that deal might not feel like much of an upgrade if it means spending seven hours in a middle seat.
On a long flight, seat location can make a big difference. Some passengers even try the aisle and window seat trick to avoid getting stuck in the middle. So, giving up an aisle seat for a little extra legroom may not be worth it for everyone.
That was the problem TikTok creator Jadyn Bryden (@jadynfinance) ran into before a Delta flight to California. She claims Delta gave her a free Comfort+ upgrade but moved her from an aisle seat to a middle seat. For Bryden, the choice was easy: she wanted her old seat back.
Not all upgrades feel like upgrades
Bryden explained that she went to the gate agent before boarding to ask for her previous seat. According to the traveler, the Comfort+ option came with perks including free drinks and slightly better snacks, but none of that changed her mind about spending roughly seven hours in the middle.
“A middle seat in a slightly bigger seat for seven hours versus an aisle?” Bryden said. With an aisle seat, she pointed out, she could get up, stretch her legs, and use the bathroom more easily. “I was like, sir, please give me my old seat back.”
Luckily for Bryden, that was still possible. She got her original seat back, but the experience also changed how she plans to handle complimentary upgrades in the future. Before checking in, she now intends to look at the Comfort+ seats that remain available.
Seat choice can make or break a long flight, especially when the people sitting around you make things uncomfortable. In Bryden’s case, she already had the aisle seat she wanted, and extra legroom wasn’t enough to give it up.
If only middle seats are available, Bryden said she will remove herself from the upgrade list. She claims her preferences haven’t always prevented unwanted upgrades, even while she was pregnant. “Sitting in the middle seat is genuinely torturous for me,” she explained.
Delta does give eligible Medallion members some control over this. According to the airline’s current policy, travelers can select aisle, middle, or window preferences for a Delta Comfort complimentary upgrade and choose to be upgraded only when those preferences are available. However, Delta also notes that a manual upgrade performed by a gate agent within three hours of departure can override those preferences.
Bryden’s advice was therefore to check the seat map before checking in and make sure the preferred seat type is selected. “It’s worth the extra couple steps,” she said, particularly for travelers who would rather keep their original seat than end up in the middle.
Commenters largely understood why she turned down what was technically an upgrade. “They really need to quit considering a middle seat in comfort an ‘upgrade,’” one viewer wrote. Another agreed, “A middle seat anywhere on that plane isn’t an upgrade.”
Others pointed out that passengers can adjust their upgrade preferences in the Delta app. “You can update that setting in your app so they won’t upgrade you if it’s not aisle or window if that’s your preference,” one person commented.
Some travelers had experienced the same problem themselves. “They did this to my sister and she was stuck — they already moved someone into her old seat before she spoke to an attendant. She was furious,” one viewer wrote. Another simply summed up the trade-off, “Same size seat, just more leg room.”
For Bryden, at least, the extra space wasn’t enough. A complimentary upgrade might normally be good news, but for a seven-hour flight, keeping the aisle was the better deal.
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