<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by atl runner:
If an A Fare is available, you won't have to "find it." When you go to book first class on delta.com, if it's available, it will be your first option listed.
And I agree that A Fares are great. My wife (a PM) and I have booked a number of them. If DAL were smart they might try offering them in more markets. In a different thread it was discussed how only 6% of FC seats are actually purchased (a figure provided by our esteemed FT owner, Randy Petersen). A Fares would likely up that number. A lot of us buying A Fares are paying more for those than we would otherwise be paying for, let's say, HQK type fares, meaning more revenue for DAL. And, most of us aren't going to pay 3 or 4 times an A Fare for a "full-fare" FC ticket. So, I would think it's a winner for both. The customer gets a FC seat and doesn't have to hassle with upgrading and DAL makes more money (and also doesn't have as much hassle with managing upgrades).</font>
There are two points that I would like to clarify:
- One does not have to search First Class fares at www.delta.com to find A or D fares. All one has to do is choose the Coach (Flexible) option and, if the A or D fares are available, they will be immediately available for purchase. This is an easier option because instead of selecting individual flights (as one has to do with the Business and First Class options), the complete round-trip can be selected as usual.
- A and D fares are upgrades, not actual purchases of Business or First Class. The difference is that these upgrades are automatic when available on select routes.