Delta's 5 fare classes

[sam_gordon]

I hadn't heard about this one yet. Apologies if it's already been posted...

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/09/travel/delta-creates-new-fare-classes/?iref=obinsite

The "First Class" fare includes "first to board" rights, preflight alcoholic drinks, snacks on flights longer than 250 miles and meals on flights longer than 900 miles. The "Delta One" elite first class fare includes access to Delta Sky Clubs, full flat-bed seats on widebody aircraft, in-flight bedding, chef-curated menus, noise-reduction headsets and more.

The "Basic Economy" bare-bones coach fares will be available on domestic routes, and they're already available in some areas where Delta competes with deep discounter Spirit Airlines.
The "Main Cabin" coach fares on domestic and long-haul international flights will allow seat selection at time of purchase and flexibility for flight changes. On long-haul international flights, the fare will include alcoholic drinks, meal service and a sleep kit.
The "Delta Comfort+" coach fare on all flights will include priority boarding and dedicated overhead bin space, alcoholic drinks, premium snacks, premium entertainment, up to 4 more inches of legroom and quilted seat covers.

 

[maxiesmom]

Thanks for posting! I wondered what the 5 fares were. So for the cheapest fare, you end up with whatever seat is left over?

 

[DebbieB]

Thanks for posting! I wondered what the 5 fares were. So for the cheapest fare, you end up with whatever seat is left over?

Yes, most likely middle seats.

 

[sam_gordon]

It will be interesting to see what they do with pricing. Will the current prices be "Main Cabin" and you can save $20-25 by getting "Basic Economy" or will the prices increase in order to select your seat?

 

[Madame]

It will be interesting to see what they do with pricing. Will the current prices be "Main Cabin" and you can save $20-25 by getting "Basic Economy" or will the prices increase in order to select your seat?

The 'basic economy' option was already listed a few weeks ago when we purchased our Aug flights DTW to MCO.

The basic seats were about $20 pp cheaper, but no way anyone flying with young children would ever book this way.

It looks like an excuse to hike the other economy fare - look you get to choose your seat for only $20 more! What a deal!

 

[DebbieB]

The 'basic economy' option was already listed a few weeks ago when we purchased our Aug flights DTW to MCO.

The basic seats were about $20 pp cheaper, but no way anyone flying with young children would ever book this way.

It looks like an excuse to hike the other economy fare - look you get to choose your seat for only $20 more! What a deal!

Some will, expecting that people will move for them so that their children will not be alone. Or the airline would not possibly separate them from their children, which I've seen posted from people flying Allegiant.

I used to travel a lot for business, my concern would be if corporate travel would force you to buy these low fares and get stuck sitting in a middle seat on a 5 hour flight across country. The no changes might not work for business, so maybe they would not do that. I hope not, although I rarely travel these days.

 

[Gracie09]

The 'basic economy' option was already listed a few weeks ago when we purchased our Aug flights DTW to MCO.

The basic seats were about $20 pp cheaper, but no way anyone flying with young children would ever book this way.

It looks like an excuse to hike the other economy fare - look you get to choose your seat for only $20 more! What a deal!

wanna bet? Of course people will expect others to move so they can sit with their children. Why should they have to pay more to get what they want. Anyone who doesn't is just mean.

 

[Madame]

wanna bet? Of course people will expect others to move so they can sit with their children. Why should they have to pay more to get what they want. Anyone who doesn't is just mean.

I see what you mean... Good luck to them then, because we probably wouldn't be the only ones unwilling to move.

I had been watching this flight for a while before I booked. At first there was no basic economy option. Then it appeared one day & the economy option price increased & never came back down.

If they are willing to risk being separated from their young children, that's their look out. All I know is that *my* price increased when they introduced the basic fare & it'll be a cold day before I switched seats for someone who gambled in that way

 

[jensen]

wanna bet? Of course people will expect others to move so they can sit with their children. Why should they have to pay more to get what they want. Anyone who doesn't is just mean.

Reminds me of the last time I flew Allegiant. I paid the extra for assigned seats so I could sit with my children. The lady next to me asked if I would mind changing seats so that she could sit next to her husband. As the conversation progressed, it became clear that she didn't just want me to move, she wanted both myself and my son to move so that she and her husband could have the preferred seats. I politely declined.

During the flight, I got enough information that I was able to Google her when I got off the plane. I found newspaper articles with photos of the husband. Turns out he was the recently retired CEO of a huge energy company. They were on their way to their multi-million dollar winter home.

Some people!!!

But, this news about Delta is really disheartening! I hate to see the good airlines go this route.

 

[anonymousegirl]

I used to fly Delta to MCO 3-4 a year but the constant schedule changes and this new 5 class economy scenario help me decide to switch my business elsewhere. I canceled my Delta SKymiles card and told them why when they asked.

I now have the Southwest card and love flying them.

 

[MillauFr]

I used to fly Delta to MCO 3-4 a year but the constant schedule changes and this new 5 class economy scenario help me decide to switch my business elsewhere. I canceled my Delta SKymiles card and told them why when they asked.

I now have the Southwest card and love flying them.

The advantage Delta has is that they have one of the best on time records in the industry. Southwest has one of the worst. Of course there are other factors that favor Southwest.

 

[grandmomhop]

Ok. I know this is an older thread, and I wish I would have read it a long time ago. I usually fly southwest but booked delta, basic economy, not knowing I couldn't pick my seats. I have never flown with my grandkids and now after reading this I'm really worried that people are going to think we did it to be cheap, if we each try to sit with one of the little kids. I hope people are more understanding than not. I know I've given up my seat a few times so couples could sit together. I feel like I'm going to be explaining myself a lot. If nothing else, I hope they get to sit with another child and parent I guess. Just fretting about this since I found out this will never happen again

 

[SarahInMN]

I hope people are more understanding than not.

I know this sounds harsh but Delta is very clear on fare rules when booking. If I pay more for a seat, be it aisle or window or comfort plus, I am not going to give it up for someone who wasn't willing to fork over the extra 25$ or whatever per ticket to pick their seats. Sorry - I paid more for my seat, I picked it for a reason, and I'm keeping it. It's not my responsibility that people don't read fare rules or worse are too cheap to pay to guarantee seats (and then assume other people will give up their more expensive seats).

My husband and I fly Delta a lot (we both have Plat status) and when we fly coach, we pick certain seats due to either connection times (so comfort+, up front, aisle) or comfort (exit, aisle) and will not given them up.

If you booked your tickets today, you can cancel by midnight without penalty. If you booked prior to today, I'd suggest calling Delta and throwing yourself on the mercy of the phone agent: offer to pay to change the tickets to a fare which allows you to book your seats now and hope for the best. Emphasize that you had no idea, that you're a grandmother taking her grandkids to WDW, and maybe the phone agent will waive change fees. Then you'll only have to pay the fare difference.

 

[grandmomhop]

I know this sounds harsh but Delta is very clear on fare rules when booking. If I pay more for a seat, be it aisle or window or comfort plus, I am not going to give it up for someone who wasn't willing to fork over the extra 25$ or whatever per ticket to pick their seats. Sorry - I paid more for my seat, I picked it for a reason, and I'm keeping it. It's not my responsibility that people don't read fare rules or worse are too cheap to pay to guarantee seats (and then assume other people will give up their more expensive seats).

My husband and I fly Delta a lot (we both have Plat status) and when we fly coach, we pick certain seats due to either connection times (so comfort+, up front, aisle) or comfort (exit, aisle) and will not given them up.

If you booked your tickets today, you can cancel by midnight without penalty. If you booked prior to today, I'd suggest calling Delta and throwing yourself on the mercy of the phone agent: offer to pay to change the tickets to a fare which allows you to book your seats now and hope for the best. Emphasize that you had no idea, that you're a grandmother taking her grandkids to WDW, and maybe the phone agent will waive change fees. Then you'll only have to pay the fare difference.

Your right, it did sound harsh.

Again, I did not see any rules or different types, I only saw the one price and was excited about our trip and booked it. It wasn't that I didn't want to fork over the extra $$ for our seats. There weren't any other prices visible on the page, no columns for different classes or fares. I didn't know until my daughter looked at it later. I have really only flown on southwest and you are assigned a boarding number when you do online check in. Then you line up by your number at the gate. I thought we would all board together and at least get 2 + 2.
I should have mentioned in the first post that I talked to several Delta people. I would have paid to pick seats but they all said no, try at the gate to get help.
I guess I'll just hope for the best, and hope my grandkids are seated near understanding, nice people if not with me or my daughter. They are 8 and 9 and well behaved. They'll have games to keep busy.

I am sorry about my lack of understanding on how tiered flights work.
Trust me, I won't make this mistake again.

 

[Yellowjj]

I hope not to come off harsh as well but you can't really expect much sympathy here. The reason being..

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

You can't purchase the ticket without first agreeing to the restriction that pops up when selecting a Basic Economy fare. Delta really hit the nail on the head with this to avoid persons claiming to not know when purchasing. If you didn't read the words in the giant box before clicking "I agree", that's another story, however the blame is still on you.

Delta always blocks a certain amount of seats so you probably will sit next to your grandchildren. I doubt they would split up minors and the adult accompanying them. You probably will have to wait when you check-in.

You can call the Phone CSR's but it is a restricted fare and up-faring is not allowed. You may have to ask and hope for a sympathetic supervisor to override the E fare and pay whatever difference it costs.

 

[kaytieeldr]

And booking on the mobile site doesn't seem to offer the Basic Economy fare at all - just main cabin or first class. I don't know if the app is different.

 

[seashoreCM]

Actually, Basic Economy makes sense. Someone has to board last. Someone has to sit in a middle seat. Why not take some of those undesirable situations out of circulation by selling them in advance a little cheaper? Then there is less of a chance that the rest of us will get stuck with those undesirable situations.

I guess I'll just hope for the best, and hope my grandkids are seated near understanding, nice people if not with me or my daughter.

Obnoxious persons are a legitimate addressable problem regardless of the fare you paid. You should get up periodically during the flight and check on them, take them to the rest room, also check seatback pockets and collect electronics and expensive belongings near the end of the flight, well before to the hectic de-boarding process.

... the constant schedule changes ...

I trust that Delta still lets you reselect flights even in Basic Economy after they make a schedule change or when a weather even threatens. After all they must still use their best efforts to transport you. Until they introduce and announce ROS (run of schedule booking to go with Basic Economy where for example all they guarantee is same day departure and same or next day arrival weather permitting. Someone has to be fitted in to get exactly full planeloads on each departure.

 

[SarahInMN]

Actually, Basic Economy makes sense. Someone has to board last. Someone has to sit in a middle seat. Why not take some of those undesirable situations out of circulation by selling them in advance a little cheaper? Then there is less of a chance that the rest of us will get stuck with those undesirable situations

Basic economy makes sense in that in enables Delta to sell the least desirable seats but the problem is that some people (and I am not saying the OP above is one of those people) book them and then expect other people to change with them. Ie I'm in 9C and 9B wants me to change with the spouse who is in 10B so that they can sit next to each other.

The problem is that people don't read the pop ups or alerts and assume that every flight is like Southwest or any other open seating flight. My mother is used to flying SW and booked a flight to Seattle on Delta: she kept talking about how she had to check in at 24 hours to get her boarding order. She is a reasonably organized, bright person but just didn't read or understand how Delta works. She just made an assumption that every flight is like SW because she doesn't fly the legacy carriers.

Obnoxious persons are a legitimate addressable problem regardless of the fare you paid.

On a flight from PDX->SLC (ultimately flying to SNA for Disneyland), Middle Seat was drunker than a skunk and ran up to first class and proceeded to throw up all over the 1st class galley and bathroom. I'd rather sit next to a kid whose family keeps checking on them than drunk middle aged guy.

I trust that Delta still lets you reselect flights even in Basic Economy after they make a schedule change

I'm guessing though that the reselected flights would still be in Basic Economy - if there is a significant flight change, then Delta will have to let her cancel her flights and give her a refund, thus enabling her to rebook in regular economy. I think this is GrandMomHop's best bet: significant schedule change, then call and try to cancel the flights.

I should have mentioned in the first post that I talked to several Delta people

This was my original, first best hope for GrandMomHop: was that she would call and get a sympathetic phone rep who would let her change it/fix it. that though is kind of a crapshoot.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

This was my original, first best hope for GrandMomHop: was that she would call and get a sympathetic phone rep who would let her change it/fix it. that though is kind of a crapshoot.

Make a flight change without paying the fee for each ticket? Not a chance.

 

[SarahInMN]

Make a flight change without paying the fee for each ticket? Not a chance.

I would say there is an outside chance but it takes a confluence of a sympathetic phone agent who is having a good day + a good story laden with honey, not vinegar. Although admittedly my perspective is likely skewed due to access to the Delta plat line which is a different level of service vs the general public.

I still think the best change is a significant flight change which would let them cancel and rebook.