Keith2004

Do you know why they may block 2a/j and 3a on the A330?

MCO Flyer

I flew HNL-ATL last night on the 333 and 2A was never filled by the GA again (D1 went out with 1 empty seat and 17 people still on the list). It didn’t look like it was reserved for any crew members as the caterers placed an amenity kit, bedding, and water bottle at the seat.

spongenotbob

There is something a bit weird going on for sure. I've seen tickets which have been reissued for whatever reason (schedule change, voluntary change, booked using multiple eCredits, etc) get into a state where DL won't offer even paid upgrades, even though the same upgrades are available on a separate ticket for the exact same flight, same fare class, etc.

I've also noticed that DL blocks many seats in the back of the plane when the seatmap is viewed from a No- or Low-status account, but the entire plane is available to choose from as a PM or higher.

These are all main cabin revenue tickets. Very strange - it's basically the opposite of AS' saver seats being only in the very back.

kabanaman

Update on my previous post - i am now within the 72 hour comp upgrade window for my upcoming flight as a GM - before the 72 hour window Delta had blocked out 3 seats in F with X's over them per my previous post and no option to purchase upgrade.

Comp upgrade did not clear, and now that in the 72 hour window, Delta is now showing these 3 F seats as open (white on the seat map instead of an X) and they are now allowing me to purchase an upgrade to F..

Funny they won't clear the upgrade but will offer me an option to purchase it - i feel that since there are 3 seats in F available the upgrade should have cleared.

This is why i've started booking alot of tickets directly in F if F is seems like its filling up on booking and the price difference is reasonable. Can't really rely on comp upgrades much anymore unless plane is empty, and anything can happen at the gate so i don't rely on gate upgrades much either.

dmarge18

Not sure if it's still the case, but 2A was a common air marshall seat. Perhaps they didn't want to have to boot someone from their seat if they allowed them to sit there.

MCO Flyer

Air Marshals no longer get F and have to sit in Y.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/air-ma...economy-seats/

bruininabag

My theory is that the blocked seats are a contingency plan in case Delta decides to do equipment swaps and allocate some of the widebodies between domestic hubs towards international routes that may open up through out the summer. Imagine it'd have a ripple effect on many routes so there's likely a desire not to allow too much overbooking.

gbdbld

So for BE tickets, before covid, once check in starts, I used to be able to change seats at any time before boarding. But the past couple of times I travelled on Delta, at check-in I was assigned a seat and there were no seats available to choose from. I checked multiple times between check in and boarding. Is it due to seats blocking or BE can no longer change tickets after check in?

MSPeconomist

The official rule for BE AFAIK is that BE passengers cannot select or change seats.

gbdbld

My experience was once it’s T-24 you can select all remaining seats. That’s why I asked if anything changed now. But never mind answered my own question. I have a flight in 8 hours and just refreshed seat map again and saw a single available seat. Changed to that successfully. So you can still select/change it after check in but seems like they block many seats now.

MSPeconomist

I suspect that with more families traveling for leisure now and using BE fares, DL might feel that it avoids hassles at the airport, stress for GAs, and potential delays if they were to block more seats to accommodate families traveling together in BE. Just blocking the last two rows of coach isn't realistic, especially on large aircraft or leisure routes.

gbdbld

Yeah I think that’s the most likely case. Because just a few minutes before check in started, I checked the seat map as pretending to buy a new ticket and still tons available. Then at T-24 they well all unavailable.

jeet

Some information here about 'post April' seat blocking - https://news.delta.com/delta-expands...s-all-aircraft
Looks more like a way to control overbooking by taking some seats out of inventory.

For example instead of overbooking for ~160 seats on a 737, they will only allow overbooking for ~130 seats and some/all of those blocked seats can be opened up if overall sold tickets on that flight are in 130-160 range.
Seat blocks are not lifted if sold tickets are less then 160 and as blocked they are not available for upgrades.

xliioper

That "news" is from 2020 when DL was limiting capacity due to Covid. The recent seat blocking doesn't look to have anything to do with that.

jeet

Oops! sorry about the wrong link.
But the information in post regarding 'soft blocks' still holds