Cowbell2011

So to make things more interesting when my ticket SEA to PHL was issued by my corporate travel office yesterday I was magically upgraded on the Alaska leg almost 26 days out... and the flight was $50 less than if it had been issued by Alaska. Maybe I need to start booking all of my "operated by Alaska" flights directly through Delta, haha In my long history of flying them I've never been upgraded this far in advance! Now just have to wait and see if Delta upgrades me as well.

dgreen12

Typo or change in policy for domestic DL flights re: Economy Comfort?

http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...my_comfort.jsp

No mention of any discount (or availability other than paying for it) for AS Golds or MVPs in the Delta chart for North American flights.

beckoa

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I think it was an omission- but not sure that MVP's will still get the free EC seat selection domestically ahead of time as DL FO's no longer get this...

golfingboy

Golds are free on domestic flights with 50% discount on international flights and MVPs get 50% discount on domestic flights and 25% discount on international flights.

However, as happy as I am with this inclusion, I am fully expecting DL elites to start b!+*hing that it is near impossible to get an EC seat on domestic flights due to the paltry # of EC seats...

Outdated information, EC access policy for AS elites has indeed changed.

golfingboy

Lo and Behold, EC is no longer free for AS elites... I just booked PIT-LGA for August and they want me to pay $19 for seat 4B... No thanks, I'll take 6B.

I knew this would happen... Now, my AS elite status is becoming more worthless, only if AS would get on with the program and install E+. Then strike an agreement to include E+/EC access reciprocity.

Nah, AS rather go with the skinny plywood seat

beckoa

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Thanks for testing... Now to write the letters about the devaluation to DL and AS

seacarl

I would definitely like to see AS offer Y+, especially for routes like transcan and Hawaii 5+ hours with little chance of upgrade. AS is really falling behind the competition

alphaeagle

Just made a reservation involving Delta flights. Looks like we don't even get a discount on domestic flights, but we still do on international flights?

FWIW, $59 for MSP-LAX. At least exit rows will continue to be free, so it's not really a loss. But free access to Y+ would allow a lot more decent seating options.

Who would we write to about this anyways, AS or DL?

Seattlenerd

I'm assuming exit rows on MD-90s and 757s have at least equivalent legroom to Economy Comfort. For now, FAA willing.

If so, I'm covered on a SEA-MSP-BWI trip this September. But for those keeping track the SEA-MSP leg was $39 for an EC seat, and the MSP-BWI leg $29, each way.

evoG

made a DL booking yesterday and was excited by the prospect of EC as a comfy fallback when UG don't happen. seat selection wanted an extra $79 for MSP-FAI. boo... add in 3 more segments and i'm up to almost $200 added for a modicum of domestic comfort. i could go confirmed in first for another $200.

I was hopeful that this was a careless omission from DL's list. I called DL and asked the rep to double check. She confirmed that AS folks were ineligible for free EC on domestic flights, but said we may have access on the day of departure. She said the update she was taking info from was released on May 23rd.

I was getting pretty sweet on DL and it seemed like we fit nicely in with their ST partners/skyPriority framework. This is a discouraging confirmation that we have homely stepchild partner status, though not so bad as ugly step niece twice-removed status with AA. I'll be less cavalier about presuming access to SDC benefits on DL now. Usually had to talk my way into that benefit and fear it has fewer legs to stand on.

seacarl

While I certainly don't like this, it does make some business sense. If DL were to give AS's elites free Economy Plus seats, then DL elites flying Alaska should get the same benefit... except Alaska doesn't have Economy Plus.

It's time for Alaska to add Economy Plus, at least on aircraft used for Hawaii and transcon flights. It means giving up the revenue from six seats to create about 36 Economy Plus seats (plus add the exit rows and bulkheads into the mix, and you can potentially sell 54 Economy Plus seats on each flight - and make AS more attractive on routes where upgrades are rare.)

golfingboy

And they will probably make more money two ways...

With a little less capacity, they can drive up fares a little, also they will easily make good $$$ from ancillary revenue from E+ sales. Let's say they are selling E+ on SEA-EWR for dirt cheap and they sold all seats they will bag a cool $2,700, which will break even with selling 6 additional seats at $450 apiece. Not only that, with 6 seats less and 6 pax less they will save some on costs [fuel, service costs, etc]. Seems like they really can't lose by adding E+ IMO.

Kieron

36 seems quite high. Delta's narrow-body craft all seem to have the first three rows of economy designated for EC (15 or 18 seats), which is already more generous than United's E+ configurations on 737s that are usually just the first row of economy and the exit rows.

tusphotog

Bummer. Wonder why it changed? It still makes no sense to me that I'd get a 50% discount on SEA-AMS but I don't get any discount on SEA-SLC.

golfingboy

I am not sure what you are talking about, but 148 out of 206 737s have E+ now... By the end of the summer, almost all UA birds will have E+. The configurations on those birds are [F/Y+/Y]:

739s- 20/51/96
738s- 16/48/90
73Gs- 12/40/66

DL's domestic Y+ product does not provide the same amount of legroom as the ones on UA... UA offers up to 5" more, while DL offers mostly up to 3".

When they first rolled out EC, I was a little surprised at the # of EC seats. Then they are allowing DMs/PMs/GMs + up to 8 companions as well as all SkyTeam Elite Plus members. Naturally, they decided to fart on the ugly stepchild's face, a.k.a. AS, even though most of the SkyTeam partners do not even give DL elites preferred seats.

Pretty pathetic on DL's part and I am very disappointed in AS for not trying to work out an agreement. Now, on my upcoming flight, there were only 2 rows of preferred seats plus the exit rows. I can't sit in the exit row, therefore, there are only 2 rows for me to choose from, which are between EC and the exit rows [only FEW rows].