Originally Posted by
coolfish1103
The main reason why Delta is adding premium seats is because they moved the 359s to Asia (Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo). In their system, aircrafts are rotated this way, so citing more premium seats on the route as a gauge of success boggles even more than loading as it's a systemwide change. Are you suggesting Delta is doing well on TPE to warrant this change? Judging by the fare, loading and reports by others from here and reddit, I think TPE is the lowest performing route of all.
If Delta is not selling many premium seats then it doesn't matter either way. Reddit has mentioned the FAs were using SEA-TPE as their pay packages to travel on Delta One (cause there are tons of seats available). Delta is also heavily discounting SEA-TPE on award travel (and some inwards domestic routes, but not all) for Delta One during non-peak periods (110K v. 540k on other routes) and also in Economy. Economy fare is also dirt cheap as well looking at ~750 USD R/T and Delta One is also the lowest of all in the route.
I find it difficult to believe Delta is making $ on this route with 50-60% loads during off peak (and the front cabin has often been seen as at least half empty). They are probably breaking even or making very little profit if we count the whole year, but they sure aren't making much progress on this route in comparison to the Taiwanese airlines (and they have way more cargo than Delta and less cost than airlines in the US).
- Unless you have access to the entire schedule's fare data, I don't think you can specifically know if the front of the cabin is consistently filled or not. Browsing a few seat maps anecdotally or using your own flight is not representative at all. In isolation, I could point to the fact that the Delta One cabin is completely sold out for tomorrow's flight, but that doesn't actually mean anything in the broader picture.
- I'd also add you're looking at Basic Economy fares for Delta, their proper Main Cabin pricing is inline with the competition, which doesn't quite have the same concept. US carriers sometimes even earn back the difference or more from ancillary services by upselling addons from Basic Economy, which is a very successful concept.
- Delta is opening up an A350 pilot base out of SEA for their Asia flights. I don't think the inference is citing the addition of premium seats as this route is successful, but rather that's a tool Delta is employing to improve their returns on this route. If they do somehow fill up their premium seats, then they will be able to tradeoff the lower LFs in economy and bring in more revenue.
- Finally, I have to keep emphasizing this, airlines sell networks, not individual routes. If SEA-TPE is boosting the rest of their domestic network, that's a net win, and not something you can easily discern. For example, Delta is selling seats that connect onto this flight from the East Coast for 6k+ RT in business class, which clearly provides a lot of value. Delta's schedule makes it more focused on US domestic connections from both sides vs Taiwanese carriers are focused on serving local population + onwards Asia connections, different markets, so it's hard to point to conclusively say what the results are by cherry-picking one-way marketed fares.
Last edited by yoloswag420; Dec 28, 2024 at 10:43 am
Reason: adding context