jdrtravel

Really? I don't recall that, I just remember using my DL app. But I could be wrong!

flyerCO

DL flights ex-AMS/CDG all redirect you to KLM/AF for checkin.

bubbashow

Delta wants to protect the Delta one cabin. Giving those away for pennies on the dollar was ridiculous. Delta has been talking about changing this for a long time on the inside I'm shocked it took this long.

andrewk829

In both 2016 and 2017, for travel KBP-AMS-SEA on Delta metal during the week between Xmas and New Years, I was able to get same-day upgrades to Business Class on the AMS-SEA leg for 25K SkyMiles and no co-pay . .. at the Transfer desk at AMS. It always seemed "too good to be true"; if you value a Skymile at 1 cent, that's an upgrade for a mere $250. And I wondered if Delta approved of this because I have never seen Delta offer analogous deals on flights originating in the U.S. Best I ever say originating in the U.S. from Delta on Delta metal was an offer at online check-in for an upgrade to C on a SEA-CDG flight for $699.

Here's the thing, though . . .I understand about "protecting the premium cabin", but I am unlikely to ever pay $ for a C ticket for personal travel. So it's not like this new "no upgrades" policy is going to be some catalyst for me to book in C. The attitude I'll take is "well, I guess that's not going to happen any more, so just take my seat in Y and deal with it, first world problems."

xliioper

Unless you had a pricey YBM fare, there should have been a cash component in addition to the miles (as has been documented here many of times). Sounds like you were indeed quite lucky (or perhaps somehow got yourself rebooked into Y booking class). While there will people like you who just take their coach seat, there will be others who will buy up to a J fare or buy-up to a K+ coach fare and use miles to upgrade if those are now the only options. Your assumption that everyone will respond exactly like you is flawed.

jdrtravel

I think that's probably true for most travelers. I'm not sure how many flights a day DL has out of AMS, but I'll really roughly estimate around 20 (I really don't know though). If 1 pax buys a J ticket in advance who would not have otherwise on just 25% of those daily flights, at a (again, very rough estimate) average price of $4K, that's $7.3 million per year. Now, I have NO idea if the numbers I just threw out are good numbers, but just suggesting that even a small change in customer behavior can be meaningful.

Grouchy

Over the years, depending on the year/agent, no cash component when:

You had a YBMS fare (sometimes a U or C+ 'W' also did work), remember there were different 'check' sheets in use by KLM agents




If Y was overbooked
If KL agents decided to do a "w're doing it our way here at AMS and Delta managment is ok with it"

iirc there are 21 daily flights from AMS, that's add up nicely over time

btonkid12345

Pennies on the dollar is better than zero.

Until DL can sync their inventory with KL such that a seat sold on a DL flight within 30 hours of departure from AMS (when KLM takes over control) properly reflects on the KL side, they shouldn't be worried about this.

Sucks to be downgraded at the gate when KL gave away all the seats to NRSAs; that's all that's happening here, more free seats versus at least some cash or 25K+ miles.

MSPeconomist

rylan

I thought you can't waitlist out of AMS anyway regardless of metal... so the issue is that if you want to use a GUC, then it is basically first come first serve competition against anyone else who is trying to upgrade with miles etc.

pvn

Because of the JV though this doesn't really mean anything for Delta. They get the revenue regardless of what metal you book. If anything, this is probably good for the overall JV since it will (on the margin) result in a few more higher-bucket tickets being sold on KL metal when there might have been a lower bucket available on DL metal.

andrewk829

In the cases of my 2016 and 2017 holiday travel that got me upgrades to C for 25K SkyMiles and no copay on AMS-SEA, I can assure you they were not a Y, B, or M fare, and it was not some sort of rebooking into Y, or anything like that. In fact, I just checked, and my Dec 2017 experience was in T class. I cannot find the documentation of the Dec 2016 experience, but I can assure you it was one of the typical advance purchase leisure discount fares in a lower bucket.

By the way, I do not assume everybody will respond as I did. Some people are indeed willing to spend an extra $5-$7 or more per minute of in-flight time on C fares.

readywhenyouare

MSPeconomist

jdrtravel

Contrary to popular belief on FT, I do think that DL cares about retaining loyal customers, especially customers who spend enough to earn GUC's.