Delta starts selling first-class upgrades for $40-$80

ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines Tuesday began selling upgrades for first-class seats on select flights from 14 airports, with prices determined by the trip&#39;s distance. <br> <br> First-class seat upgrades for flights under 800 miles are $40; flights between 800 and 1,599 miles are $60 and flights farther than 1,600 miles are $80. <br> <br> Frequent flier mileage award tickets are not eligible for the upgrades, which also are not applicable to seven classes of Delta&#39;s least-expensive fares. <br> <br> The option is offered only on flights with sufficient first-class availability, with passengers required to pay at the gate. The carrier found that about a third of such seats were going unused. <br> <br> Delta will expand the upgrades later this year to all airports it serves in the 48 contiguous states. It expects to generate $40 million in annual revenue after all the airports are included. <br> <br> Airports now in the program are: Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York&#39;s Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington&#39;s National airport.