A319 Reconfiguration
 

I don't know if this has been posted yet; I did a quick search and couldn't find anything on it.

I was just playing around on DL.com looking for deals to potentially go somewhere and noticed that the A319s appear to be in the works for a interior makeover. DL plans to change the configuration from 16F/108Y to 12F/114Y.

Any thoughts, comments, ideas why?

This would be very poor if the case. With all the furor over SkyMiles(Pesos) redemption being so shoddy, one of the few redeeming components to flying DL as an elite flyer is the percentage of up-front premium cabin seats, e.g. 16 on A319 versus just 8 on UA.

I don't recall reading about plans to reduce the numbers of premium cabin seats? Big :td: if this is the case

I have to agree that this is a big :td:. However if it means new seats with AVOD, could end up being good.

This is definitely the case though. If you go onto DL.com and look at a 319 seatmap for a flight in november or sometime thereafter it shows 12F.

This was briefly discussed at some point in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...-upgrades.html

I posted to it last night to mention the same thing. I have FC booked somewhere along the way...had row 3 (hate last row) and now row 3 is the back (of FC).

that's a lot of work and transition hassle for two extra seats... if they could fit two rows of Y, i could understand it, but trading 4F for 6Y just doesn't seem worth it....

Exactly. Didn't make much sense to me either.

This has been in the pipeline for months, ever since Richard mentioned to pilots that the NWA configuration didn't make $. What we didn't know was whether they would squeeze in one more coach row or take out a row in First Class for the row in coach. Now we know.

I don't get it either. You're gaining 2 seats at the expense of 4 seats you can potentially sell for a premium. Then there's the pissing off Elites thing and now you'll have 4 Elites on each 319 that will sit in coach upset that they wouldve been in first.

I know Delta compares the 319 mission to the 737-700. DL is putting overwater equip in the 319's so they can run some 73G routes. But there are 10 of the 73G's to over 50 319's.

Agreed it seems a little odd to make all these changes for 2 seats. But somewhere there's a beancounter in ATL who's shown DL can make more $ doing this.

Looking at the markets that see or potentially would see A319 service, it's hard to envision more than maybe two or three where they consistently sell out a 16 seat F cabin. Dropping four seats that you usually give away to add six seats that you usually sell will produce a significant revenue improvement for the A319 fleet.

Seems to make sense to me.

I always liked the A319 but now I know that in the future I'll avoid it like the plague.

DL gives away its first class tickets completely free?? I've been missing out!

Yes, believe it or not, they give away unsold domestic first class seats to Medallion Skymiles members who have main cabin tickets on the same flight. Most airlines in the US do this.

Those Medallion members still have to buy a coach ticket btw. What you said here is false:

You say that the 6 seats in coach are sold for revenue, whereas the 4 seats in first are given away completely free. That's not true, only the upgrade is free, the seats are still sold for revenue.

Uggghhhh... seriously? And so the alignment of Delta's first class cabin sizes with competitors begins, and the last remaining advantage that keeps me at Delta instead of UA/CO - domestic upgrades - rapidly erodes away. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if this spreads to the 738 and A320 next.

I've mostly been an apologist for most of the merger changes, but there's pretty much nothing positive I can say for this (especially if it really is as some have said only a net addition of 2 Y seats). Ick. This seems totally out of character when considered alongside the MD-90 switch from 12>16 and the installation of F cabins on the CR7 fleet.

Precisely. They potentially can sell 6 coach tickets versus 4 premium tickets, so the additional revenue, assuming an overbooked flight every time, is minimal.

Yet the impact to elites is anything but.

:td::td:

No, the seats are not sold. They are unsold inventory that is given away to certain main cabin customers. If the F inventory is sold, then there are no upgrades available at time of departure for elites holding main cabin tickets.

The space occupied by those four F seats is being converted from non-revenue generating space on most flights to revenue generating space.

On most flights it's probably closer to 6 coach tickets versus zero premium tickets. Highly doubt that the revenue impact is "minimal." If it was, then what would be the point of doing the cabin conversions.