I'm curious too as to why they didn't decrease frequency a la MAD. UA just started (or starting soon) EWR-IST, and they've already knocked DL out for the winter? They must have very low expecations for the Euro and US economies.

On the bright side, this will allow them to do the flat bed mods faster.

You beat me to it...

Both MAD and BCN are operating at 5x weekly this winter..so far..(fingers crossed they keep it that way).
Well, if they could do it to JFK-NCE (i.e., make it seasonal) which was another long-running year-round route, they could certainly do it to JFK-IST (the nonstop JFK-IST has been around for a shorter period of time than JFK-NCE; when DL first took over from PA, IST was a one-stop via FRA; DL made it nonstop only a few years later).

On a separate note, they have loaded the summer seasonals for next year as well now (CPH, ARN, KEF, ZRH, etc. were all not in the system previously for next summer). Here's what's loaded so far:

Resuming 3/30/13:

JFK-FCO (DL metal)
JFK-NCE
JFK-ATH
JFK-IST
JFK-PRG
ATL-BCN
ATL-MXP

Resuming 5/1/13:

JFK-SNN

Resuming 5/24/13:

JFK-CPH
JFK-ARN
JFK-ZRH
JFK-KEF
JFK-AGP
JFK-VLC
ATL-VCE

Again, all are obviously very very preliminary...if the Euro economies tank further...and/or if the US continues to drift or worsen....

I need that BCN flight for my ski vacation!

I had forgotten that PA served IST through their FRA hub. That Nice flight has been around for quite a long time...can think back at least to the 80s.

Pure speculation, but any idea why they would cancel some of these flights yet keep JFK-VCE? Since it can't be for cruises during the winter, is there that much business in the Veneto area?

They already have been running it as 5x weekly in the winter.

UA started EWR-IST on July 1, and they are planning on 5x weekly this winter. Problem is that IST is a Star Alliance hub and chances are that UA is going to be able to stick it out longer; UA should benefit from TK's *A membership for Turkey-originating traffic....
Oh well, you win some you lose some....UA has withdrawn from ACC while DL remains, UA has completely pulled CPH, while DL still has it as seasonal, UA has made Moscow (DME) seasonal, while DL retains year-round SVO service, etc.

Are they still running 767 on this route? For such a long flight, at least have flat lie downs.

Should I call DL now and have my IST-JFK-BOS flight changed, or wait until the system comes up with something?

I would, if you have a preference for airline metal, times and seats. I just called the DM desk and got the flights I wanted. Though it took them about 10 min to check to make sure that the JFK-IST flight was indeed cancelled.

Options aren't great though...I'm now getting in at 2:30 on AF.

I was thinking IST-FCO-BOS.

Update: Just called DL reservations and they INSISTED that IST-JFK on 11/26 is still there and has not been canceled... :confused:

They should route you on whatever routing you want, even if it's not Delta metal. So for this routing, you'd probably want to consider pros/cons of flying Alitalia, as well as the connection timing. If you want to get back to N America at a decent time, when I checked most flights seemed to leave around 6am or so.

Get a supervisor. They couldn't see it at first either, and I (nicely) asked them to check. And ask them to try to sell you a seat on that flight...

I had this problem when DL cancelled MIA-LHR earlier this year which meant I had to wait a few days but I was fortunate to still get the flights and seats that I wanted.

All the CSA are very argumentative. They see it as "sold out". They refuse to do a thing. Supervisor or not. :mad:

By the way, thanks to RobertS975 for alerting us to this...

Hang up and call again (maybe you got the CVG call center? They are the worst). I had my flights changed, but they had to make the effort to determine that it was cancelled...it wasn't readily apparent on anything that the agent I spoke to could find at first.