Delta one
 

Can someone explain exactly what deltas strategy is for this product. They want it to be an "elite" experience so they make it very difficult for elite members to upgrade. This results in the average flght having twenty or so paid passengers and a bunch of non revs or folks on buddy passes. this results in two passengers expecting entirely different things. The business traveler especially on the European routes is paying to get sleep to a large degree the buddy pass folks are trying to enjoy the delta one experience lots of selfies giggling over dinner etc. it was not like this pre the change to only Diamonds having gucs

I have mostly switched to British air or American I feel like I get what I paid for most passengers are either paid or elite upgrades on business and have the same goal for the flight quick meal followed by sleep. Every once in awhile I fly delta one because I needs the miles to get to diamond ( I like their domestic product) and each time the experience is worse

I get that delta can do whatever they want with their seats but I totally don't get their strategy or how they think they are creating an elite experience with the current passenger mix.

Most airlines let their employees get the best available empty seats. Also if you think most flights are full of non-revs I think youL find that isn't the case. Sure there's times, but a a person using an UC will always trump them, then FL does FCM, and thus you end up with few/any D1 seats going empty for employees.

As far as noise, that can be paying passengers. Not everyone in D1 is flying for work.

Last four flight I have been on there have been an average of 30 non revs in d1. Might be because it was winter. But my point is not to start and argument but to understand what the strategy is. I think we all agree they have made it increasingly difficult for elites to get upgraded. This has resulted in a totally different passenger mix. I have flown Talt twice a month for the last seven years so I base this on a large sample size. Also, They aren't selling as many seats because corp policies have changed they make it difficult to pay on your own

Delta can do whatever they want I am just asking what the thought is

I don't know if you are claiming that AA upgrades it's Elites for free to business class on international flights, but if so, that is not the case (nor does UA). Other than limited cases where coach is oversold, all three majors will either fly with empty seats or seat non-rev's in those seats rather than giving to Elites for free. The rationale for this policy has been discussed many times in many different threads.

I get what you're saying... I've never been a non-rev but I have a friend (no status, any airline) who flies on her friend's buddy passes regularly and she almost always gets D1. Just last week I flew LAX-JFK paid D1 and about half the cabin was non-rev (with one seat that flew empty). I'd rather those seats go to medallions than non-revs, it's frustrating to think about how much you paid for a flight when the person next to you is getting it for free, but I guess they have to keep their employees happy.

An average of 30 non-revs in D1? I highly doubt it.

There's 34 D1 seats on the A330, 48 on the 747, 26 to 40 on various types of 767's and 37 on the 777. You're not going to tell me that on quite a few routes DL only sells a fraction of the D1 to Revs.

As a nonrev it's frustrating to see other nonrevs being annoying with all the selfies and indiscreet chatter. Employees get in trouble for acting like that with celebrity passengers.

It has little or nothing to do with "keeping employees happy" and is far more about maintaining a pricing premium on the product (as has been discussed here many times). I fail to see what the D1 branding has to do with any of this. UA is also re-branding their J product (Polaris). So what?

I've been on flights were I've seen non-rev' s being disrespectful towards real passengers. Last time was on an AC flight flying from Asia( this tends to happen only on North American carriers; you would never see this on SQ or CX). In the middle of the night a couple of them decided that the middle of the night was the right time for a loud get together in the galley. Inappropriate! One way to solve this would be making non-rev travel a taxable benefit at the full walk up fare in whatever cabin they travel.

How do you know who the nonrevs are?

By the way, here's an existing thread where this has been discussed at length -- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...employees.html

Right it is all about the pricing preminum but the pricing has caused an oversupply of empty seats which leads to the buddy pass issue which leads to a product that is not premium if you think the soft product is important. I agree thirty seats seems high but look at winter load factors and you will see I am correct there're might be fifty people in the back and forty in the front on some of the flights in Jan and feb

Employees are not the issue. Employees should have benefits. it is the couple celebrating their engagement that got the buddy pass from a friend of a friend

American is not free just easier to obtain plus they tend to be more generous in giving upgrades thru corporate travel United I have yet to fly where i did not get an offer at check in

I deal with branding as a profession so maybe I have a different take than you do
On the importance of branding

What an excellent idea! As far as I'm concerned, the sooner non-revs stop being put into D1 the better, but it will never happen. I wonder whether there are any International airlines that do not upgrade non-revs into Business Class, at the expense of their elite customers? It certainly happens a lot at DL as I've seen it countless times, and not only airline employees, but travel agents also get upgraded!

Because 1: I heard one say to a FA that he finally had time to use his passes for a long trip. 2: There was a couple sitting across the aisle from me speaking about how they made a good choice flying out of Osaka since they never would have gotten on in NRT as one because of seniority. And they knew one of the crew by name. All of them were later hanging out in the galley. It's easy to put it together.

Yes I know there is a thread on non revs. I was more interested in understanding what delta wants the brand to represent but maybe the answer is nothing