--- ---  # Airline Denies Miraculously Victorious USA Curling Team's Upgrade Request by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Updated: Jan 15, 2026 6:27 PM UTCPublished: Feb 26, 2018 4:12 PM UTC  Team United States reacts after defeating Sweden 10-7 to win the Curling Men's Gold Medal game on day fifteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Curling Centre on February 24, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea Team United States reacts after defeating Sweden 10-7 to win the Curling Men's Gold Medal game on day fifteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Curling Centre on February 24, 2018 in Gangneung, South KoreaRichard Heathcote - Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Updated: Jan 15, 2026 6:27 PM UTCPublished: Feb 26, 2018 4:12 PM UTC Winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games comes with a lot of perks—respect, admiration, national pride— but not, apparently, upgraded seats on the trip home. Free upgrades are apparently harder to score than curling points. The [U.S. men’s curling team](http://time.com/5172172/curling-gold-medal-match/) scored an impressive upset at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, coming from behind to [capture the gold medal](http://time.com/5172172/curling-gold-medal-match/). After their smooth score of a “[five-ender in the eighth”](http://time.com/5174243/us-wins-curling-gold-wrong-medals/?iid=sr-link4) helped clinch an unexpected victory against Sweden, the team figured they may as well try their luck at scoring something arguably more valuable—first class upgrades for their long trip from PyeongChang back to the United States. USA Curling reached out to Delta Airlines via Twitter and asked them for a modest request—upgrades for the gold medal winners. > [](https://twitter.com/usacurl/status/967421801537069056) But Delta didn’t jump at the opportunity to let the curlers fly their medals home in style—and score some public relations points, too. While they welcomed the team aboard, they were going to have sit in coach. > [](https://twitter.com/Delta/status/967434827136884736) Naturally, the team accepted their defeat with grace, proving they are champions on and off the ice. > [](https://twitter.com/usacurl/status/967641801795428352) Delta Denies Winning Curling Team Upgrade Request With Tweet ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5175453/delta-denies-curling-team-upgrade/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5175453/delta-denies-curling-team-upgrade/"},"headline":"Airline Denies Miraculously Victorious USA Curling Team's Upgrade Request","datePublished":"2018-02-26T16:12:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-15T18:27:48.000Z","description":"Not even a gold medal can score you a free upgrade these days","url":"https://time.com/5175453/delta-denies-curling-team-upgrade/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt880c5fdbabf1dfc9/698928cd4ee262c5db31100b/mens-curling-gold-celegration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt880c5fdbabf1dfc9/698928cd4ee262c5db31100b/mens-curling-gold-celegration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA Men's Curling","caption":"USA Men's Curling","creditText":"Richard Heathcote - Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5175453/delta-denies-curling-team-upgrade/","name":"Airline Denies Miraculously Victorious USA Curling Team's Upgrade Request"}}]}] ```