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Does Delta always open up X, V classes?

Does Delta always open up X, V classes?

Old Sep 2, 2013, 2:28 am
  #1  
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Does Delta always open up X, V classes?

Trying to purchase a ticket for a PRG-JFK route and got ~$1,000 on DL.com. Both legs are being offered on T fare.

So I'm also subscribed to ExpertFlyer and popped in Flight Availability to see what kind of fares are actually available for those dates and got the following:

0 Connections
DL 211 0 PRG
09/19/13 1:25 PM JFK
09/19/13 4:38 PM 76W
Daily
82% / 17m J9 C9 D9 I8 Z7 Y9 B9 M9 S9 H9 Q9 K9 L9 U9 T9 X9 V9 E0

0 Connections
DL 210 0 JFK
10/10/13 8:06 PM PRG
10/11/13 10:35 AM 767
Daily
57% / 27m J9 C9 D9 I8 Z6 Y9 B9 M9 S9 H9 Q9 K9 L9 U9 T9 X9 V9 E0

I've been waiting for about 2 weeks already for them to drop to an X or V fare on those dates and nothing has happened. They are stubbornly waiting it out on the T.

My question is this... Does anyone know if Delta drops their fare classes closer to departure date if those class fares are still available?

P.S. I looked at the seat map for those dates and it doesn't look particularly empty. I wonder why they are both showing X & V fares at 9 availability.

Thank you for any advice
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Old Sep 2, 2013, 4:14 am
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Does Delta always open up X, V classes?

To be able to buy a ticket in a particular fare bucket, 3 things have to happen:

1. The fare bucket must be available.

2. There must be a fare published for that fare bucket. you can check this on EF.

3. The trip you are attempting to book must fit the requirements for that published fare, such as advance purchase, minimum/maximum length of stay, Saturday night stay, etc. you can also check fare rules on EF.

Whether DL will open up lower buckets closer to departure is up to RM and is unpredictable. Barely 2 weeks out from departure, a T fare is not bad at all. I'd buy it.
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Old Sep 2, 2013, 4:58 am
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Originally Posted by HongKonger
To be able to buy a ticket in a particular fare bucket, 3 things have to happen:

1. The fare bucket must be available.

2. There must be a fare published for that fare bucket. you can check this on EF.

3. The trip you are attempting to book must fit the requirements for that published fare, such as advance purchase, minimum/maximum length of stay, Saturday night stay, etc. you can also check fare rules on EF.

Whether DL will open up lower buckets closer to departure is up to RM and is unpredictable. Barely 2 weeks out from departure, a T fare is not bad at all. I'd buy it.
You are probably correct about Point 3. I bet they had X or V available earlier, when there was an advance purchase clause that was open. Otherwise, based on the info I got from EF, it would seem that Point 1 and 2 are OK.

I'm probably going to book it anyway, although $1,000 for a September fare between Prague and JFK is pretty high. I've usually traveled that route for about $650-800 in previous Septembers.
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Old Sep 2, 2013, 5:06 am
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This is the key for you:

Originally Posted by HongKonger
3. The trip you are attempting to book must fit the requirements for that published fare, such as advance purchase, minimum/maximum length of stay, Saturday night stay, etc. you can also check fare rules on EF.
Whether they open the bucket or not, your timing must fit the fare rules.

Often I've seen fare buckets available for a flight in, say, 3 days, but any published fare would require a longer advance purchase, so it's sort of useless for buying a new ticket.

It is useful, however, for SDC, making changes to already purchased tix, etc.

You can see fare rules on EF.


Edit:Oops - I was writing just as you were.
I also agree that $1000 isn't bad for a Sept. TATL these days.
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Old Sep 2, 2013, 7:35 am
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You could be seeing married segment logic at work.
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Old Sep 2, 2013, 7:46 am
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Originally Posted by Andrito
Quote:





Originally Posted by HongKonger


To be able to buy a ticket in a particular fare bucket, 3 things have to happen:

1. The fare bucket must be available.

2. There must be a fare published for that fare bucket. you can check this on EF.

3. The trip you are attempting to book must fit the requirements for that published fare, such as advance purchase, minimum/maximum length of stay, Saturday night stay, etc. you can also check fare rules on EF.

Whether DL will open up lower buckets closer to departure is up to RM and is unpredictable. Barely 2 weeks out from departure, a T fare is not bad at all. I'd buy it.




You are probably correct about Point 3. I bet they had X or V available earlier, when there was an advance purchase clause that was open. Otherwise, based on the info I got from EF, it would seem that Point 1 and 2 are OK.

I'm probably going to book it anyway, although $1,000 for a September fare between Prague and JFK is pretty high. I've usually traveled that route for about $650-800 in previous Septembers.
Prices are higher now.
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Old Sep 2, 2013, 8:19 am
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I had set an alert about 3 weeks ago for V/X fare for a flight I thought I might take on 8/31 which showed 0 at the time. I got the EF alert that it opened up on 8/30! I did not take that flight, but wanted to say it does sometimes get released late.
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Old Sep 5, 2013, 7:54 am
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I just booked an X fare, but I can't find any info about what it is on DL.com. I've never seen that fare type before. Can anyone explain what it is?
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Old Sep 5, 2013, 8:06 am
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Originally Posted by tfox
I just booked an X fare, but I can't find any info about what it is on DL.com. I've never seen that fare type before. Can anyone explain what it is?
Fare classes were realigned back in January. They've been selling them for close to 8 months now --

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...alignment.html
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Old Sep 5, 2013, 8:13 am
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And here:

http://www.delta.com/components/help...fare_class.jsp
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Old Sep 5, 2013, 9:39 am
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Originally Posted by tfox
I just booked an X fare, but I can't find any info about what it is on DL.com. I've never seen that fare type before. Can anyone explain what it is?
You should be able to see the fare rules before purchase on delta.dumb.
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Old Sep 5, 2013, 11:48 am
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
You should be able to see the fare rules before purchase on delta.dumb.
Except of course when you click the link and the pop-up window tells you the fare rules are unavailable, which has happened to me a few times and others have reported it as well.
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Old Sep 5, 2013, 3:48 pm
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Originally Posted by HongKonger
Except of course when you click the link and the pop-up window tells you the fare rules are unavailable, which has happened to me a few times and others have reported it as well.
I know. I've experienced it too. That's why I said "should" but perhaps I should have used quote marks or a smilie.

Sometimes you can find the fare rules latere by trying a dummy booking on delta.dumb and finding the same price (not conclusive proof) for your route.

Has anyone ever called DL and insisted that the complete fare rules be sent?
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Old Sep 6, 2013, 2:30 pm
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Originally Posted by HongKonger
Prices are higher now.
I was going to Pay with Miles, if anything, so I decided to wait it out. They opened up a lower class and the final tally was $688. So essentially, the EF paid for itself.
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