Originally Posted by
avidflyer
Originally Posted by
3Cforme
Literally one seat at a time, no, not very often, but the Delta fleet fragmentation (for the great majority of routes/flights) makes the increments a heck of a lot smaller than 100 seats. A few selected seat capacities from delta.com:
DC-9-50, 120
737-700, 124
A319, 126
MD-88, 149
A320, 150
737-800 & MD-90, 160
767-300ER (76T), 208
A330-200, 239
767-400ER, 246
777-200ER/LR, 269
A330-300, 298
I agree and when the ability to change gauge that easily becomes real then, like I said, FF programs will be near useless. That said, how often do they change the gauges above on specific routes? Not often because there are lots of other factors including Pilot ac ratings/bases, better utilization on other routes, AC efficiency, and even gate presence capability at certain airports. Your point is completely valid but I do not believe they can yet toggle like to the level above and of course there comes a time when gauge will not be enough..they need to add a new flight/ac and that is the chasm I am talking about.
While that maybe true, it is not necessarily practiced as you highlighted. An example is flying the 744 to MNL. I am not sure about the revenue from cargo earnings on that route, and it could be the reason for that aircraft flying that route. However, I am pretty certain heavy routes like SIN/HKG-NRT, which is often oversold, could greatly benefit from having the 744, which seats more than an additional 50 paying pax. Just my 2 cents.