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Flights to Caribbean now First class and not "Business" Class?

Flights to Caribbean now First class and not "Business" Class?

Old May 21, 2018, 7:53 am
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Flights to Caribbean now First class and not "Business" Class?

Hey all, I don't think this is a huge deal- I did a search and couldn't come up with anything. Yesterday I executed a wonderful WFBF strategy PWM-JFK-MBJ (Monetego Bay Jamaica) and return for November. I noticed that the JFK-MBJ seg and MBJ-JFK segment are listed as First Class (Z fare on way down, I fare on way back) instead of "business class." Did something change? I know this won't change a thing about the service, I think First Class is a much better description because these always were pretty much the same as a domestic first class flight, but in the past they were always characterized as "business" which was kind of annoying/confusing.
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Old May 21, 2018, 8:07 am
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Originally Posted by JayTeaBee
Hey all, I don't think this is a huge deal
This basically sums up my views on the topic.
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Old May 21, 2018, 8:38 am
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This was announced at the end of last year and there were multiple threads on it.

Certain routes like JFK-KEF moved to being called "Premium Select" up front. Everything else that wasn't D1 is First Class and Medallion upgrades were expanded to them too. Not a big deal on the different marketing name for the seat.
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Old May 21, 2018, 8:41 am
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Originally Posted by btonkid12345
This was announced at the end of last year and there were multiple threads on it.

Certain routes like JFK-KEF moved to being called "Premium Select" up front. Everything else that wasn't D1 is First Class and Medallion upgrades were expanded to them too. Not a big deal on the different marketing name for the seat.
I'd say it's a good thing. It is much more transparent what you're buying. No more seeing Business class but getting a regular F seat.
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Old May 21, 2018, 9:16 am
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Originally Posted by btonkid12345
This was announced at the end of last year and there were multiple threads on it..
To think I pride myself on my DL knowledge and I somehow missed this! After your comment I reviewed my itin from my Jan trip and sure enough it was First Class then but I didn't notice.

Originally Posted by kop84
I'd say it's a good thing. It is much more transparent what you're buying. No more seeing Business class but getting a regular F seat.
Agreed.
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Old May 21, 2018, 9:19 am
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Originally Posted by kop84
I'd say it's a good thing. It is much more transparent what you're buying. No more seeing Business class but getting a regular F seat.
Surely, people (generally) arent so stupid that they cant recognize business class to Tokyo may differ from business class to Montego Bay. Every airline has differing standards for business class (or first), depending upon the route - I mean, if you book business class CDG-TLV on AF, you are getting a coach seat, yet people seem to understand.

The whole transparency thing has always been a fabricated complaint.
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Old May 21, 2018, 9:22 am
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Originally Posted by pbarnette


Surely, people (generally) arent so stupid that they cant recognize business class to Tokyo may differ from business class to Montego Bay. Every airline has differing standards for business class (or first), depending upon the route - I mean, if you book business class CDG-TLV on AF, you are getting a coach seat, yet people seem to understand.

The whole transparency thing has always been a fabricated complaint.
...but why even give people a chance to be stupid? Clearly articulate the offering and you avoid all of the issues. And honestly the European air carrier business class thing is a farce not worth defending in any context.

And yes, it may not be confusing to people like us, but for an infrequent traveler it may be quite confusing.
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Old May 21, 2018, 9:43 am
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Originally Posted by ethernal
...but why even give people a chance to be stupid? Clearly articulate the offering and you avoid all of the issues. And honestly the European air carrier business class thing is a farce not worth defending in any context.

And yes, it may not be confusing to people like us, but for an infrequent traveler it may be quite confusing.
Heck, to me its confusing. I still dont get the difference between business and first. I always thought first was higher than business, using the example of the A380, where business is a lower level of service over they first class suites.
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Old May 21, 2018, 10:10 am
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Originally Posted by TheHorta


Heck, to me its confusing. I still dont get the difference between business and first. I always thought first was higher than business, using the example of the A380, where business is a lower level of service over they first class suites.
Yes, agreed, this is another point of confusion. In fairness to Delta, virtually all US travelers have an idea of what "First Class" means (although it might confuse some non-US travelers).

In a perfect world Delta would just rebrand all domestic first to "Premium Select" and call it a a day. Have Y (... and all its variants), Premium Select, and Delta One. Nice and simple. Won't ever happen though.
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Old May 21, 2018, 10:26 am
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They have been updating systems for a number of years to call these flights "First Class". It's not new at all. Certain systems, like ticket printers and seat map displays, would only look at the fare booking class and call it "Business" class based on JCDIZ booking classes. The fare search listings have been calling them "First" Class for several years now as they look at the actual fare basis codes, not the just fare booking class. If you look at the fare basis codes for these flights, you will see the second to last character in them is an 'F' which designates it as a First Class flight.
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Old May 21, 2018, 11:11 am
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Originally Posted by ethernal
...but why even give people a chance to be stupid? Clearly articulate the offering and you avoid all of the issues. And honestly the European air carrier business class thing is a farce not worth defending in any context.

And yes, it may not be confusing to people like us, but for an infrequent traveler it may be quite confusing.
I dont buy the (frequent) arguments that an ability to understand what you are buying is beyond the capabilities of most adults or that it requires spending large amounts of time on planes. It really isnt that hard and most airlines do a decent job of informing you about what you are buying; even euro-J is pretty well explained.
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Old May 21, 2018, 11:20 am
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Originally Posted by pbarnette
I dont buy the (frequent) arguments that an ability to understand what you are buying is beyond the capabilities of most adults or that it requires spending large amounts of time on planes. It really isnt that hard and most airlines do a decent job of informing you about what you are buying; even euro-J is pretty well explained.
You haven't explained why it would still not be better to eliminate any potentially unnecessary confusion. You are not wrong that most people can (and should) be able to figure it out, but why not simplify wherever possible? You seem personally offended by this change and I'm not sure why
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Old May 21, 2018, 12:04 pm
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Originally Posted by ethernal
You haven't explained why it would still not be better to eliminate any potentially unnecessary confusion. You are not wrong that most people can (and should) be able to figure it out, but why not simplify wherever possible? You seem personally offended by this change and I'm not sure why
I think the airlines do provide enough information to avoid confusion.

And Im not offended by the change, but with the typical FT claims that understanding the difference in service is somehow difficult and/or exclusive to those here. It isnt quite as egregious as people complaining that Delta One will be confused with first, but it is in the same vein. FWIW, offended isnt the right word, annoyed would be better.
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Old May 21, 2018, 12:06 pm
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Originally Posted by TheHorta


Heck, to me its confusing. I still dont get the difference between business and first. I always thought first was higher than business, using the example of the A380, where business is a lower level of service over they first class suites.
First IS a higher class of service when you compare apples to apples/the same route and the same airline.

Domestic flights just don't have business because of their short duration. A 13 hour flight will have more classes of service just based on the greater passenger load and thus greater segmentation and willingness to pay for distinct levels of service.
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Old May 21, 2018, 12:30 pm
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Originally Posted by pbarnette


Surely, people (generally) arent so stupid that they cant recognize business class to Tokyo may differ from business class to Montego Bay. Every airline has differing standards for business class (or first), depending upon the route - I mean, if you book business class CDG-TLV on AF, you are getting a coach seat, yet people seem to understand.

The whole transparency thing has always been a fabricated complaint.
I'm not saying DL was being fraudulent or anything, but what I'd consider common sense is rare enough these days to re-classify as a Super Power.

I'd agree that most people get it, but the ones that don't, REALLY don't get it.
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