Frozenguy

Why is D1 and first class listed sold out when there are so many seats available? I get maybe no upgrade inventory but why aren't they even not for sale?

PrincipalAgentProblem

I notice both segments have space for sale up front if searched individually. It seems to me the system sometimes has difficulty gluing together D1 and First - perhaps more knowledgeable people here understand the mechanics of that and know how to get around it.

ATOBTTR

It likely means there's no premium (D1) fare filing for that routing. I've seen this for many domestic routings via JFK when a segment could involve a JFK-LAX/SFO that has domestic D1. For example, I can book economy for CVG-JFK-LAX but will not get a return for D1 on CVG. I guess it means DL figures that not enough passengers are going to actually route CVG-JFK-LAX to get D1 to where it's worth it for them to file D1 fares for that routing (or they feel they would have to discount said fares at the expense of filling those JFK-LAX D1 Seats at more premium fares for passengers that are either O&D on JFK-LAX or coming from cities where going via JFK at least makes more logical sense).




If I go to the Seat Map for JFK-LAX, I then see the same view where fare info in the D1 option is just blank.

Frozenguy

oh wow ok. Thank you for the input guys. Could a call to an agent make this work or do i need to start breaking this reservation up?

DLHubber

You'd have to break it up. There's nothing an agent can do if there's no fare for the route.

Frozenguy

Thanks!

xliioper

Checked EF and there are definitely no D1 fare filings on SFO-SXM (as suspected above), and it won't let you book an FC fare that has a D1 flight as part of itin. You would have to book flights on separate fares and fare combination restrictions may likely require booking each fare on a separate ticket. FC fare filings have an 'F' in second to last character of fare basis code, while D1 fare filings will have a 'D'.

jwhuffman

decided to remove info, sorry.

indufan

When I was studying the HNL market recently, this came up a lot. And it is really some bad business practice by Delta not offering the fare. They can control it with married segments if they choose to but just not offering it just doesn't make sense.

findark

The shown SFO-JFK-SXM is also J0 when married.

In a very large number of cases, Delta hates selling connections and will suppress inventory to stop it, or at least force high fares. I assume it has something to do with business logic of selling single segments to hub captives rather than multi-segment itineraries to non-hub O&D markets, but who knows. I can't say I have looked at a cash cow spoke city like BHM to see if maybe they will sell BHM-ATL-XXX, but certainly any itinerary I have ever wanted to book over ATL is priced to not sell.

The D1 routing issue is probably the bigger one, but in either case you need a fare break and/or separate tickets.

dtwlarry

Thanks for the details, but being a bit new to making these types of changes, I am going to ask what could be a series of rookie questions.
We have a round trip we set up YYZ-ATL-SCL for middle of the summer. For the flights home, we have either bumped up to D1, or could bump up to First. However, for flights outbound, we can't upgrade in any way from our C+ seats on either flight, and the PS/D1 or First seats are unable to be selected.
Do we call and get Medallion support to make the change? There are plenty of seats in all higher classes available at this time. Or do we cancel and reschedule? I'm not following how to break the set of flights up so we can bump up.
Thanks everyone, for your help and patience with spelling out the process.

findark

It depends on how you wish to end up in the premium cabin.

If the reservation shows all the premium seats as Xed out, that means Delta is not currently offering a sticker-type upgrade ("upsell", "FCM", etc.) for your itinerary. Calling won't change this.

If you are willing to change the ticket to the higher cabin, you should be able to do this by calling (or maybe online) but it will involve re-faring the ticket according to its change rules, which is a different price structure than the sticker-type upgrades.

xliioper

You can attempt to use the "Change or Add Flights" option on reservation in order to refare yourself online to a D1 fare on outbound flights. Although it may not allow it online with return flights already being changed via FCM offer. Schedule changes can also at times prevent online option from working. With a refare, it's all flights or nothing in each one-way direction (you can't upfare individual flight segments booked on a single fare). Note that the FCM upgrades that you selected are technically non-refundable and non-transferable. You'd have to plead for mercy from an agent should with to voluntarily change your flights in order to get a refund (and the upgrade won't transfer to a different flight if you make a voluntary change). Refaring to a D1 fare will preserve the amount you paid to refare as a credit should you wish to later voluntarily change flights.

With a refare, you'll just be paying fare difference which currently looks to be on the order of $1900 - $2000 USD each way (depending on original booking fare and D1 fare availability). It's possible they could reprice using historical fares from when you originally purchased ticket. It looks like the had some roundtrip D1 fares on route for about $1000 less each way back in January (based on EF historical fare search).

Magnum9

SFO-SXM…..isn’t JFK quite a detour? Guessing OPs after a flat bed and didn’t mind the added travel time.

Frank_Mao

I did a similar itinerary LAX-JFK-SJU round trip on Jan this year, has no problem showing D1/F avaliable. I ended up used the RUC on returen trip and got both legs cleard. with 4+6 =10 hrs seatting on F & D1, I felt so happy.