This is just a big story...and I have written a full article on this, with a lot of screenshots and information.
But the short version is:
Delta has made the decision to block passengers from seeing seatmaps of cabins they are
NOT booked in. Bought a business fare? you cannot see available seats in the main cabin. Bought a main cabin (including Comfort+) fare? Well, you will see the entire business/first class cabin(s) greyed-out as if they were 'sold out.'
As a part of my article I contacted Delta. I actually contacted them a few days ago by email and have never received a reply.
Today I went through Twitter and posted screenshots and asked was this a 'glitch' or 'by design'
After some silence...I got a public reply that everything was as it should be. After pressing, in private, I got an official response that this "Was Not a Glitch" and further in answer why I caould not see available seats in the first class cabin (awaiting my upgrades) Delta responded as follows:
"because you are not in that cabin. You will only see seats in your current booked cabin when you select manage my seats on My trips because that is the seats you are able to manage. For upgrades, you just request it and it will be automatically assigned if cleared. You won’t be able to see availability for other cabins under your seat map."
Here is what a seatmap looks like now (and this is a cabin that has ZERO sold seats in first class)
Hoping to use ExpertFlyer, I found that Delta is blocking data to them (again).
Another negative change that again raises the contentiousness between airlines and passengers. Just when we hoped the scales would tip a little more towards friendlier skies...