How to Earn and Use Delta’s Regional & Global Upgrade Certificates

Chasing elite airline status in the hopes of scoring a free upgrade? Keep dreaming: Complimentary upgrades are hard to come by these days, even with the highest ranks of status. But with top Delta Medallion Status, there’s another wrinkle: Delta upgrade certificates. 

These certificates are available only to Delta Platinum or Diamond Medallion flyers via Delta Choice Benefits – the airline’s “choose your own adventure” perks for its top tiers of status. And if you ask us, they’re clearly the best choice of the lot.

Yet it’s still not quite a slam-dunk way to bump up to the front of the plane, as you need to find flights that are eligible to actually use these certificates. And they’re not as powerful as they once were, either: You can no longer skip from an economy ticket straight to a business class fare abroad, for example.

Let’s walk through what Delta’s upgrade certificates, how to earn them, and most importantly, how to use them – and use them well.

How Delta Upgrade Certificates Work

When you earn either Platinum or Diamond Medallion status with Delta, you’ll have the option to choose from a list of choice benefits.

Platinum Medallion members get to choose one while Diamond Medallions get three – plus the one Choice Benefit upon hitting Platinum earlier, for a total of four. Depending on which tier you’re at, you can pick from options like bonus SkyMiles, Delta travel vouchers, memberships for Delta Sky Club access, and more.

But the best options are easily the upgrade certificates. There are two different versions: Regional upgrade certificates (RUCs) and global upgrade certificates (GUCs).

• Regional upgrade certificates can be used to upgrade from Main Cabin or Comfort Plus into First Class (or Delta One) on flights within the 50 U.S. states, flights to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, Central America, and the northern part of South America – including Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
• Global upgrades can be used on any flight across Delta’s network to move up even on long-haul international flights. You can also use global upgrade certificates on select Delta SkyTeam partner airlines like Air France/KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico, and Korean Air – just note that you’ll need to book your flight through Delta in order to use an upgrade certificate on them (aside from Air France or KLM).

Platinum Medallions can only pick regional upgrade certificates. Diamond Medallions, meanwhile, can pick either – or a combination of the two. 

Sadly, Delta made a major negative change to these upgrade certificates a few years ago. Now, you can only automatically upgrade by one cabin class with these certificates.

While this new rule applies to both regional and global upgrade certificates, it’s a bigger problem for global upgrades because Delta’s long-haul aircraft often have Delta Premium Select – the airline’s name for premium economy. That means if you book a main cabin economy or Delta Comfort Plus seat, you can only automatically bump up to Premium Select – you’ll be waitlisted for a Delta One seat, with no guarantee it clears.

On most flights eligible for regional upgrade certificates, it’s much more straightforward: You’ll simply be upgrading from main cabin into first class.

It gets worse. Just as complimentary upgrades have become few and far between as Delta sells off those seats instead, getting these “surefire” certificate upgrades to clear has gotten harder over the year, too. Nowadays, you’re more likely to sit on (or at the top of) the waitlist as Delta hopes to sell those seats to paying customers instead.

Still, your odds are much better than with the Medallion upgrade lottery.

How to Earn Upgrade Certificates with Delta

The only way to earn these valuable upgrade certificates is to earn the top tiers of Delta status – the ones that unlock Delta Choice Benefits. Exactly how many you can get depends on what status you’ve got.

Platinum Medallion members only have one option:

• You can choose four regional upgrade certificates as a choice benefit

But Diamond Medallion members will have a few different packages of certificates to pick from with one of their choice benefits:

• Four Global Upgrade Certificates
• Eight Regional Upgrade Certificates
• Or a mix of two Global Upgrade Certificates and four Regional Upgrade Certificates

No matter which one you choose, it counts as just one choice benefit. Wondering if you can choose several upgrade packages with your Choice Benefits, Diamond Medallions? No luck: You can only use one choice benefit on upgrade certificates each calendar year.

You can, however, choose four regional upgrade certificates once you hit Platinum … then use one of your three additional Choice Benefits to choose another package of certificates. 

Related reading: Ranking Delta Choice Benefits for Platinum & Diamond Medallion Status

Important Rules & Restrictions

A One-Way Flight = One Certificate

Here’s something that trips many travelers up: Each Delta upgrade certificate is only good for one-way travel.

That means if you wanted to upgrade on roundtrip flights, it would cost you two certificates. Luckily, these cover any stops you have while getting from point A to point B. But if your upgrade only clears on one leg of a one-way journey, it will be considered redeemed.

Let’s say you’re flying between Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) and Phoenix (PHX) with a stop in Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP). You would only need to use one regional upgrade certificate for the entire one-way, one-stop journey. But if there’s only upgrade space available between Minneapolis and Phoenix, it would still count as one redeemed certificate.

Traveling with a companion? So long as you’re booked on the same reservation, you can choose to use an available upgrade certificate for them, too – but the same rules will apply. Two upgrade certificates would be needed for two people on a one-way journey  – or four certificates for a roundtrip flight.

Use Them Before They Expire!

Once you’ve selected upgrade certificates as a choice benefit, they will be available in your Delta account in the “Certificates, eCredits & Vouchers section.” Any certificates that you earn will expire at the end of the Medallion year in which they are chosen.

That means if you’ve earned Platinum or Diamond Medallion status for next year and chose Delta upgrade certificates, they would expire on Jan. 31, 2026 – the end of the Medallion status year.

And keep in mind: You must actually fly by the expiration date – not just have something booked. If you don’t use them, you’ll lose them.

Say No to Basic Economy

You can’t apply an upgrade certificate to a Delta basic economy ticket. You must book at least a main cabin fare or higher to apply a certificate.

But You Can Book With Miles, Companion Certificates & More

So long as you book at least main cabin, you can apply an upgrade certificate to your ticket booked using cash, Delta companion tickets, SkyMiles, Pay with Miles, Miles + Cash tickets, and even tickets booked as part of a Delta Vacations package.

How to Apply Your Certificates for an Upgrade

Not so fast: While these certificates are a much safer bet to get bumped up to a bigger seat than your everyday complimentary status upgrades, it’s not a sure thing. 

It’s not enough to book any flight and automatically upgrade using a Delta certificate. You need to find upgrade availability. Lucky for you, that’s gotten much easier.

After years of forcing customers to call or message Delta in order to actually apply their upgrade certificates, Delta added the ability to apply them online for new bookings. The airline plans to eventually add the ability to apply upgrade certificates to existing bookings online, but that’s still not yet available as of publication.

As you can see, so long as you are logged in to your account and have a certificate to use, Delta will notify you whether or not an upgrade is available. You can apply an upgrade certificate as long as your desired flight is available and you book at least a main cabin fare – remember, basic economy fares are not eligible for applying upgrade certificates.

As you complete the booking process, you’ll have the option to apply an upgrade certificate. Even if you select this, it’s increasingly possible that your upgrade will not immediately clear after booking. But Delta also makes it clear: “Upgrade Certificates have a higher priority than Medallion Complimentary Upgrades and can be applied for a one-cabin upgrade above your purchased cabin of service for everyone in your travel party.”

Just so we’re clear: Seat map availability does not translate to upgrade availability. So even if there are open seats in the cabin you are trying to upgrade into, it’s possible that your upgrade won’t clear. These days, Delta is often waiting until the last minute to clear upgrade certificates.

If you are looking to apply a regional or global upgrade certificate to an existing booking, there is currently no way to do so online. It will require you to call or message Delta to use that certificate.

What if I Get Waitlisted?

If you try to book a flight and it isn’t available to apply an upgrade certificate, you can be added to a waitlist. If a seat becomes available, your upgrade could clear based on Medallion status, purchased class of service, and what Delta describes as “other criteria.”

However, the ability to waitlist for an upgrade is only available on Delta-operated flights. You cannot waitlist an upgrade for any SkyTeam partner-operated flight.

If you successfully upgrade from a waitlist, your certificate will be used. If not, it will go back into your account and be available for a future booking.

One last positive note: It’s possible to waitlist multiple flights with the same certificate. If one clears, it will be removed from any future bookings.

Bottom Line

Delta’s regional and global upgrade certificates are some of the best ways to secure a seat at the front of the plane – and some of the best benefits upon reaching Platinum or Diamond Medallion status with the airline.

Use them right, and you can skip up to first class, Delta Premium Select, or even Delta One business class without banking on the lottery system of Medallion complimentary upgrades. While they’re still no sure thing, they’re a powerful tool to move up front.