SAT

The $425 was a one-way fare.

Not necessarily true. I just did a quick DCA-JFK search and P fares are $525 RT for middle of the week. The same ticket as a Y fare was $1500.
I've seen this a few times.

Ok, but was that a full Y or were there lower coach buckets available? I may be misunderstanding FCM, but I was under the impression that it was a small buy-up from the lowest available coach fare that offered a significant discount compared to full F.

$525 r/t sounds like FCM to me, but since the $425 was a o/w fare, I'm willing to concede that it may have simply been a last-minute ticket where Y was the only coach fare available.

This happens to me all the time when purchasing OW tickets on DL.dumb. The website shows it's only $XX more to upgrade, so why not? I didn't realize that is considered FCM, I thought that was just P bucket availability.
Note: I especially love to do this on elite-heavy routes and deprive a DM of his well-deserved UG :D

In my book, P = FCM.

David

FCM at it's best
 

yep, this pretty much sums it up. Don't clear ANY upgrades at the window... instead try to sell $50 bumps from M fares on the web site. This is not a good way to take care of your ham sandwiches.....


http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ipboard01d.jpg

and

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ipboard01c.jpg



please disregard the apostrophe in "it's" in the title... i'm still recovering....

And thats exactly why so many of us are getting p*ssed off about the rapidly vanishing upgrades and FCM. How about they clear some elites and charge the Y pax the same or higher bucket?
Or even worse, how about those flights (which are becoming more frequent) where the FCM P fare is less than the coach fare. That seems like a no brainer... upgrade your elites and you can still sell the overpriced Y seats.

The ham sandwiches are being squeezed as if trying to get blood from rocks.

So the person who pays $715 one-way doesn't deserve an F seat?

I'm guessing that you will get the UG but how do you really complain that someone paying that amount ($715ow/$1430rt) doesn't deserve an F seat over you or any other elite presumably paying far less than that? I agree holding 16 seats back is quite excessive but for a monday flight I'm sure there will be some F tickets sold close in and a number of DMs flying the route

What is the gripe? If F is "so cheap", why don't you just buy the F ticket? What do you consider an acceptable premium for F? What do you consider an acceptable paid load for F?

Frankly, I think the only acceptable answer for the whiners on this board is F pricing that results in zero paid F. And then everyone wonders why DL doesn't listen to this board...

I don't understand why it is so hard to understand. Delta has used FC upgrades as an elite customer rentention tool. Just as they have used priority boarding and Crown accesss. Now, they have made it easy for anyone to get this access. It diminishes the value of the program. Griping is valid as Delta has changed the game.

this is one of the things about FT that really upsets me.


Not everyone here is a millionaire/lawyer/doctor.

most of us are just middle-class white/blue collar worker bees who happen to travel extensively for work.

We don't have the means/ability to "buy" first class tix for our biz travel. As a contractor to the gov, if i bought a first class ticket to support the customer, there would be HELL TO PAY. Most likely, I would be paying that difference out of pocket once the gov auditors saw the ticket.


So please, keep the "just buy a first class ticket" crap to yourself. If I had my druthers, I'd be on a chartered G5, not a busted old 757.


Now that you have kicked the hornets nest, I'll go even further.

I jump through hoops to fly delta.

Why?

Because for the most part, they have treated me right over the years.

What I'm pointing out with this post is that FCM is starting to affect high mile flyers, like myself (sorry, only on a sLUT fare..) and will make us start questioning our continued loyalty to the airline.


that's all.


doug

Hell ya Doug... preach on brother!!! :D

no no -


FTW!

I don't always drink beer, but when I do... I drink a lot...

I don't understand why it is so hard to understand. Chasing "loyalty" in a commodity business has led to 20+ years of losses. Sounds like a losing strategy.

I don't understand why it is so hard to understand the logic in selling products to those that, you know, pay more for that product. Does the gas station give discounts to the Hummer owner? By the "logic" of many on this board, they should.

Seriously, if DL needs validation for the strategy to ignore "loyalty", this board provides it. An endless parade of folks looking for something for nothing and objecting to any attempt to leverage any sort of premium pricing from elites. The lack of self-awareness provides entertainment value to those that understand economics, too...