vbjd1111

Two trips booked over next month (one this week). One on DL metal, the other on connection carrier. Both show first class cabin and seating available (or in one case, not available, it's full) (I'm in C+ for both).

The Situation

Here is an interesting data point as I view my upcoming itineraries... AAA-BBB-CCC and both segments are on 75S. In my itinerary can view all seats for the AAA-BBB segment, but can only view seats in my cabin for BBB-CCC. The FCM offer only allows me to upgrade the AAA-BBB flight to F. If I do a dummy booking, I can only book a mixed cabin itinerary if I were to buy F, but get this, I would be in Y on the AAA-BBB segment and F on the BBB-CCC segment. 16 available F on AAA-BBB, 13 available F on BBB-CCC.

rylan

This sure will facilitate Shena at the gate... since the seatmap appears full, we won't know for sure if its just being blocked or if there are actually pax assigned to those seats.

MSPeconomist

Typical DL policy: Instead of attempting to fix shenanigans, make it harder for customers to detect and report shenanigans. I'm sure the employees are very happy.

ATOBTTR

Eh, the GIDS and even the DL App will still have the number of seats available/remaining; you just won't be able to see which specific seats are available. I'm against this change but I don't think this makes "Shena" any easier than it was before.

dinanm3atl

Some more data points.

ATL-JFK-ATL
ATL-DTW-ATL
ATL-MCO-ATL

Those are my next 3 weeks flights. WU Fare and everything else is blocked out. Including two of them with FCM offers but I can't see what seats are even open. Which seems silly. What if someone hates the bulkhead and that is all that is left? They buy and get placed there with no options. Have to call and ask for refund?

Other data point. Traveling with colleague this AM YYZ-ATL. He is FO and I told him there were lots of windows open in C+ and I was showing 0 on the upgrade list. He went and looked and all of FC and C+ was showing no empty seats. Showed him my phone(showing on C+ rest blocked off) and he went to counter. Asked to be upgraded and moved up to 10A.

C W

Using the desktop website I can see both FC as there is a buy-up offer in effect and all the available preferred and non-preferred seats in Main Cabin when I am in WU and I can readily downgrade myself.

When I use the mobile app I can see FC but not buy-up offer (I assume this functionality is coming soon), and all the non-preferred Main Cabin seats. All the preferred Main Cabin seats are grey out. I can move to a non-preferred seat but not a preferred one.

I am in the camp of being disgusted by this removal of information. It doesn't hide anything from anybody who does a dummy booking, but for those of us who hope to upgrade or just enjoy watching the seatmap it is a huge negative with no explicable upside for Delta

jrl767

as I said upthread, the potential upside for DL is that more people will buy C+ and front cabin outright: the UG odds are probably pretty much the same as they've always been, but lack of visibility certainly makes the passenger who's hoping for the UG feel that they have even less of a chance

this doesn't really impact me too much, as I do a lot of WFBF, but it's definitely not a classy move on Delta's part

C W

I don't agree with this analysis because it completely neglects Delta's constant and pervasive attempts to upsell via FCM which reveals the seatmaps in higher classes of service.

I also do not think that a customer who is considering their upgrade odds is incapable of doing a dummy booking or looking at the upgrade/standby list. I further disagree with the notion that part of Delta's FCM strategy is to create despair among those hoping for an upgrade, they are shooting for 20% upgrades, not 0% as they know that some upgrades and at the least the perception of a chance thereof is critical to elite loyalty.

Further, your theory does not account for why we cannot see seats in lower cabins when we are confirmed in F. This cannot be explained by trying to drive people into originally buying F.

MSPeconomist

As my travel date approaches, I always like to have some idea of how full the flight is. I usually watch both EF fare class availability numbers and DL seat maps, where it's handy to check the latter when I check flight status. If the flight will be very full, I like to plan to arrive at the airport and at the gate a bit earlier than I otherwise would. I do this regardless of whether I purchased a premium cabin ticket, have a confirmed upgrade, or feel hopeful/hopeless about getting an upgrade at the gate.

BTW, I do realize that if I phone DL and ask, they are required to tell me whether my flights (or flights that I'm considering purchasing) are currently overbooked or not, although they are not required to say by how much the flights are overbooked.

Also, if I'm considering a FCM offer, I always check the prevailing price for FC ticket and compare that fare difference from my ticket to the offer that appears on the app. Since I'm doing a dummy booking anyway in order to get this information, I can see the seat maps just as easily then.

melissaru

It's a huge disadvantage. I don't want an upgrade to a C+ middle seat if I'm in an exit row, and now you can't see whether it's worth checking the C+ upgrade box prior to check-in and/or if your desired seat is available.
I cannot fathom how this could benefit Delta (i.e. save them money since that's usually where these changes lead).
Also, I sent @Delta a DM on Saturday to ask why I couldn't see seats on a flight that day and was told there was a 'glitch' with the seating charts.
I have a flight tomorrow. Still cannot see anything in C+ or FC. That's some glitch. Mmmm hmmm.

SFCav

This happened a few months ago and it was just an IT glitch. It eventually worked itself out, and we were all able to see the seat map that we know and love. My money is on the fact that the same thing is happening this time: IT glitch that will be fixed in a few days/weeks. Annoying, but I don't necessarily think Delta is doing anything nefarious here...

scongro

Looks like this was part of the change this morning for the "buy-up" per flight that's now on the seat map. I can now see all of the FC seats when I'm not in First, with one exception, and that's a itinerary booked with a Companion Cert - looks like you might not be able to buy up with those, which I think is probably fine.

I don't have any flights booked that have a Delta One cabin, so not sure if this is still affected for D1 flights.

cmh flyer

Next month I'm flying CMH-LGA-YUL. I'm in C+ but all the seats in economy and first class are grayed out.

laptoptravel

This is NOT A GLITCH!

This is an effort by Delta to hide cabin information to encourage the purchase (or upgrade) to another cabin. It is intentional and by design.

Delta has confirmed that this is "the way it is supposed to be" from now on...