MSPeconomist

This was my experience earlier this week with IROPs that arguably were DL's fault:

I had a Z class RT ticket to Europe, with all segments confirmed in either domestic FC (P class) or business class, with the TATL segments in DL D1. Outbound route was MSP-DTW-CDG-XXX where XXX is EU and CDG-XXX was originally booked as a DL codeshare for an AF operated flight in their EuroBusiness class (Z inventory class).

De-icing at DTW took about an hour from when the fluid ran down my window until we moved from the de-icing pad. Hence I would probably miss my connection at CDG, although checking flight status later suggested that there had been a good chance that I could have run to catch the flight.

I was following the situation on delta.dumb (747 had gogo) and noticed that I had been auto rebooked (with the original intraEU connecting segment cancelled) into COACH on the next AF flight, which I knew (from checking at DTW on the AF website) had earlier had at least three seats for sale in Z class.

I called the DM line from my iphone upon landing and got it fixed with the ticket being reissued again with the new segment in business class.

However, when I called, the first thing the DM agent said was that she would check for Z class. Then she found one Z class seat and was able to grab it for me. I started to point out that I should be rebooked into any empty business class seat on the new AF flight (which was not a DL codeshare), but then decided to shut up when she said that there was a single Z seat left on the flight.

As soon as I got to the lounge, I checked availability on my new flight on EF and found the following availability:

J4 C4 D4 I0 Z4 O4 W3 S3 A3 Y3 B3 M0 U0 K0 H0 L0 Q0 T0 E0 N0 R0 V0 X0 G0

The seat map on EF showed one blocked seat in business class and four empty business class seats. On board, I saw four business class seats that remained empty throughout the flight plus one additional seat (the blocked seat) that I think was also empty, but I couldn't see it very well.

The outcome in the end was OK (except for my phone bill) but shouldn't DL have automatically put me into business class, even regardless of whether the new AF flight had Z class availability or not? Or did I experience some new stealth enhancement (devaluation) of D1 tickets? Do others have recent data points on such situations?

BTW, is it possible that DL saw different inventory on the new AF flight than AF was willing to sell? It wasn't available as a DL codeshare, so that shouldn't have been the issue. Also, if married segments were playing a role here, should this really be a constraint on IROPs rebookings?