hfly

Yes, we all know that, a quick back of the envelope calculation shows that I have bought and used PMU's and their earlier equivalent on more than 160 Delta segments over the last 13 years or so, so I am quite aware of the day of departure rules. That unfortunately had NOTHING to do with your earlier comment nor my criticism of it (at least the way you wrote it at the time).

Specifically you stated, "I can't recall a trip in the last 3 years where I had to make the reservation less than 3 weeks in advance and Z seats were available".

My point was...........In the last decade I have perhaps ONCE bought any ticket on any airline anywhere three weeks in advance, and would say that in many cases, in certain seasons MOST cases Z seats ARE in fact available, and if not, do open up. With perhaps only one or two exceptions have I ever purchased a ticket wthout Z "cleared" beforehand, but unless the flight is slammed, they generally DO open up. Th eproblem of course has more to do with no shows and the like which kill the yield algorithms and true seat availaility, my personal rule of thumb is that if Biz seats show >6 48 hours before a flight, you are in good shape, less than that and you will sweat, less than 2 and forget about it. There has not been any substantial difference in how this works over the last 3 or 13 years, HOWEVER there is the difference that DL will not hold reservations like the once did, but then again, when you are speaking about YMB fares, it normally is NOT as big a deal as the advance purchase terms are generally far more liberal than lesser fares.

PMMMDL

I bought a RT M fare to the UK last week for travel 2 weeks from now, and managed to get a $2400 fare and Z availability for my PMU upgrades.

So you can find Z availability 3 weeks in advance (although I did use Expert Flyer in advance to find the seats).

DLPhoenix

Sorry, I missunderstood your previous post.

I was speaking from my personal experience which is a limited sample. I am happy to hear that your experience is different.

In any case, this discussion is off-topic, I don't want to turn this thread into another "Bash Delta, it is not as good as it used to be in the good old days" threads. I opened the thread because I encountered a case where the M fare was only $200 less than the lowest available BE fare. I was curious whether this is a trend, and whether I can find routes where PMUs are more effective for a passenger that can plan ahead.

So far the answer was that M fares ATL-NRT/ICN are sub $2K with real Z inventory.
Does anybody know other routes with reasonable M fares?
Any routes with M fares similar to I fares?

DLP