Lowest Delta Fare Class does not earn MQMs? Yes It Does, Says Delta Air Lines
 

So this is a pretty significant change that is official now (E is bookable) and very little has been said about it. Is this going to impact you given your travel patterns or the rules of your corporate travel policies? It does for me just in terms of the message. The message is you now have to pay to be a part of the FF program but more importantly the way it was rolled out without an announcement. Maybe not a bad thing but I figured I would throw it out there and see what others think... What says ye?

Have you actually seen any of these fares in the wild? I can't find any via ExpertFlyer.

Personally, I don't particularly care, I just want to know to be on the lookout.

Maybe it moved, but is the website still showing the miles/MQM earned on an itinerary before one purchases it?

News to me. DL now lists Class Exclusions R,O,N,E for purposes of earning miles.

EP now shows E as bucket for sample DL flights I looked at. Here's one:

DL 2198 0 MSP
09/19/11 8:30 AM DTW
09/19/11 11:10 AM 319
Daily
87% / 12m F9 P9 A8 Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 K9 L9 U9 T9 E9

Not a good sign.

Exactly, I haven't seen any itineraries pricing out in E yet. It shows in the availibility listings on sites like flightstats, but as far as I know T is still the lowest one can acutally book. On top of that, I doubt that Delta would make E earn zero miles/zero MQMs once it is bookable.

It does when you search by schedule, but then that isnt exactly accurate. It likes to calculate 150% class of service bonuses for HQK and I think I've even seen it tell me once that an L earned 150% bonus...

I haven't seen that on any of my current/future trips... Could this be a priceline kind of fare?

So is E going to be fare that can only be booked by groups or consolidators? In which case this will mean very little to normal buyers.

This would be VERY VERY bad IMO:

http://cwsi.net/delta.htm

SAS has been doing this for years and I will never ever pay for a ticket with them due to their worthless FF program. If my beloved DELTA goes this way it is time to jump ship and start looking at UNITED or AA!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::td::td::td::td::td:

No it is a Delta fare and somebody today reported booking DCA-PVG and it said no MQMs. I knew this was coming (unnamed sources) and the website now shows E as the lowest fare in the pull down. It is clearly here.

Everybody take a breath. A further look on EP reveals this:

(DL) V First - Domestic complimentary upgrades for elites from published coach fares within or between the continental U.S., Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean
G First - Domestic upgrades using Miles or PMU (Platinum Medallion Upgrade)/SWU (System Wide Upgrade) certificates from Y,B,M,H,Q,K fares within or between the 50 United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Mexico
X Business - Complimentary upgrades for elites from published coach fares within or between the continental U.S., Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean
Z Business - Upgrades using Miles or PMU (Platinum Medallion Upgrade)/SWU (System Wide Upgrade) certificates from Y,B,M,H,Q,K fares within or between the 50 United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Mexico and Y,B,M fares for all other international travel
E Coach - Promotional/Contest & SkyBonus Awards

I don't think you understand. "Promotional" is the way they market Web fares, lowest fares. That is exactly the issue. If it just said "Contest/Skybonus" it would not be an issue.

Exactly, E used to be an award bucket, but is now appearing due to the forthcoming alignment of booking classes between AF/KL and DL. Wasn't there a thread about a month ago that sorted all of this out? Also as a note I've tried several sample dates for DCA-PVG and don't see E coming up as the lowest fare at anypoint. Still returns a lot of LUT...

July 16 came up with E as a double-connect DCA-MSP-NRT-PVG.

I guess just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you...if you don't like it, don't book it.

They are there..