Mountain Explorer

How did those customers get a main cabin seat without buying a ticket???

Herb687

Exactly. We Medallions can whine and moan about reduced upgrade percentages but your math is likely very close to reality. There just aren't that many routes out there with much paid F demand. This move will clearly be revenue positive. I will miss the extra F seats but I know that you are correct - they are replacing 4 seats that almost always go unsold with 6 that are likely to be bought.

At least it's still 4 more F seats than UA puts on its A319s!

FlytheTail

Not necessarily. Delta will oversell Y especially when there is F availability. Delta may only sell, at most, 2 more seats (the net increase in seats). to Delta on this one.

cfischer

Delta poor choice.

I was hoping that the upgrading of the C7s was an indication that Delta was going for Best in Class here ... looks like I was wrong

Nugget_Oz

Ah yes but there is less bumping then. Its two extra sold seats plus four extra seats at a possibly higher fare class than they are able to sell now. There has always been way too many FC seats in domestic aircraft.

rasmcasm

If the AC is not economic at current configuration, then there is a real problem. It's just a shame they couldn't fit in two more Y rows. It would seem this is a prime opportunity for next-gen slimline seats, reconfigure galleys/storage or some other answer.

rylan

Don't worry, I'm sure some MBAs and bean counters analyzed it on complex spreadsheets that only took into account pure revenue difference, and figured out that over x number of years it would be revenue positive after paying for the interior modifications... but as usual I'm certain they did NOT take into account loss of goodwill among elites and lost potential revenue due to elites avoiding booking on Delta when there is an A319 in the mix, especially when it will make the difference between sitting up front and being stuck in the back for a 3+ hour flight.

A4K

Well the good news is that they added 4 FC seats to the MD-90's. I started seeing these seat maps show up on a few flights later this year.

BobH

+1

These must be the same people who are thinking of ways to "improve" the Delta.com website.

Bob H

SamuelS

Thank you. I don't know why people keep saying 6 seats sold versus 4 unsold.

The net is just 2 seats - and at economy fares, and the question is could that differential in revenue for those 2 net gain seats have been made up over 4 seats in F. Clearly DL thinks otherwise, but the net gain has got to be only minimal even under optimal conditions (read: 100% load factor or oversold situations, and only on routes where they can't sell F seats).

Sorry, but the minimal gain to Delta here is more than likely exactly that - minimal. As others point out, did the bean counters factor in loss of goodwill for Elites into that minimal equation?

Remember folks, we got told that a substantive part of being 'Best In Class' - particularly for Elites - was having significantly more up front seats domestically than the competition.

sxf24

I'm not sure the final configuration will only net +2 seats. Either the final seat map is not loaded for sale, or F will see an improvement in pitch to come in line with industry standards...

turkeyRIOO

Maybe SM has convinced revenue management that this is an easy way to get 2 more Y seats into low award inventory. (dream on) Although it does seem strange at first glance, it is an easy way to get a 1.6% increase in capacity across a fairly large percentage of the fleet.

xliioper

Not really , DL can adjust fare class availability without regard to the number of physical coach seats. If there are not enough elites to fill FC, the GA's can always move up some non-elites (no need to bump). You can be sure they include the FC seats when calculating the oversell ratio for Y. The reality is there are only 2 more seats. A bit more revenue for DL, plus it brings the A319's in-line with the 737-700 config. I'm guessing this is the rationale, but, like others, I find it unfortunate.

N639DL

Hopefully AVOD will be going in along with the reconfiguration...I'd imagine slimline seats are going in, so AVOD should be going in.

Otherwise, to bring it up to the standards of the 73G would be great. 2 seats over, but that is still good.

BenA

Another observation - this increases an already awkward situation where a CRJ-900 (14.3% FC), EMB-175 (15.8%) or even a CRJ-700 (13.8%) all appear more attractive to an elite looking for a complimentary upgrade than the A319 (previously a competitive 12.9% FC, but now only 9.5%).

Given that scope clauses appear to be a top negotiation point for employees, I'd be surprised if this doesn't also cause internal pushback from regional flights being made more attractive than mainline flying to frequent fliers. It's a real concern - why would I take DL2550 on an A319 at 5:30 PM SEA-SLC when I could take DL4567 SEA-SLC an hour later on a CR9?

I'd love to hear the official take on why this change is being made from SkyMilesInsider...