"We are expecting high call volume this weekend"
-Delta

I agree with some of this... when demand eventually comes back with a vengeance later this year, as early as this summer, DL will wish it still had the 777s and other aircraft it so rapidly retired. It will wish it had the experienced pilots that were encouraged to retire early.

The messaging was hilarious. I initiated a conversation at 10 p.m. last night. It kept checking in every 90 minutes to see if I still needed assistance...

Finally, at 4:30 a.m., it said that the messaging desk was closed for the night and asked if I still needed assistance. When I replied yes, it stated that the messaging desk will reopen at 6 a.m. and that I will be placed in that queue. Someone finally started replying to me around 7 a.m., and they were unhelpful and told me to call in. UGH.

P.S. Does the messaging prioritize Medallions like the phone lines supposedly do?

Aircraft aren't the issue here (other than the cascading retrainings retirements created). The only real capacity Delta is missing right now are the MD-90s - they were supposed to fly this summer and they're not. The 737-700s too, but that was such a tiny subfleet to be pretty irrelevant. Even if Delta kept the metal, the 777 fleet wouldn't be flying right now because they don't make sense to fly on domestic routes - and international long haul is still in life support mode for obvious reasons. . All the other fleet retirement "announcements" are paper only and can be changed if conditions warrant: no material number of 767s or 717s have actually been removed from the fleet.

The issue is the pilots. They need more people with the right certifications to fly the metal.

I am so glad I started the migration over to AF for ST needs 4 years ago - even more so over the last two weeks. Also glad I already got rid of that DL Amex Reserve card 2 years ago...

I imagine you'll see a ton of free agents this time next year unless they blanket extend again (notwithstanding their recent concessions).

Why, as a leisure traveler, you'd continue to subject yourself to the likes of this weekend would be beyond me - and even most elites are gonna need to hit leisure travel relatively hard in H2 to requalify under the new thresholds.

Just boarded a flight from LAS to LAX. Every seat in FC is full. Traveling by myself. Sitting next to someone.

Meanwhile, in the rear of the aircraft, it looks as if passengers are still sitting solo for the most part. Most C+ seats have empty seats next to passengers and hard to tell in the back half but at least most of the front half of coach is similar.

Checked the flight status of the rest of the flights from LAS to to LAX for all day today and tomorrow, none show as cancelled (but will check again at EOD). Flights operated by the connection carrier, and not main-line Delta so I would assume they don’t have the same pilot situation but maybe I’m wrong there.

99% of my interactions with Delta the last 14 years have been positive. Only had one major issue over the years (maybe I’m lucky that way). While I disagree with some of the other comments above, I do agree that one of the reasons I traveled this weekend and purchased FC was the expectation I would not be sitting next to someone...so much for that. Interesting to see how my second leg will be today out of LAX (also non main-line).

youre absolutely right... bad experiences are more likely on Delta, now and in the future . It’s why I’ve chosen United, even as a DM and DL 2MM!

I’d assume F is gong out full due to the GAs clearing more UGs at the gate to free up more room back in Y. While I’m not excusing DL for suddenly changing their written policy at the last min with no warning, to act like your “safer” back in C+ with middle seats blocked vs having a seat mate in F is nonsense. FC going out full in a 2-2 configuration has the same cabin density as C+ and Y with middle seats blocked. The seat blocking gimmick by DL has been safety theatre this entire time.

Not only has UA treated me well (as 1k), not canceled a single one of my flights (Delta=2), not been late (Delta=2), the UA FF program is LIGHT YEARS more awesome than DL. I'm heading to Turkey next week on TK, all F+J (TK's new 789) all the way to BJV, including positioning flights (3 legs total) for 154k UA miles +$50 r/t.

Plus UA connection choices are so much better for me on the west coast. Canceled all my Delta CC's months ago (2 per/2 biz). So sick of the GD business politics, get me to my destination, offer me a decent lounge (as a high-spending flyer) and GTFO of my politics and personal choices!

Grand pooba Ed himself was quoted saying something to the effect "we know it's safe to sit in middle seats."

Statement out:

“Delta teams have been working through various factors, including staffing, large numbers of employee vaccinations and pilots returning to active status. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and the majority have been rebooked for the same travel day.”

Up to 75 cancellations now. Still a far cry from the 500+ over Thanksgiving and 350+ over Christmas. Let’s hope things keep improving as more displaced pilots get trained up. They need all the pilots they have for the summer.

On the plus side today is the first I’ve seen Delta.com show a cancellation reason. United has been doing this for years and I find it helpful.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...78d062626.jpeg

They have already started to the butcher summer European schedule.

Which only makes sense. Any optimism for an early summer resurgence in TATL has died with the UK variant running wild across Europe and a painfully slow vaccine rollout in the EU. The EU is about 45-60 days behind the US on the vaccine rollout. If the US "all clear" happens sometime in May, that means July for Europe.

The US literally dodged a bullet of a major fourth wave due to B.1.1.7 by about a month in term of its vaccine rollout. The fact that cases are rising (slowly) in the US despite 100 million additional folks with antibodies is frightening and shows you how bad things could be without the vaccine.

The good news for Delta is that they can repurpose some of that metal for the domestic demand and hopefully prevent this staffing snafus. Probably an abnormally large number of summer domestic widebody opportunities this year.