Jon_R

the coronavirus faq on their own web site makes statements about their policy. No asterisks that say unless we decide not to. Is published policy binding. They even tell you how to check using the seat map to ensure the seat next to you is blocked which for my wofe was for a month until an hour before take off.

if published policy is not binding for delta is it binding for me?

ChurnieEls

Disagree here. They've not been quiet about advertising middle seat free and as someone pointed out, they don't appear to have any weasel asterisk that get them off the hook here. It's an unintentional bait & switch - but that's what it is, I could quite easily see a Small Claims Court siding with the passenger here because this snafu is on Delta entirely, they booked more business than they could handle. On that basis, I think anyone impacted is entitled to something of a refund. If you took the flight anyway, then I'd struggle with the refund being 100%, but certainly a modicum of comp would be warranted.

As I said, the cost of comps/refunds from pissed off pax is definitely < than the cost of putting up the canceled folks in a hotel, which is why they've done it.

cubeman

IMO since I have no long term relationship with Delta If they don't offer anything for my few flights prior to easter where they unblocked seats and put people next to me I'll just chargeback with the screencaps of people put next to me on the seat map and their advertising. Marriott status is going to give me United Silver and tbh during Covid they provided more flight services during this then Delta has as I fly C+ or First Class. What would be acceptable? E-credits or miles but this "It's only a easter thing" is BS.

ty97

There's really no defense to offer. DL marketed a product. Some people bought from DL (in some cases at higher prices) based on that marketed product. And now some of them may not get that marketed product.

We can talk about CoC, legal wording, contractual obligations (or lack thereof), and the science (or lack thereof) behind seat blocking all day long, but none of that should really matter for DL. Only one thing should matter for DL: avoiding loss of future business. DL made a (quite possibly smart) business decision to upset some customers who expected an empty seat next to them in order to not (further) upset passengers from canceled flights with even longer delays getting home. DL would be wise to also make the smart business decision to compensate (in some form, at DL's discretion) those passengers they angered with the lack of empty seat next to them. Next time those folks are choosing who to buy a ticket from, they are going to remember their recent experience with Delta, not any posts about CoCs, obligations, and legal technicalities discussed on this website. If they feel they were wronged by Delta and not compensated for it, a million defense posts won't change that.

dw

That’s the issue here. When AS was still blocking seats, they DID have an asterisk saying seat blocking could at times be relaxed due to operational issues (specially mentioning having to accommodate displaced passengers from other flights). And indeed there were reports here on FT that sometimes flights would go out without seat blocking. But since they had that disclaimer, I knew that if I bought a ticket with them, the middle seat would most likely be blocked, but it wouldn’t be a guarantee.

The way DL has been advertising seat blocking, they sure made it seem like a guarantee.

WannabePBA

It seems like someone else had the same experience I had on the LAS-LAX flight just after mine. I just checked the flight status of every LAS-LAX flight for the day, and while there is still one left to depart in 1 hour, no flights for the day were cancelled.

On the second leg of my trip today, there were two empty seats open in FC. One of the empty seats was next to me. Two couples took up two of the C/D combos, and two empty seats next to the solo fliers in C/D (me being one of them). All of the A's were occupied. Interestingly, the upgrade list shows those 2 empty seats as being available, with one person on the list, and that person was not upgraded. So there seems to be some inconsistency as to how the unblocking was applied. Perhaps this gate agent was sticking to the pre-Easter rules even though a seat was "open." Kudos...

I can sort of understand having to recover from IRROPS, but all signs point to no IRROPS on the LAS-LAX route today. So not sure why they felt the need to cram people together. While I am not expecting any compensation, I do plan on filling out a complaint form just to ask "what gives?" I have no expectation my curiosity will be satisfied, nor will I receive anything other than a canned apology, but I think it is worth the ask. We all take a calculated risk when we travel these days, and one of those calculations I made was the expectation of having a modicum of space next to me. Sure, there is no medical journal article published entitled "Do blocked seats minimize the spread of COVID," but every little bit helps. These were short flights, but I have a transcon coming up in a couple of weeks, so hopefully we go back to some space after this weekend and before the May-1 change. And hopefully I'll be able to find a needle shortly after that so it becomes a non-issue...

unitedbusiness

i certainly hope you made a big deal out of this blatant lie just as DL has blatantly gone out of their way to market their flights as having empty middle seats in Y and empty seats next to you in F

DLASflyer

10 cancellations for tomorrow so far.

sydneyracquelle

So strange as over Prez day wknd my spouse and I accepted $1200 to VDB our BE seats. They could’ve easily given us 2 middle seats like this wknd but chose not to.

ty97

There was a LAS-SLC canceled this morning. I'm not sure if that was driving reroutes via LAX or something else led to the crowded LAS-LAX flights.

DTWflyer

Ed needs to go.

DL's performance and tactical response during the pandemic and recovery is embarrassing.

DL needs to do some house cleaning at the top of the house.

btonkid12345

Not strange at all. There were not anywhere as near as many cancellations on the weekend you mention. So, that one off flight that was full followed normal procedure and solicited volunteers.

This is a much larger scale event, similar in size to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Thus, they calculated options, including VDBs and hotel vouchers etc., and decided that packing in the flights was the best way to go.

DTWflyer

Again, DL is 3 or 3 in failing to deliver over peak holidays. The airline that shouted from the mountaintops about "operational reliability" and still has posters in jetbridges about "canceling cancelations".

DL leadership needs to be cancelled.

I have zero faith that DL won't meltdown again at Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July week, and Labor Day weekend..

'come on man, you guys are better than this...

nrr

It's such a short flt., you couldn't possibly catch Covid from your seatmate.
On a more serious note, for AA which has "normal" seating, has there been mass transmissions between pax seated next to each other?

JesseRohr

Data Point:

On 1428 this morning MIA-ATL with my wife in 3A&B. The rest of F is full as is C+ (except 1).

Two meltdowns so far during the boarding about a stranger next to them.

The crew only cares about masks.