The End of Denver
So here I am at the end of the Denver trip. It was a relatively decent trip. We had average stores and got out of each store between 5:00 to 6:30 each night, which is a little later than I would prefer, but at the same time, I can’t complain too much about it. The other team got royally screwed on this trip. Most of the time that team didn’t get out of the store until 8:00. The worst day for them was on Thursday, when they didn’t get out of the store until 11:00! Now that is insane.
The last hotel we stayed at during this trip was quite nice. It was more of a hotel than our previous ones. Meaning it had a restaurant and was visually appealing as well. What was really nice about it is that it had a club lounge for elite members (which I am one!). So after a long day, we were able to go up to the lounge and get a nice snack and enjoy a drink or two.
Now comes the best part of the trip. While getting ready to leave today, I logged onto the Internet and Delta.com to check the flight status and see how packed the flight was going to be. Luckily it was on time; however the flight was pretty much full. Then I noticed something.
I had signed into my Skymiles account to see what my mileage was and was pleasantly surprised. A few weeks ago, I got an American Express Delta Skymiles Gold Credit Card. I got it mainly because it gave me a 15,000 mile bonus. I thought that it would take longer for the miles to post to my account, but there they were and there were also miles for using the card as well, which really surprised me. However, that wasn’t the best part. I also happen to notice that I had achieved Silver Medallion Status! I was shocked. I knew I would get it, because I had signed up for a special promotional offer to receive it after booking and taking a flight out of Richmond. What’s strange is that this should have been my St. Louis trip (though I’m not complaining).
Now what is the big deal with Silver Medallion Status? Well it allows you to upgrade to first class for free if there are available seats! So I checked to see if there were any first class seats available and sure enough there were a few, but I couldn’t upgrade until I got to the airport. So when I checked in, using the self-check-in, there wasn’t an option. I’m starting to think I won’t be able to get an upgrade after all. Well, I get to the gate and go up to speak to one of the Delta agents. I ask her if there is a possibility of receiving an upgrade. I hand her my ticket and she says that there isn’t a way to do it with the class I booked. Uh oh! “Wait, what about for a Silver Medallion Member?” I enquire. I then hand her my Gold Skymiles Amex Card. Sure enough she said no problem. She then reprinted my boarding pass and I now had a first class ticket!!!
We’re about halfway through our flight right now and I’m so happy I was able to get this upgrade. There is no one sitting next to me and I have so much room. Of course, there is also the fact I can get pretty much anything I want whenever I want. This also includes free drinks (The good kind)!
I know that the coach class on this flight is totally packed, because the stewardess had to take someone out of coach and give him first class to be able to accommodate everyone. It’s truly too bad for my associates who didn’t get the luxury I did. I’m pretty sure they’ll hate me once we get off the flight in Atlanta, but oh well. I was really hoping to rub it in when they passed me on the way back to coach, but the plane has coach going right and first class going left, so I didn’t get to screw them in that regard. What can I say, I'm an evil Republican!