Originally Posted by
exwannabe
You are not being "punished", you bought a cheap fare and that is that.
But you might be right about not checking in till the airport. If they are out of assignable seats by then, it will go to the gate. And you might have better luck in getting a decent seat as seats open than you would be assigned the last Y- seat,
Delta is very clear about what you get with basic economy, but let's be clear: punished is the right word.
The relative loss for a Medallion to book basic economy is greater than a regular passenger (due to loss of ability to do a free same day change or get C+ seats or preferred seats like exit rows - I would say F upgrades but those are so rare as to not be a consideration, even for a Diamond). Basic economy fares are a de facto way to extract additional money from Medallions that historically they could not extract due to charging a common fare structure. It is a way to essentially charge a fee to use benefits that historically were given to Medallions for free and is, quite frankly, the largest Medallion devaluation in Delta history.
Basic economy fares did not lower the average Delta fare - they simply became the new low fare. So yes, punished is the right term.