That's a good point. You're right - not much value left in that case.

Whats wrong with kids? No kids = no future

I don't fly often, but when I do, I prefer flights without baby goats.

She hates children but won't fly private to avoid them.

No kidding, they take all the goat's milk from the beverage carts and there hasn't been enough of it catered lately to begin with.

I hate badly behaved children on planes and in airport, hotels, and restaurants. Fewer kids on board means fewer badly behaved kids on average unless we want to get into whether certain carriers have a higher incidence of bad behavior per child passenger.

You've given this some thought! :D

A few years back an AA exec observed for attribution that most people on the plane weren't accruing miles in any program, let alone AAdvantage, and certainly not carrying elite status. (AA was no slouch in promoting FF plans, either.) In that environment, an E fare doesn't forego much: those flyers weren't upgrade-eligible, they probably weren't priority boarding-eligible (CC benefit noted), MQDs mean nothing.

I don't think for a minute that DL's choice of city pairs for E fares is random - I think DL is trying to figure out just what it needs to offer at what price points to compete with WN, Spirit and Allegiant. WN has been strong in Texas from day 1 and ATL-SAT/AUS are good test routes. On-time performance, frequency, and network depth may be enough, even without seat assignments.

To paraphrase a frequent refrain here:

WKBK (want kids buy kids, or maybe breed kids would be more accurate).

An inferior product is still an inferior product- 1) Changes permitted on WN (can be no charge) , 2) and free luggage on WN. Pop the EB small fee on and you'll have a good seat and more than likely board ahead of families.

I'm airline agnostic these days and happily purchase WN and DL, even Allegiant alike, but an "e" fare as an inferior product is not even on my radar screen. I haven't sat in a middle seat in 14 years and don't intend to in the future.

Wow...I bet you are a joy when meeting kids. :(

They are kids...chill out.

Good grief...just plain sad.

Don't forget the generally better leg room on WN. If I don't get FF benefits on a fare (i.e. an E fare) then I am going to go with the better product for the coach experience. It is hard to argue that a Delta E fare is a better product than WN/B6/etc.

The miles earned in the FF program aren't worth enough to suffer through a bad experience. I fly Delta for the benefits of being Medallion, the mileage is secondary at this point.

I'm guessing MSPeconomist isn't a mother?

To be fair, WN plays up the cartoonish version to full effect. Their current ad campaign is all about how they are your best buddy. I don't actually believe them, but if you took them at face value, you could be excused for thinking they would be annoying to fly with.

It did make me laugh. But, it's always comforting to know that there are people who like kids even less than me.

Back on topic, I would rather fly WN than go on an E fare. At least with WN, you can pay $10 and get a decent seat before the check-in lottery starts. But, then again, I've never flown WN. Usually on the short hops that I would fly with them, I just hop in a rental car and drive.