timmy83

FWIW, I got a very similar letter...

Hello Timmy83,

RE: Case Number 10333778

Thanks for taking the time to send us your suggestion about adding RU/OU availability on Expertflyer.com. I see you are disappointed with our decision to limit our passenger's ability to find this information, as it was helpful to you when making your flight purchase decisions. We will sit down and think it over. Your feedback helps us make our service better.

We appreciate your Medallion loyalty, and your valuable time, Timmy83. We look forward to your decision to fly with us.

Regards,
Delta Reponse Bot?
You Share, We Care

rylan

Yup, almost exact response I got... looks like a variation of the bot.

Peatisback

The tone of the response I received from DL was a little bit different. The salient points:

HongKonger

The bolded part tells you everything you need to know.

I still don't understand what DL gets out of it. Other than the joy of screwing over their medallions.

jamesteroh

This was my response from DL:

Dear Mr. XXX,
RE: Case Number XXXX

Thank you for contacting us about Complimentary Upgrades.

We do not have a business relationship with ExpertFlyer and the
organization used unauthorized information to provide Complimentary
Upgrade availability to their subscribers.

At this time, we do not provide the number of seats available for
Complimentary Upgrades. However, you can view whether or not a flight
has Complimentary Upgrade availability when booking at delta.com. Just
look for “Upgrade Available” when searching for a flight.

We appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration as we
continue to update our technology tools and services.

For additional questions regarding ExpertFlyer’s Complimentary Upgrade
service, please contact ExpertFlyer directly.

Thank you for your loyalty. As a Diamond Medallion member, you are an
integral part of our customer base and we are always interested in your
feedback. We look forward to serving you soon.

Sincerely,

Kelly Green
Medallion Desk
www.delta.com

Not sure what they are talking about when it comes to searching a flight. I don't see a box to check that says "upgrade available" only a box that says request upgrade. In order to see if a flight has RU inventory you have to search for a full Y fare, if the fare class is anything else and you scroll over the upgrade box it will only say "upgrade eligible" not available. AFAIK, any flight that has a first class cabin will say that even if the first class cabin is sold out.

I don't know why they are saying to contact EF. It is obvious from the email it was Delta's decission and EF had nothing to do with it.

I just don't understand how this is helping Delta out. It is P**sing off a lot of their high end customers and I don't know how it is hurting Delta by having the RU inventory displayed on EF.

I hope Delta's next move isn't to restrict the fare bucket available on EF. That will be enough to get me to cancel my EF membership since I use that info if I want to SDC on a different flight.

timmy83

I think the wording in the letter I received could have more to do with how I worded the complaint sent to DL. I don't think these responders know what is going on with EF and are simply pushing these out to someone else based on the content of the complaint sent to them. I'm very curious about the response in the other thread involving screen scraping, as to whether the complaint involved that wording, or if the agent responding simply knew that some companies screen scrape...

stylo4444

Seems pretty clear what happened here, my thoughts:

-DL didn't like the fact this information was available.
-They want people to use DL.dumb more
-They feel what EF was showing was unauthorized, and the fact that Medallion members pay every month for this service which DL does not get any money from does not benefit them (from a revenue standpoint).

Solution? Limit it for everyone and tell EF this is unauthorized and they do not have a proper business relationship with them. Generally code for hey we will allow you to display this information in the near future if you establish a business relationship with us (aka how much money would like you to give us for the privilege of showing this information to your paying members?)

Again I could be wrong on that, these are just my thoughts.

iamhereandthere

Why has no one suggested one of the Delta voices on here speak on the topic? ExpertFlyer said what they could, yet Delta hasn't said anything except through generic complaint replies.

It's intersting that one of Delta's partners (AS) provide upgrade info. I guess Delta doesn't feel the need to be as good?

Is similar upgrade (RU/OU not RP/OP) inventory available for other domestic carriers? I definitely don't support this move by Delta. They must've been absent on "win friends and influence people" day at customer service school.

jamesteroh

If they do respond on here, I am sure it will be just like the other changes they have made this year and they will make it sound like it is an enhancement and was due to customer feedback (even though like the other changes they made this year, I can't imagine one Delta elite being in favor of this change).

If Delta has the spare time to worry about this, they should have the time to fix the awards calendar

avflyer

This is more than just about EF. I have been using EF to affect more travel on Delta because of the ability to pick flights in which it appeared I might have a better chance at upgrading.

The relationship of EF and DL for me was synergistic. To me this move makes it harder to fly DL and as such, isn't in DL's best interest.

As far as those that look at this as a move toward a new HVC policy, I don't buy it as upgrade inventory always was a moving target. But at least with EF, we had a sense of what our chances were for a particular day/route/etc.

Lastly, there have been more than just a few occasions where this feature has really saved my butt (so to say) because EF showed inventory inside my window even though the upgrade hadn't yet processed which permitted me to call a DL CSR and have the upgrade confirmed manually.

HongKonger

EF reps actually post here when something comes up; DL reps announce a devaluation then run away and are never heard from again. So it's pointless to ask.

JulienMSP

I want to know what EF is doing that is making DL say it was "unauthorized." EF..care to comment?

stylo4444

I can imagine their response now.

======================

"Dear Valued Medallion Member,

As you may be aware, we recently asked ExpertFlyer.com to disable the ability to show upgrade inventory in their system. Our decision was made after receiving feedback from our valued clients such as yourself, and our goal as always is to improve our service to you. ExpertFlyer was displaying this information without the authorization of Delta Air Lines and this raised some deep concerns among our customers and staff. We have heard from you and recognize the needs for refinements to make your ability to book reservations more easier.

We are happy to announce that we will continue to limit ExpertFlyers ability to display upgrade inventory in their system, while our dedicated team of developers continuously works to improve your Delta.com surfing experience. We feel by giving you the impression that we will do something about this and continue to take back benefits, this will enhance your experience with Delta Air Lines on Delta.com. Once again, that is Delta.com. Please go there and bookmark Delta.com as soon as possible to enhance your flight booking experience.

In addition to this change, we remind you to take advantage of our new Same-Day Confirmed policy which allows you to make changes to your upcoming flight 24 hours in advance with the Same-Day Confirmed fees being waived if you are a Medallion member. Just remember, it has to be the same bucket class that was originally booked, otherwise you can do Same-Day Standby on our 100% full flights and keep your fingers crossed. We realize that you have a better chance of being hit by an asteroid than being successful at changing your flight, but want to show you our level of commitment to you by giving you some hope that you might be successful anyways.

Listening to our customers is a top priority of ours and we appreciate your feedback around these policies and our airline!

Please visit Delta.com once the outage is over for our latest information on these benefits.

Thank you for your loyalty."

=========================

Actually whoever from DL is going to respond in this thread, or is planning to…you can just copy + paste the above.

DaDaDan

Here's my guess:

1. EF was previously taking the information out of the GDS and displaying it to us, with the explicit or tacit approval of Delta.

2. Delta changed their mind and told EF to stop displaying it. Therefore, any display was "unauthorized."

My guess is the same as stylo4444's: Delta realized it had information that was valuable to EF that it was currently giving away for free. So, they told EF they had to pay money or stop showing the inventory. EF asked how much, and Delta gave them a number they found to be too high. So, they said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

LAXRuss

Regardless of the reason why it was taken out of EF, DL should realize removing the information cuts both ways as a competitive issue-- Knowing RU/OU availability far in advance is really only most useful for high revenue passengers booking Y fares. This information is no longer available through EF, even though DL's competitors such as United continue to allow EF to show this information to their premiers. Thus, DL is implying a frequent flyer who is Delta Medallion and United Premier (even a measly Silver Premier) should book high revenue travel on United, because it is now much easier to find the flights that will have automatic time-of-ticketing upgrades. On top of that, UA already treats their high revenue passengers better by booking premiers on Y fares into a separate JN upgrade class (separate from standard upgrades) that is usually always available, often on day of departure. I requalified for Diamond this year, but I specifically booked my highest revenue domestic Y fares on United this year because I knew I could always obtain an upgrade on UA and knew that if I had to make a last minute ticket change, it would be highly likely JN would be available for the alternate flight. In contrast, without the info on EF, if I buy a high revenue DL Y fare, Delta will leave me guessing whether I will ever make the upgrade on the Y fare, possibly until I get to the gate. Last year I missed a DTW-LAX upgrade on a Y fare with an SWU booked through to Hawaii and that started me thinking that I am better off moving those types of fares to United. Removing those upgrade classes from EF only encourages Delta medallions to not buy the higher revenue tickets or move their spend to an alternate carrier that truly rewards customers for purchasing the Y fare (as Northwest previously did when they allowed full Y to upgrade into P).