First Class on E70's going away?
 

I'm booked on a few trips between MDW-MSP starting in July. My reservations show these segments as Not Upgrade Eligible even though I'm PM and all my other segments show Upgrade Requested. However, when looking at the Aircraft Types and Layout page on DL.com, it shows rows 1 and 2 on an E70 are F. Any ideas why I see Not Upgrade Eligible?

Compass will begin operating some E70s that were previously with other carriers. There may not be time to reconfigure before the peak summer season.

Still... an E-170 in all Y won't be terrible. The seats are nice and wide, unlike the all-Y CRJ-700s flown by ASA towards the end of last year.

Won't the E70s need to conform to the DL mainline scope - meaning there will still only be 76 seats? In an all Y config that couldn't be pretty comfy!

Talked to someone I know in the offices for Compass and apparently they have to be 70 seats or less to comply with Delta scope until they get first class. 70 coach in an E170 means the pitch will be 34" throughout economy until the first class mod happens. I am hearing the mod to FC will be 9 First Class and 60 Coach for all Compass and Shuttle America E170s completed by the end of 2011.

I noticed this for some of the E170s scheduled btw PVD-MSP for June. I decided to book a different routing, glad to hear the mods will be happening eventually.

You're right - I think the scope says stipulates the maximum number of seats based on whether the aircraft is F+Y or all Y.

So are the E-170s going to be 9F and the E-175s going to be 12F? If so that will be a nice up-tick in seats as the Shuttle American E-170s currently only have 6F (according to Seatguru).

Actually, DL apparently is maxed out on 71-76 seater capacity, but has some 51-70 seat flexibility left before they reach that limit.

So they can't be over 70 seats. The only option before the first class modification will be 70 seat all coach at 34" pitch.

The decision was made to go to 9 First Class seats on all E170 aircraft, even the new Shuttle America E170s that are currently flying in 6 First Class configurations. This will be completed on Compass and Shuttle America aircraft by the end of the year, but none until after summer.

This is what I am hearing. Let's hope it is true. 9 First Class is obviously much better than 6 First Class.