jbatl

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))

Award seat search for DL is not available on EF at this time, although I couldn't tell you exactly why.

tarajim

I have been watching two DL flights for this week, 1039 on 7/8 and 1038 on 7/11 trying to gauge upgrade chance.

During the process, 1039 went from V-4, F-4, Y-9, M-4, to V-0, F-0, Y-0, M-0 over the weekend (Checked Sat and Sunday). Now V-0, F-1, Y-2, M-0. Does anyone here know why DL fare buckets disappear and reappear? This happened to me last month on an ATL-PVG schedule where one day there was z-7, Y-0, B-0, M-0 and i could not change BE flights cause there was no coach fares left. The next day, (after I had made my schedule change) the Y,B, and M fares reappeared.

1038 did not disappear over the weekend, and I was confirmed to V on that flight, but now I am waiting on the gate lottery for 1039 tomorrow. Funny too, that the expertflyer seat map shows 3 V seats and 4 F seats but the Fare bucket is V-0, F-1.

Any ideas?

SusanDK

Many times in ExpertFlyer, I'm unable to view the FC/BE seatmap for a flight. I try to query with F, J and C, but sometimes it just will not give me any seatmap for the front cabin, just stating it is unavailable. However, I can view the Y cabin for the same flight, so I know I have flight details correct.

For the past few weeks, I've been trying to view DL 108 on Jan. 3, 2009, from MCO to ATL. I can see Y seats, but not FC/BE (I believe this flight is booked as BE in the front).

I wrote to EF support, but their response was just that they could see the seats for DL 108 on that date from ATL to MAD! They have not responded to my query about MCO to ATL. This is not a one-off problem, but an issue I have a lot on this route.

Usually, if EF won't show me the seatmap, I'll just go to DL to make a reservation so I can see the seatmap. However, as it's sold out, that flight won't come up on DL.com right now. Also, since I'm only confirmed in Y (waitlisted for the upgrade), when I'm logged into my Skymiles account to view my itinerary and seatmap, it will only show me the Y cabin.

Can anyone please tell me if you can view the front cabin seat map for this flight and, if so, which code you use?

The last time I took up this issue with ExpertFlyer, they just said that sometimes the seatmap is unavailable and there is nothing they can do (which I find odd if it's showing Y). This time, they confirmed they could see the seatmap, but for the wrong flight.

Any help is appreciated.

Susan

monitor

This is an easy one. Just open another window and run (courtesy of our friend Ben Edelman) the following:

http://www.benedelman.org/travel/dlseats/

You'll never again need to worry about finding DL seatmaps.

SusanDK

Brilliant - thanks so much for this!

Although I still do find it frustrating that a paid service cannot resolve this for me.

Susan

Gandhi90s

This is a known problem with EF.

monitor

You are more than welcome. Although I too use EF, even when it is working properly I prefer to use Ben's tool. I just am accustomed to using it and from time-to-time do link from it in order to buy a ticket.

DLATL777

Not BE. This is regular domestic FC. Only reason it is labeled business is due to the international flight number.

SusanDK

Ok, fair enough. But I still can't view the FC seatmap on EF trying codes F, C or J. So any tips are most welcome for how to view the front cabin seatmap on the MCO-ATL leg.

Susan

ExpertFlyer Voice

Hello all, in response to different issues brought up in this thread:

Actually that's not correct. That thread you link to on the AA forum references a different problem that has a different cause. This issue is limited to DL First/Biz class cabins on some but not all flights.

Your initial email to us did not include a city pair so we used the first one we saw for DL 108 which was ATL to MAD. We have since responded to your follow up email. You'll notice that ATL-MAD uses a 767-400 and MCO-ATL uses a 767-300. We believe the issue shows on specific equipment.

The problem is simply that Delta is not returning the seat map to us for that particular date/city pair/flight/cabin combination. We have notified the GDS we use about this problem previously and they are looking into it, but we have no idea when it might be solved. The error we see on our end tells us there is a communication issue between the GDS and Delta's host computer when doing the seat map query. Also, since each seat map cabin is a different query to the GDS (and subsequently to Delta), being able to view one cabin doesn't mean that there couldn't be a problem with another for whatever reason.

-EFV

GMill

And a GDS is . . .?

Gandhi90s

Global Distribution System

SusanDK

EFV - thanks for your reply. We actually exchanged emails about this exact issue in Aug/Sep 2007, same flight number and city pair. At that time, you wrote "We apologize for the problem and we just got word today from our information provider that they have identified the problem and assigned it to development for fixing."

Perhaps you could check with Ben Edelman who provides the option that monitor posted about earlier in the thread at http://www.benedelman.org/travel/dlseats/

It works perfectly so perhaps he could provide some input to correcting the problem within EF.

Susan

jfulcher

Edelman doesn't use GDS. He interacts directly with the DL website and basically passes the correct info in order to pull back the seatmap from the website.

najay

I have seen this issue with both the M88 and 763. I reported it a couple of months ago, and was told a problem report had been filed. Other than that annoyance, EF seems to work ok.