wp_kid

I get the wifi part (intl vs. tcon), but I was referring to the "forgetting the amenities till someone asked" part; I thought you also implied that equipment MX also caused that, and it should not have.

roknroll

Great news. This is kind of what I hoped we'd see with the loss of medallion upgrades. With advance inventory, mileage UGs become possible too. Something to keep an eye on and a solid development.

mnredfox

+1

DLATL777

Flew tonight BE JFK-LAX. I usually like the 7pm but tonight's flight had the recliners and a 752 on the 7pm slot so I figured I would work a little later and catch the 9pm flight with the beds.

Cabin had 9 seats open 45 minutes prior to departure. No upgrades for sale. 3 non-revs cleared, including 2 with giant "group sized" personal pan pizzas (clearly planning for econ) which everyone in the Business Elite cabin got to enjoy smelling as they loudly proclaimed how "awesome" it was they "got BE". The other non-rev on the single side (the only open single seat) was very well behaved and never heard or saw them at all during the flight.

The remaining 6 seats went out empty, which I must say was pleasant.

DL2SXM

why was it pleasant with having 6 empty seats? I've flown plenty of times up front in the newly configured 767 with a full cabin and thanks to the spacious layout, you don't even realize its full.

jdrtravel

-Quieter
-More attentive & faster FA service
-Less wait for the restroom
-More meal options (if they catered it full, not sure they do)
-ample overhead bin room
-the general feel of being less crowded in

to name a few. . . .

ajg276

Great point -- it was a 76G. I emailed a complaint, and received 9,500 miles which I thought was a little light given that the flight was almost 4k round trip.

the-ca-goat

You're upset because DL is not willing to give you a free FC or BE upgrade. I can really empathize. I get upset every time I go to Nordstrom and am not given a free pair of jeans with purchase. I mean, I am a good customer. I should be rewarded as such!

DL is now treating some transcons like int'l flights--DL is aware that some elites will pay for it, and by taking away complimentary upgrades and improving the product is giving them impetus to do so. Apparently it isn't enough motivation for you, but likely is for some. A non-rev will not pay for BE/FC most likely because their employer will not pay for it, and in most cases do not earn enough to pay for it themselves no matter how nice the product, so really the fact that a non-rev sits in the seat is irrelevant. If you don't like the situation, you could always switch to UA, AA... or apply for a job at DL! Please let us know how it works out.

sky303

I'd call that "more exclusive" considering that basically never happened when DL gave comp upgrades to elites on these routes. Fact of the matter is, there are almost never more nonrevs on a TCON (or really any route) than there are elites. This leads to there being a greater frequency of empty seats up front and therefore a more exclusive experience. So I think DL's "claim" (for which there is no evidence aside from some dude saying a gate agent said something about it) would be considered honest and reasonable.

sethb

I'm upset because Nordstrom changed their policy on giving me free alterations. As a result, I changed my policy on buying from Nordstrom.

Except, that is, for the quality of the actual seats. Yeah, DL makes claims about what it plans to do in some months.

If DL said that "flights with true BE lie-flat seats aren't eligible for free upgrades" that would be "treating some transcons like int'l flights".

bennos

Seatmaps for the 75S are now loaded for the summer. (Not sure what dates exactly, but I saw them for LAX in August.) An easy way to tell is that they have additional EC seats (through row 25, IIRC).

TrojanTraveler

So that's how you can tell. The front cabin on the seat map looks the same.

This would mean that they are still not running the new 757 lie flats on JFK-ARN this summer.

sky303

Except that they fly the 75Es on international flights also, for example JFK-DKR/KEF/ARN, BOS/PIT/PHL-CDG, ATL-BSB. Not to mention the 757s on intra-Asian flights like NRT/KIX/NGO-GUM, NRT/NGO-SPN, and NRT-ROR.

Seat type is irrelevant to upgrade policy.

sethb

And that's precisely my objection. I can understand "lie-flats are fancy expensive seats that take up a lot of space so we aren't giving them away to medallions for free." I do not agree with "the same crummy old seats that we used to give away as free upgrades we're not going to any longer because sometime in the future we claim we'll replace them with better seats."

sky303

So your argument would have been that when we still had unmodified 763s flying 11 hour routes like JFK-ACC that we should have had free upgrades on them? How about in the event of an equipment swap? Either way the 75Es have nicer seats than the rest of the domestic fleet. Should we then have no complimentary ups on the 77L and 76W flights between LAX and ATL? Basing it on equipment type would be insanely complex, especially with the fact that equipment swaps between domestic and internationally configured aircraft aren't uncommon.